Olivier Horiot Coteaux Champenois Riceys Rouge En Val Bazot 2018

Coteaux Champenois is the still red of Champagne, and few growers take it as seriously as Olivier Horiot. En Val Bazot is one of Les Riceys' most respected lieux-dits, a clay-and-limestone site over Kimmeridgian bedrock that gives Pinot Noir real structure. Harvested by hand, fermented spontaneously, and aged eighteen months in oak, the 2018 lands somewhere between a savory Cote de Nuits and the leaner Pinots of the Aube. It's a quiet wine, but a serious one, and it ages.