LARMANDIER-BERNIER

'Longitude' Blanc de Blancs Extra Brut 1er Cru NV

IN STOCK
Grapes Chardonnay
Colour White
Origin France, Champagne
Other Bio-dynamic, Certified Organic
Classification 1er Cru
ABV 12.5%

100% Chardonnay from premier cru vineyards in Vertus, Oger, Avize and Cramant. Lightly clarified juice goes into wooden vats and casks. Spontaneous fermentation and natural malo. Wines are aged on lees, unfiltered and unfined. 40% of the blend comes from the estate's perpetual reserve started in 2004. Aged three years sur lattes. Disgorged by hand. Dosage 3 g/l. Really fresh nose! Like an early morning walk in an early summer garden full of fresh green and flowers. Oranges, bitter oranges, orange blossom and river pebbles. Tiny bubbles and a finish that hints at caramel. Tiny nip of bitter spice at the end. Those bubbles must be made from silk! Drinking range: 2023 - 2030 Tamlyn Currin - www.JancisRobinson.com (Jun 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.

This is a touch more full bodied than the Latitude, even though it is also 100% Chardonnay. There are some more evolved notes yet this remains very elegant and long. Chiselled but with softer edges. Now labelled as 'Longitude.' All the fruit here comes from the village of Vertus, as well as the grands crus of Avize, Cramant, Chouilly and Oger, Longitude reflects the character and finesse of these chalky soils. Interestingly, the disgorgement date can be found lasered into the glass of each bottle. L&S

The NV Extra Brut Blanc de Blancs Longitude 1er Cru is a powerful, ample wine. The Longitude builds beautifully in the glass, creamy and textured, with tons of resonance. Pear, white pepper, dried flowers, mint and chalk are all delineated in a Champagne that blends power and tension. This is all class. Dosage is 3 grams per liter. Disgorged: February, 2023. Drinking range: 2025 - 2033 Rating: 94 Antonio Galloni, www.vinous.com (Nov 2023)

Chardonnay from Vertus, Avize, Cramant and Oger. 2019 base with 40% reserve wines. Inviting nut milk and clementine sweetness up front here, with a delicious sourdough tang here and a classical, fine and layered profile with ripples of fine lemon peel. The assemblage and the reserve wines make this feel truly involved and complex for a young wine – a classic that remains approachably priced. Tom Hewson Rating: 93 Tim Atkin MW, www.timatkin.com (Dec 2022)

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.

Christmas Grower Champagne Mixed Case

If this is not the time for a sparkling treat, when is? We've put together a selection of festive sparklers from some of our favourite growers. These might not be "big names" but it's hard to beat this level of quality at such a price, and, the icing on the cake, we have shaved our usual case price off by an extra ten pounds. Merry Christmas!

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