LA TABLE RONDE

The fruit here originates in the grands crus of Cramant, Avize and Chouilly. Bright, youthful lemon-green colour. This offering is based on the 2018 harvest year and topped up with 30% of wines from a perpetual reserve. The nose shows some fine toasty evolution. Clean, supple, elegant fruitiness of green apple and ripe pear; a flick of vanilla and toasted bread brings added complexity. Beautifully creamy on the palate, with a finely integrated mousse and a laser-like acid line that cuts right through. The 3.5g/l dosage allows for a finish that feels pure yet friendly. Disgorged 09/22; dosage 4.8g/l Drinking range: 2023 - 2030 Rating: 91 Essi Avellan MW, Club Oenologique (Apr 2023)

100% Chardonnay from Cramant, Chouilly and Avize. 2018 base with the addition of its own perpetual reserve. There's nervosity, tension and delicacy at the heart of this, although 2018's warmth brings some sweet clementine and zesty grapefruit intensity around the edges. Some toasted sourdough and russet apple complexity too. Refined and engaging. Tom Hewson Rating: 92 Tim Atkin MW, www.timatkin.com (Dec 2022)

Made from Chardonnays from around 20 plots located on three grand cru terroirs of the Côte des Blancs (Cramant 60%, Avize 10%, Chouilly 30%). Based on 2017. Dosage 3.5 g/l. More obvious acidity and structure than the Instant Présent, But good balance and attractive citrus flavour – plus length. Rating: 16.5 Jancis Robinson OBE MW - www.JancisRobinson.com (Nov 2022)

(100% chardonnay, 80% 2016 harvest, disgorged February 2021, dosage 3.5 g/L). This isn’t as aromatically elegant as the first two wines with much more petrol character on the white orchard fruit, floral and yeast suffused nose. The rich, full-bodied and generously proportioned flavors possess excellent complexity if not much refinement, indeed the texture is borderline rustic on the powerful, very dry and persistent finish. This would best suit those who enjoy power Champagne. Drinking range: 2022 - Rating: 90 Allen Meadows, www.Burghound.com (Apr 2022)

To be frank, Table Ronde is the ‘identity card’ of the House of Lancelot-Pienne, its reference, its style at its purest! This blanc de blancs is produced with chardonnays from about twenty plots on the three grand crus terroirs in the Côte des Blancs (Cramant, Avize, Chouilly). Soil: chalk Vineyard age: 50 years Winemaking in temperature controlled stainless steel vats guarantees a ‘high definition’ expression of Côte des Blancs and offers wine lovers the best they can expect. Alcoholic fermentation at stabilized 18-20°C temperature. Controlled malolactic fermentation 100% Issued from the 2017 harvest, the core of the cuvée (80%) is blended with earlier Chardonnay wines stored under the ‘Solera’ system, a long-term reserve solely made of Chardonnays from our Grands Crus terroirs of the previous 14 years. Bottling takes place in July: with more open and better-defined wines, champagne composition can be achieved more adequately and accurately. In the mouth, Table Ronde tastes slightly of “wet chalk” (make no mistake, this is not a flaw, quite the contrary!), as well as salt induced by the terroir’s chalk and “flint” for its minerality. In this cuvée, Gilles Lancelot has sought to use dosage sugar (3.5g/l) as one would do salt in cuisine: to enhance taste and promote precision and harmony in the wine. Winemaker's notes (Jan 2022)

(made with fruit grown in Cramant; 8 g/l dosage): Pale yellow. Ripe citrus fruits, jasmine and white pepper on the mineral-accented nose and in the mouth. Becomes fleshier with air, picking up notes of white peach and sweet butter that cling through a long, expansive finish. This rich yet lively Champagne has the heft to handle rich foods. Rating: 90 Josh Raynolds, www.vinousmedia.com (Jan 2015)