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2013 LARMANDIER-BERNIER Les Chemins d'Avize Blanc de Blancs Extra Brut Grand Cru, Lea & Sandeman

LARMANDIER-BERNIER

2013 Les Chemins d'Avize Blanc de Blancs Extra Brut Grand Cru

Grapes Chardonnay
Colour White
Origin France, Champagne
Other Bio-dynamic, Certified Organic
Village Cramant
Classification Grand Cru
ABV 12.5%

100% Chardonnay from two old-vine plots in the heart of Avize. In 2009 they bought a smaller press so that they could separate the juice from the two plots: Chemin de Plivot and Chemin de Flavigny. Poor soil with a chalk seam. Vines average 50 years old. Lightly clarified juice goes into wooden vats and casks. Spontaneous fermentation, natural malo. Young wines are aged on lees and unfined, unfiltered. Sur lattes for seven years. Disgorged by hand. Dosage 2 g/l. Remarkably floral on the nose. Pear flower, wild-meadow flowers. Bone dry, almost iron-like, earth and rust, storm-battered sea shells. So salty! Like licking a cliff face. Quinine. Uncompromising but at the same time, far from unapproachable. Cumin. Caraway. Like looking at the sky through salt crystals. A wine that needs attention, full attention, deserves time in the glass, a quiet space, contemplation from the drinker (and not a noisy tasting room!) Drinking range: 2023 - 2038 Rating: 18 Tamlyn Currin - www.JancisRobinson.com (Jun 2023)


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The 2013 Extra Brut Les Chemins d'Avize Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru is floral and gracious, much more so than is common in Avize Champagnes, which tend to have more body. The 2013 is beautifully perfumed and ethereal from start to finish, with striking beams of salinity that confer tension. Candied lemon peel, white flowers, spice, hazelnut, dried flowers and chamomile are some of the many notes that are laced together. This subtle, wonderfully nuanced Champagne has so much to offer. It is the most restrained wine in this range. The Chemins d'Avize is a blend of fruit from Chemin de Plivot and Chemin de Flavigny, done in neutral oak. Dosage is 2 grams per liter. Disgorged: October, 2019. Drinking range: 2020 - 2028 Rating: 94 Antonio Galloni, www.vinous.com (Nov 2020)

Disgorged in October 2019, Larmandier-Bernier's 2013 Extra-Brut Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru Les Chemins d'Avize is showing brilliantly, unfurling in the glass with a lovely nose of citrus oil, fresh apricot, peach and pear, complemented by hints of fresh walnuts and almond paste. Full-bodied, deep and vinous, it's layered and elegantly muscular, with a concentrated core of ripe fruit, racy acids and a long, mineral finish. Pierre Larmandier invariably excels in cool, late growing seasons, so the 2013 vintage was perfectly adapted to his talents. Drinking range: 2020 - 2040 Rating: 96 William Kelley, The Wine Advocate (Oct 2020)

Champagne Larmandier-Bernier

Pierre and Sophie Larmandier and their sons Arthur and now Georges too (joined September 2021) are determined to make wines as true as possible to their origins in their different vineyards. These are split into around fifty separate parcels spread across the Côte des Blancs in the grand cru villages of Cramant, Chouilly, Oger and Avize, and the premier cru of Vertus.

All but three of the parcels (representing 0.5 hectares) are farmed using non-officially certified biodynamic methods. Wines are made only from their own 15 hectares of vines, which are on average 33 years old. All of their Champagnes are the purest expressions of Chardonnay.

Working only with natural yeasts the influence of 'terroir' is all important to the style of his wines, so much so that he uses a minimum 'dosage' (if at all) so as not to mask the wines natural characteristics.

Pierre has recently changed the 'Tradition' cuvée, re-launching it as 'Latitude', and it is now also a Blanc de Blancs, with its origins in the vineyards south of Vertus. The old 'Blanc de Blancs cuvée, which is known henceforth as 'Longitude', comes exclusively from vineyards on the Cote de Blancs itself and is classified Premier Cru'.

The Pinot Noir is now reserved exclusively for Pierre's distinctive dark rosé and for the Vertus Rouge Coteaux Champenois.

Awarded the Robert Parker Green emblem in July 2021.

This wine isn't currently part of a mixed case, but you can always browse our full selection of mixed cases here.
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