On this trip to Champagne, three visits stood out: Vincent Laval (who we wrote about earlier this year), Fabrice Gass (whose wines landed yesterday), and Aurélien Suenen. If Laval and Gass’s generation made the case that great Champagnes are made by great farmers, Suenen hammers it home with organically farmed, incisive wines—some of the finest in the Côte des Blancs.

With his top wines just in—including two Oenothèque bottlings from 2008 and 2009 (Daniel Suenen’s last vintage and Aurélien’s first, late-disgorged from the family cellar)—it felt like the right time to dig into our visit.

Once you meet Aurélien, the intensity and uncompromising qualities of his wines start to quickly make sense. He was a semi-professional basketball player before coming back to his family domain in 2008; and frankly he brings a professional athlete's rigor to everything from the vineyards to the cellar. Both of which are meticulous.

Aurélien in his tasting room, which has an unblemished view of the vineyards.

So committed to being near his parcels, Aurélien sold the family’s holdings outside the Côte des Blancs (with one exception: a tiny 0.2-ha plot of ungrafted, 60-year-old Pinot Meunier in the Vesle Valley). “I’d rather be farming than driving.”

And yes, he’s proudly organic—first for the clarity it brings to his fruit, and also to be a working example in a sea of conventional farming. He wants to show neighbors (especially those selling to the grandes marques) how resilient organic vineyards can be in challenging seasons. As he put it:

“Our 3 ha don’t mean much in Champagne. We’re tiny, but they can be an example to those who are scared to change. This is important.”

In the (ridiculously clean) cellar, vessels of every shape and size are there by design: Stockinger barrels, cement eggs, foudres, barriques, stainless, and enamel-lined tanks. He ferments with native yeasts in a mix of wood and enamel, and élevage—which can be quite long—varies by wine.

The cellar has an expansive, experimental range of vessels

He’s unafraid to experiment, even admitting failures, especially in his trial of the glass globes (which are the rage in Burgundy); believing it shut his wines down. One in-progress experiment in the cellar is a Solera started in 2022; each year he’ll add more to one large barrel until he’s happy with the complexity of the blend. Which, admittedly, won't be for “at least 10 years.” We’ll come asking in 2032.

We tasted through many vessels (including a coteaux from the world's smallest tank), across the whole range, and finished spectacularly in the underground cellar. Disgorging many of his first vintages, all of which had many more years in them. Each of the wines below are unique to where they came from. But there is a common thread; mouthwatering freshness balanced by a savvy hand in the cellar which compliments the terroirs natural tension with texture. 

Aurélien disgorging bottles deep in the cellar; coteaux in a tiny (delicious) tank.

Of note: the two Oenothèque bottlings are from 2008 and 2009, respectively Daniel Suenen’s last vintage and Aurélien’s first. 

Suenen Oiry Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs Extra Brut Champagne, France [2021], $120
Pure chalk from Oiry, Aurlien used 50% oak / 50% tank for the vin clair. Bottled with 4 grams in ‘21. Disgorged June of ‘24. Brisk, cooling wine.

Suenen ‘C+C’ Blanc de Blanc Grand Cru Extra Brut Champagne, France [2021], $150
Stands for Cramant & Chouilly, a blend of both terroirs; similarly chalky like Oiry (and made the same as above) but with a touch more clay lending slightly rounder edges.

2008 Suenen 'O’Enotheque' Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs Extra Brut Millesime, Champagne, France, $165
2009 Suenen 'O’Enotheque' Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs Extra Brut Millesime, Champagne, France, $165
Late-disgorged release from the family cellar, from Aurélien’s first vintage at the helm. Grand Cru Chardonnay from the estate’s Côte des Blancs holdings (Oiry/Cramant/Chouilly), bottled originally as a vintage BdB before the parcellaire era.

2018 Suenen 'La Grande Vigne' Pinot Meunier Extra Brut, Champagne, France, $275
The sole wine outside of Chardonnay or the Cotes de blanc. This is all Meunire from a very specia. 0.2 ha NW-facing plot of ungrafted Pinot Meunier planted in the 1960s) on deep Thanetian sand (phylloxera-safe. One 500 L Stockinger + one barrique; disgorged Oct 2024.

2018 Suenen 'La Cocluette' Oiry Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs Extra Brut, Champagne, France, $275
From Oiry parcel planted 1925. He teases the stony north facing character in a 7 hL concrete egg and the southern side in used 6 hL Stockinger barrel; disgorged July 2024 with 4 g/L dosage.

2018 Suenen 'Les Robarts' Grand Cru Cramant Blanc de Blancs Extra Brut, Champagne, France, $285
A deliciously saffrron spiced wine that comes from the border of Avize and Cramant border where vines sit 30 cm silty-clay topsoil over degraded Campanian chalk; plantings 1952, 1978, 1984. 5 years sur lattes; aged under cork. Gorgeous wine.

2018 Suenen 'Le Mont-Aigu' Chouilly Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs Extra Brut, Champagne, France, $285
From Le Mont-Aigu in Chouilly, it shows its robust south-facing slope in its powerful, nutty character; Only a single 600 L demi-muid for ferment/élevage. 5 years sur lattes.

The cellar walls are pure, soft chalk.

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