Winemaker Notes
This exceptional Champagne is crafted from base wines matured exclusively in wooden barrels, imparting complexity, strength, and balance. The inviting bouquet features subtle oak, dried fruit, vanilla, and toasted brioche, while the palate is creamy and complex with a delicate hint of honey, a ripe, vinous character, and a wonderful finish. It is ideal for enjoying with food on special occasions.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
This is showing deep and complex notes of beeswax, walnuts, soy, oyster shells and quince. Rich and delicious, with salty and nutty components at play throughout. Long and savory. Very sleek and soft bubbles. Phenolic. One to have with food. 50% pinot noir and 50% chardonnay, based on the 2005 and 2004 vintages. Disgorged June 2022. 0g/L dosage.
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Jeb Dunnuck
From 70-year-old vines in the lieu-dit of Les Crayons in Tarlant’s home village of Oeuilly, the NV Champagne Cuvée Louis Tarlant Brut Nature is equal parts Chardonnay and Pinot Noir from 2005 and 2004. A rich golden hue, it’s generous on opening to aromas of butterscotch, golden apple, ginger, and preserved lemon. Ample on the palate, it offers a refined and elegant mousse, full-bodied richness, and a wonderfully broad and driving core of acidity. Long on the palate, it shows some evolution but is harmonious in quite an appealing way, This is an exceptional wine from Tarlant with a timely autumnal feel.
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Wine Spectator
A rich Champagne, offering layers of toasted hazelnut and brioche, quince paste, dried white cherry, and candied kumquat, with hints of butterscotch and pastry cream, all reined in beautifully by rapierlike acidity and an underpinning of salinity and oyster shell. Its deft balance results in a refreshing version, with both depth and length. Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. Disgorged June 2022. Drink now through 2030.
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.’