Champagne Laherte Frères Les Grandes Crayères 2019 Disg. Nov 2022

Champagne Laherte Frères Les Grandes Crayères is a blanc de blancs from the two chalkiest parcels the estate farms in the Coteaux Sud d'Épernay.

Crayères means chalk pits, and the name is apt: these parcels of mass-selection vines more than forty years old sit on a west-facing hillside where Campanian chalk lies beneath just twenty centimetres of topsoil. This is Aurélien Laherte's second Blanc de Blancs bottling after the Brut Nature, and it is designed to show the mineral, linear side of Chardonnay grown south of Épernay rather than in the Côte des Blancs proper. The base wine fermented with indigenous yeasts in old barrels, aged between three and ten years, and malolactic conversion was blocked, which emphasises the wine's chiselled quality. It then spent thirty months on lees in bottle and rested a further nine months after disgorgement before release. The dosage was under 4 g/L, and the bottle was disgorged by hand.

Precise and taut, ready now and good for five years or so; serve at 8°C with oysters, king prawns or a fresh goat's cheese.

*Every effort is made to ensure the current vintage is accurate; however, variations can occur. If you are after a specific vintage, please contact us prior to ordering.