Champagne Laherte Frères Ultradition NV Base 16. Disg. Oct 2018

Ultradition is the cuvée Laherte Frères makes in the greatest quantity, a Meunier-led blend with a large share of reserve wine.

The blend runs to roughly sixty per cent Pinot Meunier, thirty per cent Chardonnay and ten per cent Pinot Noir, with about forty per cent reserve wine folded in, and it sets out the house position plainly: Meunier taken seriously rather than used as filler. Aurélien Laherte draws the fruit from parcels around Chavot and the wider Coteaux Sud d'Épernay, part of the seventy-five or so parcels the family farms across ten villages with biodynamic preparations and plant infusions. Fermentation is by parcel on indigenous yeasts, most of it in neutral Burgundian barrels with the balance in foudre and tank, and malolactic conversion is allowed to run in part of the blend. Ageing on lees runs well beyond the appellation minimum, dosage is low, and both base year and disgorgement date are printed on the label.

An all-purpose Champagne, good as an aperitif or at the table. Serve at around 8°C with fried food, roast chicken or a mushroom tart.