WINE PARIS 2026 - Raw Wine Off
musical wines
Organic and Biodynamic Independent Champagnes from small family-owned vineyards at RAWWINE 2026
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There were many of them this year at Espace Clacquesin (18 avenue du Maréchal Leclerc, 92240 Malakoff) in a very attractive former liqueur factory.
Among the selection, I was particularly impressed by the taste of the luminous Champagne Alexandre Chaillon “Vitrail” 2020 Extra Brut blend of three grape varieties, whose complexity of red fruits coupled with hazelnut flavors is bathed in the minerality of the terroir.
The Champagne André Heucq “Hommage Parcellaire” Les Vignes Blanches Vallée de la Marne: Cuisles, Brut Nature, Chardonnay 2019 is well characterized by the energetic purity we seek; as is the case with Champagne Anthony Betouzet in 2023 for “Terre de Grès” (mostly Meunier, Pinot Noir, Chardonnay) Extra Brut and “Les Nourats” (Meunier) non-dosage.
Champagne Charles-Henri Dupont “Initium” Blanc de blancs 2021 is a gentle blend of citrus and chalk.
Champagne Drémont Marroy “Eclosion Pinot Noir” Parcellaires Brut Nature 0 combines its rich, spicy apple tart flavor with chalky bitterness.
Hervé Brisson‘s artisanal Champagne “Les Régales” Parcelle d’identité Extra Brut 2021 Chardo, Montagne de Reims, is rare and fiery with a desire to be drunk!
Champagne Elemart Robion in Lhéry delivers a 100% Petit Meslier Extra Brut 2020 that is appealing for its salinity on the palate.
Champagne Simone & Lucien in the Marne Valley bursts with flavors in its editions, ranging from baked morello cherries with notes of apricot to the lively tension of two well-known grape varieties.
Champagne Piollot in the Côte des Bar, with its “Comme des Tallants” Pinot Noir Brut Nature, delights with its refined mineral exoticism, much to the pleasure of the sensitive palate.
Champagne Delong Pinot Noir 2016 in the Sézanne region, where Marlène breaks the rules of sapidity for greater femininity, blending the ardor of citrus, yellow fruit, and dried fruit.
The sparkling composition of Anna Wise’s “Precious Possession” in 2016 highlights the vigor of this cuvée with its Parnassian bubbles.
The complete series of Marie Copinet’s Champagne 0 dosage in Côtes du Sézannais is as successful as ever, masterfully crafted and bursting with ultra-fresh flavors.
The Champagne La Villesenière “Expérience N°2” Chardo 2023 soothed my palate with its romantic touch.
The Jérôme Blin Champagne cuvées “Les Ports” (90% Meunier plus 3 grape varieties) & “Meunier sur sable” 2022, non-dosage, from photogenic Vincelles, vehemently overwhelm our appetite.
The Dumont family’s Domaine de Mondeville in Côtes des Bar and its Champagne “Libre” 2021 Pinot Noir, inspired by the Genius Loci (spirit of the place), satisfies us with the free expression of fruit and flowers of voluble beauty.
The Durdon Bouval Champagne series with its floral labels indicates a winemaker who is very attentive to his terroir in the Marne Valley in Vincelles. The overall result is a tasting experience at its zenith, resulting from aromatic and flavorful effervescent acrobatics in Blanc de Blancs and non-dosage Noirs from 2022 to 2023, in a perfectly choreographed dance orchestrated with devotion by their creators.
To finish Vincent Cuillier‘s series in Champagne Nature Pinot Noir, “Clos Forestier” & “Fusion” burst with flavor, with a lively and full-bodied tempo on the palate that makes the seeds of a ripe strawberry pop.
With more than thirty Champagne estates present at Raw Wine this year, here are my taste preferences, based on the lively, fruity, and intense characteristics sincerely produced by these organic or biodynamic, natural or extremely meticulous and precise winemakers.
My curiosity also leads me to the Georgian wave, which is well represented at this 2026 edition with almost ten winemakers from so far away.
I have chosen the whites from Tilisma Winery in the Kakheti region, “RKATSITELI QVEVRI 2022” amphorae (vanilla peach flavor) with the cat label in particular.
Trumpeter Theo Croker (Feat. Jill Scott) – To Be We (2022) creates a fresh, hushed and sensual musical atmosphere, reflecting the Bacchic nectar on the palate.
Then there are the reds, ambers, and rosés from George Wolski for Andrias Gvino near Tbilisi in the same region as the previous one, where I particularly liked the star grape variety, Saperavi from Khashmi, vinified in amphorae like the others.
The amber (orange) white wines from the Anapea Village estate, “Sandro” 2020 – 5 grape varieties Khikhvi, Kisi, Mtsvane Kakhuri + 2, “Kisi” 2024 from the KVARELI Kakheti region are of excellent quality.
Gotsa wines, with the rare red cuvée Saperavi 2020 in large amphorae buried in the Asureti Valley in the Kartli region,
reveal a flavorful blend of cherry and blackberry with hints of tobacco.
Ugly Fella’s wines, linked to Andrias Gvino, round off my flavorful afternoon with the delicious 2024 amber vintages in amphorae, “Kisi and Khikhvi” & “Rkatsiteli” from the village of Kvemo Khodasheni, Telavi in Kakheti.
















