Stephane Ogier Saint Joseph Le Passage 2022 Grower Champagne with vines planted in 1966

with vines planted in 1966 and 1986

and Chardonnay from Premier Cru plots

from an old (~100 years) vineyard of bush-trained vines

soars on the wings of angelica root

giving it a touch more flesh while Givry's bright limestone keeps it honest

Stephane Ogier Saint Joseph Le Passage 2022 Grower Champagne with vines planted in 1966Saint Joseph sprawls: some fifty kilometers of riverbank, and plenty of it flat and forgettable. The good stuff comes off granite, and Stephane Ogier goes and gets it. "Le Passage" is Syrah from steep granite slopes around Malleval, Limony and Saint Pierre de Boeuf, hand harvested, fermented with native yeasts, then aged twelve months in barrel, just ten percent of it new, so the wood never announces itself. Ogier is a Cote Rotie man by trade, and it