A new Champagne is born: “Sténopé”, when Michel Chapoutier meets Devaux

Stenope

It all began with an encounter between a great Champagne lover based in Rhone Valley, Michel Chapoutier (“Rhone Ranger” as Will Lyons wrote in Wall Street Journal), and Champagne Devaux, around shared values of open-mindedness and respect for terroir. This encounter gave birth to a daring idea of creating a Champagne that is both rare and full of character: one that would portray the most trustworthy image of a single and unique year. This vision – capturing the very best portrait of a season – is the inspiration behind the name Sténopé. From the Greek, Sténopé is a small hole in a partition wall of a dark room, serving as a photographic lens: a very simple optical device used at the very beginning of photography to capture an image of reality.

​Always vintage, Sténopé is the result of a precise and unique blend of black and white grapes: Pinot noir and Chardonnay, two emblematic Champagne varieties. The Cellar Master, Michel PARISOT carefully selects the grapes from his preferred vineyard plots. This same attention to detail is applied during the pressing of the grapes, and the vinification – most of which takes place in barrel, as well as during the delicate “prise de mousse” stage which is followed by a prolonged bottle ageing.

​When Michel Chapoutier meets Champagne Devaux, this is what happens :‪#‎Sténopé‬, a photography of the extraordinary terroir of Champagne, released every year according to what the vintage brought. The challenge is, harvest upon harvest, to interpret a season, with all its unique characteristics that become apparent over time and, with one sip, to take each person on a journey of the senses, to the heart of that year. And the first release is a 2008 vintage. Allez….Champagne !

​More information here: http://www.champagne-devaux-stenope.com/