The Brice family offers a capsule history of Bouzy. They have been in the village for over 300 years and have owned land since the French Revolution. After the Second World War the family refocused from Bouzy Rouge to Champagne, supplying the big houses with some prime Grand Crus, which would generally be blended into a non-vintage cuvée.
In the 1990s Jean-Paul Brice decided to take advantage of their holdings and begin focussing on producing Grand Cru Champagnes of their own. He established the Brice house and began releasing wines like this NV Grand Cru Blanc de Noir.
This is pure Bouzy Pinot Noir. It’s grown in three lieux-dits (Les Chantereines, Les Cercets, Les Grosses Pierres) and delivers red apple and sour cherry fruit up front, but a palate built on shape and intense length rather than overt fruitiness. A touch of extended time on the lees gives it just enough plushness, while the wine’s fine acidity and mineral backbone hold everything in balance.
The winemaking keeps things terroir transparent: no malolactic fermentation, partial oak fermentation, and a low dosage (less than 4g/L) let you feel the tension between fruit and structure — a hallmark of serious Bouzy Pinot. And while it's wonderfully complete now, it’s not without aging potential. Still, we’ll be opening it at the table with a great meal. The Brice family suggests grilled lobster or Poularde au Champagne (Champagne braised 4-month old hen). Of course, if you don’t have lobster or fancy French poultry on hand, don’t sweat it: any fish or white meat dish with complexity will be elevated by the wine, and bring out the wine’s natural complexity in turn. Chicken with mushrooms and herbs would be great, as would, honestly, a pre-dinner charcuterie plate.

If the NV Blanc de Noirs is about immediacy and lift, the 2016 Vintage Champagne is about structure and time. This is a powerful wine from a powerful but balanced vintage (one of the best of the past decade) and it shows. It is Pinot-focused, but the 20% Chardonnay — grown in the same Bouzy terroirs — brings its own high-toned, Bouzy-specific structure and tension, as well as giving the fruit some green apple notes that complement the opulence and ripe red fruit it shares with the Blanc de Noirs.
Likewise, while the winemaking is similar to the NV Blanc de Noirs in that there is no malolactic fermentation and a low dosage, keeping the acidity on point, there are some notable differences which give the wine even more aging potential. First, the base wine is fermented exclusively in oak, giving more exposure to oxygen early in the process. Even more important, the Champagne rests on its lees for five full years, giving it increased depth and a generous autolytic character (the toasty flavors of the yeasts which have broken down over time). l.
The wine is singing at the moment, but there’s no doubt that with five or ten years in the cellar it will deepen and develop into something even more toasty, layered, and textural. If you love watching Champagne evolve, this is a great candidate for the cellar – no matter how hard it will be to keep your hands off it for now.
The Brice family makes exactly the same pairing recommendations, and we get that; with tart green apple on the entry, red fruit in the mid-palate, and a mineral drive with fine, chalky grip on the finish, it would be great with the same foods. But they also note that this is a good wine to finish a meal with, which really gets to the heart of the difference between the wines.