Champagne Rosé de Saignée 1e cru - Pinot Noir & Gris

90% Pinot Noir & 10% Pinot Gris | single vineyard | stokken 50+ jaar oud | saignée methode, 2/3 dagen maceratie | vergisting en rijping voor 1 jaar in betonnen ei | 2 jaar sur lattes | 6 maanden op fles voor release | dosage 2g/l | Chambolle met bubbels | intens fruit | kruidig | fijne zuren | breed inzetbaar

Larmandier-Bernier

Champagne wijnboeren tot in perfectie. Niet voor niets worden Pierre en Sophie Larmandier gevierd als één van de beste Champagnemakers. De twee bezitten een topterroir in de Côte de Blancs en maken van bodem tot druif uiteindelijk muziek in het glas. De wijncultuur is biodynamisch, de stokken zijn gemiddeld boven de 30 jaar en de rendementen zijn laag. Al hun Champagnes smaken ontzettend puur en natuurlijk. Befaamde prouducent die zich mag rekenen tot de allerbeste Artisinale Champagne producenten!

Review

Based on the 2019 vintage, the new NV Extra-Brut Rosé de Saignée is a rich, gastronomic wine, delivering aromas of raspberries and cherries mingled with notions of kirsch, warm spices and petals. Medium to full-bodied, layered and fleshy, with racy acids and a pretty pinpoint mousse, it's a vinous Champagne that would work well at table. 93/100 William Kelley

In the 1990s, Pierre Larmandier and his wife Sophie began to work the soils of their vineyards and abandoned the use of herbicides, moving toward organic and then biodynamic farming. They have had few imitators: "I thought I could be five years ahead of the others in giving up on chemical farming," Pierre observed to me, "but I never imagined that I might be fifty years ahead!" Pierre's father had always advocated picking mature fruit, and with the new farming methods, the wines became almost too concentrated and tightly wound, he relates. So, changes in the winery followed suit: fermentation in wood—foudres, demi-muids and barrels (today, mainly from Stockinger)—instead of stainless steel, and the use of ambient instead of selected yeasts. Today, Larmandier-Bernier numbers among the Côte de Blanc's—and Champagne's—finest estates, and with some 19 hectares of vines, their wines are happily not as hard to find as those released by the region's smallest micro-producers. All these recent and forthcoming releases are warmly recommended, and I'll be writing more about the estate in a future issue.

Larmandier-Bernier numbers among the Côte de Blanc's—and Champagne's—finest estates. Based in Vertus, the Larmandier family farm organically and harvest late, vinifying the resulting wines in wood. The result is vinous, elegantly muscular Champagnes that are concentrated but precise. In a region that still produces far too many meager, brittle wines, Larmander-Bernier reminds us of the plenitude and texture of which great Champagne is capable. The range begins with two non-vintage Blanc de Blancs: Latitude, broad and charming; and Longitude, more chiseled and incisive. Next come three vintage cuvées: Vieille Vigne de Levant, from Cramant; Les Chemins d’Avize, from the eponymous village; and the Terre de Vertus. Two perfumed rosé de saignée cuvées complement the portfolio, now joined by small quantities of still red and white Côteaux Champenois. As remarkable for their consistency as their quality, any wine that bears this family’s label is well worth seeking out