Winemaker Notes
90% Chardonnay 10% Pinot Noir100% of the fruit comes from estate-owned parcels located in each of the seven villages in the Côte des Blancs: Avize, Oger, Oiry, Cramant, Avenay Val d'Or, Bergères les Vertus, and Mardeuil. Practicing organic; use of high quality organic composte for the soils and vines; all fruit is hand-harvested.Following 100% malolactic fermentation, one-quarter of the wine is aged in older (more neutral) 600L casks, the remainder is aged in stainless steel tanks. Dosage is 6 grams/liter. SO2 < 50 mg/l. No fining nor filtration. Ageing sur lie for 20-32 months.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Vibrant fruit here, with peaches, apricots, lemons, pears, almonds and spicy anise notes. Fresh and crisp with very fine bubbles. Textured, with wonderful purity of fruit. 90% chardonnay and 10% pinot noir from 7 villages. Fruit 60% from 2019 and 40% from 2018.
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Wine Spectator
A well-cut Champagne, with a minerally underpinning and a pleasing tension to finely knit flavors of white cherry and Anjou pear, grated ginger and sliced almond. Plush and creamy on the lingering finish. Disgorged April 2020. Drink now through 2023. 3,000 cases made, 500 cases imported.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The NV Brut 7 Crus, based on the 2022 vintage (50%) and complemented by reserve wines from 2021, blends the juices from the end pressing of all villages of the estate and includes 10% Pinot Noir from Avenay-val-d'Or. Disgorged in October 2024 with with a dosage of five grams per liter, it’s a wine with more a immediate personality, offering up aromas of peach, pear and bread dough. Ample and textural, it’s underpinned by succulent yet vibrant acidity. The one wine in range that can ever be described as simple, it is less coherent with the rest of the lineup, which exclusively derives from the Côte de Blancs.
A term typically reserved for Champagne and Sparkling Wines, non-vintage or simply “NV” on a label indicates a blend of finished wines from different vintages (years of harvest). To make non-vintage Champagne, typically the current year’s harvest (in other words, the current vintage) forms the base of the blend. Finished wines from previous years, called “vins de reserve” are blended in at approximately 10-50% of the total volume in order to achieve the flavor, complexity, body and acidity for the desired house style. A tiny proportion of Champagnes are made from a single vintage.
There are also some very large production still wines that may not claim one particular vintage. This would be at the discretion of the winemaker’s goals for character of the final wine.
Associated with luxury, celebration, and romance, the region, Champagne, is home to the world’s most prized sparkling wine. In order to bear the label, ‘Champagne’, a sparkling wine must originate from this northeastern region of France—called Champagne—and adhere to strict quality standards. Made up of the three towns Reims, Épernay, and Aÿ, it was here that the traditional method of sparkling wine production was both invented and perfected, birthing a winemaking technique as well as a flavor profile that is now emulated worldwide.
Well-drained, limestone and chalky soil defines much of the region, which lend a mineral component to its wines. Champagne’s cold, continental climate promotes ample acidity in its grapes but weather differences from year to year can create significant variation between vintages. While vintage Champagnes are produced in exceptional years, non-vintage cuvées are produced annually from a blend of several years in order to produce Champagnes that maintain a consistent house style.
With nearly negligible exceptions, . These can be blended together or bottled as individual varietal Champagnes, depending on the final style of wine desired. Chardonnay, the only white variety, contributes freshness, elegance, lively acidity and notes of citrus, orchard fruit and white flowers. Pinot Noir and its relative Pinot Meunier, provide the backbone to many blends, adding structure, body and supple red fruit flavors. Wines with a large proportion of Pinot Meunier will be ready to drink earlier, while Pinot Noir contributes to longevity. Whether it is white or rosé, most Champagne is made from a blend of red and white grapes—and uniquely, rosé is often produce by blending together red and white wine. A Champagne made exclusively from Chardonnay will be labeled as ‘blanc de blancs,’ while ones comprised of only red grapes are called ‘blanc de noirs.’