Champagne Larmandier-Bernier 1er Cru Terre de Vertus Blanc de Blancs 2014

Terre de Vertus is one of three single-terroir Chardonnay wines produced at this Estate and is certainly the most famous. It is from the chalky 1er Cru vineyard plots of Les Barillers and Les Faucherets, situated mid-slope in Vertus. These sites make arguably the most explicitly mineral wines of the village; wines that can recall the best of Le Mesnil (to the north) in their chalky raciness and drive.

This was fermented naturally and aged 60% in neutral barrique and 40% in large wooden Stockinger cask. Malolactic fermentation began spontaneously (without inoculation) and the wines were left on their natural lees for nearly a year. After the second fermentation the wine was aged in bottle on cork and there was no dosage addition at disgorgement in order to respect the purity of the terroir. The result is one of the most distinctive and mineral wines of the entire Champagne region—a wine which is today regarded as one of the touchstone wines of the great grower movement.