Roland Champion Éclat de Craie

Roland Champion Éclat de Craie is the most useful starting point for anyone coming to this Chouilly grower for Chardonnay. Roland Champion farms 14 hectares across more than 30 parcels, with Chardonnay from Chouilly Grand Cru forming the backbone of the estate and smaller holdings of Meunier and Pinot Noir in Verneuil completing the family vineyard. Éclat de Craie keeps the focus firmly on the Côte des Blancs. It is a 100% Chardonnay Blanc de Blancs assembled from more than fifteen Chouilly parcels, so it offers a broad reading of the village rather than isolating one site. The current release combines equal parts of the 2021 harvest and the estate’s perpetual reserve, with 4 g/L dosage and a May 2022 tirage. That perpetual reserve is an important part of the wine’s context. Roland Champion began the reserve in 2012, using it to connect successive multi-vintage releases while the vintage and single-parcel wines move in the opposite direction, concentrating on a particular harvest or place. Éclat de Craie therefore sits neatly between continuity and terroir: unmistakably Chouilly-led, but designed as a house reference rather than a one-off parcel study. The rest of the range becomes easier to navigate from here. Secret d’Aramis gives the broader three-grape family style, Rosé Carat covers the rosé route, and Grand Éclat or Spécial Club move towards more mature, vintage-specific Chardonnay. Les Partelaines is the specialist choice for a single Chouilly parcel and zero dosage. For buyers, Éclat de Craie is compelling because it explains the estate without demanding prior knowledge of individual vineyards. It delivers Chardonnay, Chouilly and the perpetual-reserve philosophy in one bottle, making it a particularly sensible first purchase before exploring Roland Champion’s more narrowly defined releases.