We had the opportunity to taste some amazing champagnes a couple of weeks ago and the Champagnes of Wirth-Michel caught our attention.  If the name sounds familiar, it is because the winemaker is the grandson of José Michel, specialist in Pinot Meunier and maker of a famous Special Club.  Since his grandfather's death, Antonin has been making the Champagnes at both Wirth-Michel and Jose Michel.

Origines is Wirth-Michel's bottling made of 70% Chardonnay and Meunier from the villages of Vinay, Moussy and Brugny. The base wine was aged in 600 liter barrels. After the second fermentation, the wine aged sur latte for over two years. The texture is silky, the Champagne, vinous. This is a gorgeous Champagne for parties but most importantly, for the table.

 Practicing organic

Antonin Michel is the scion of well-known grower and Spécial Club member José Michel (7ha), and on his maternal side, a smaller domaine called Wirth-Michel. Wirth-Michel was started by Antonin’s great-great grandfather, as Wirth et Fils. His grandfather, Alain, decided to stop making wine in 1999. Alain and told Antonin’s mother, Nathalie, a Biology professor at the university in Reims, that she could take over the four-hectare family domaine, or he could sell it off to one of his employees. She decided to preserve the family business and made her first wine in 2000, changing the name to Wirth-Michel. Her son, Antonin, was born in 1994 and was interested in the wine business from a young age. His paternal grandfather was José Michel and while his father didn’t follow in the same footsteps (a pharmacist by trade), Antonin had winemaking in his blood from both branches of his family tree.

Wirth-Michel is 4 hectares, in the Côteaux sud d’Epernay, in four villages in this area: Moussy, Vinay, Brugny-Vaudancourt, Saint-Martin d´Ablois.  “The CIVC notified that there are 27 subsoils in Champagne and 15 in this area, so a wide range and a lot of complexity” across a small area, Antonin notes you find chalk, clay, silex, composite soils and different chalky marls. Viticulture is the same for both estates, organic viticulture, with biodynamic influences, horse plowing but also pragmatism. Seventy percent of the vineyards are massal and the average yield is very low due to this old genetic material. For now, the estate is very small, producing only 10,000 bottles, with the rest of the fruit being sold to his friends Aurelien Laherte and Jean-Marc Sélèque. The vinification at Wirth-Michel differs from José Michel in that the vintage wines are raised in 600-liter barrels and non-vintage wines in steel and concrete. The winemaking is very hands off, and Antonin intends to keep this style. “In fact, the wines of José Michel will change to be a bit more like Wirth-Michel in the future, rather than the other way around” he notes.