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2015 LARMANDIER-BERNIER Les Chemins d'Avize Blanc de Blancs Extra Brut Grand Cru, Lea & Sandeman

LARMANDIER-BERNIER

2015 Les Chemins d'Avize Blanc de Blancs Extra Brut Grand Cru

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

A profound chalky, crushed stone entry with citrus peel, wild flowers and the merest touch of brioche. Structured and bold in the mouth, with energy and drive, deeply fruity, citrus, stone fruit, then that chalk undertow, good grip, toasted brioche, deep, long and incredibly satisfying. L&S (May 2023)

*Case price discount: Mix any 12 bottles of wine (or 9 litre equivalent) or 6 bottles of Champagne, Spirits, Sweet Wine or Fortified (4.5 litres) to get the discounted 'case price' for each bottle.

Two vineyards, Chemin de Plivot and Chemin de Flavigny, of 50-year-old vines planted on chalky sites with thin top soils in the heart of Avize; wild fermented in small Stockinger oak barrels and a 2000L foudre; 2g/L dosage

2015 was a bit complicated! In Avize, we were able to avoid the green characters we saw in some other crus. We harvested them at what we thought was a ripe level but some were not ripe.

'We will sell half a vintage each year for a few years to build the tirage time for Les Chemins d'Avize and release it at ten years of age, the same as Vieilles Vignes du Levant.' - Pierre Larmandier

The oak influence here is prominent, setting a stage of roast nuts and toast with a touch of smoky vanilla. In time the oak assimilates into the fruit with air and warmth in the glass. Larmandier reveals that he sometimes thinks it has too much wood, depending on the day and the temperature of service. A core of lemon and grapefruit purity signs Avize, ripe and supple, with gentle, fine, saline minerality drawing out a long finish. Impeccable ripeness completely dodges the underripeness that characterises this season. It holds good length and soft fine saline Avize minerality. Give it another few years in the cellar to fully come together.

Tasted 2023 Rating: 93 Tyson Stelzer - The Champagne Guide

Certified organic and biodynamic. Vinified in oak casks and vats. I love the herby aromatic dancing-away top notes of this wine – it's like breathing in a handful of napeta and lavender. Quite white-wine-like; it reminds me a little of an aged, barrel-fermented Lugana! Concentrated, the fruit buried deep, and thrumming with urgent life and power. Bouquet garni, wild flowers, quince skin and lime leaf. Flint and petrol contours shape the long-lasting finish. Drinking range: 2024 - 2035 Rating: 18 Tamlyn Currin - www.JancisRobinson.com (May 2024)

The 2015 Extra-Brut Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru Les Chemins d'Avize opens in the glass with aromas of citrus oil, verbena, fresh pasty, vanilla pod and fresh herbs. Medium to full-bodied, pillowy and chalky, with a vinous, rather concentrated profile and bright acids, it's a little compact out of the gates but appears to be built to age with grace. Drinking range: 2025 - 2040 Rating: 94+ William Kelley, The Wine Advocate (Dec 2023)

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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