Coteaux Champenois is the still red of Champagne, and few growers take it as seriously as Olivier Horiot. En Val Bazot is one of Les Riceys’ most respected lieux-dits, a clay-and-limestone site over Kimmeridgian bedrock that gives Pinot Noir real structure. Harvested by hand, fermented spontaneously, and aged eighteen months in oak, the 2018 lands somewhere between a savory Cote de Nuits and the leaner Pinots of the Aube. It’s a quiet wine, but a serious one, and it ages.