Champagne Laherte Frères Les Vignes d'Autrefois 2016 Disg. Feb 2020

Les Vignes d'Autrefois is Laherte Frères' varietal Meunier, from massal-selection parcels planted between 1947 and 1953.

Laherte Frères is a seventh-generation grower family at Chavot-Courcourt in the Coteaux Sud d'Épernay, in the heart of Meunier country, and Aurélien Laherte, who joined the estate in 2002, has done as much as anyone to argue that the variety deserves to be taken as seriously as Chardonnay or Pinot Noir. The name means the vines of former times. The fruit comes from old plantings at Chavot and Mancy, set out between 1947 and 1953 by massal selection, on clay and silt with flint and small stones over a chalky subsoil. The wine spends six months in neutral Burgundian barrels with regular lees stirring, malolactic fermentation is avoided, and it is finished with two to four grams of dosage. The estate's ten hectares are split into some seventy-five parcels and were certified organic from 2010 until the certification was given up after 2016; ploughing, plant infusions and biodynamic preparations continue.

Drinking well now and will hold for several years. Serve at about 8°C with charcuterie, roast pork or a mushroom tart.

*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.