If you caught my previous post on Green & Blue Wines you may recall I tasted this Larmandier-Bernier Terre de Vertus Champagne. As I wouldn’t stop talking about it for weeks after first tasting it, Mrs SamTheWino treated me to a bottle of it for my 30th birthday. Yes dear reader, you are right to be jealous.

I’m a big fan of small independent producers (as I may have mentioned once or twice before) and it is encouraging to see “grower Champagnes” getting ever more recognition. Larmandier-Bernier have 15 hectares of vines and the grapes for this wine are taken from the best slopes of their Premier Cru vineyards around the village of Vertus. In order to produce wines that truly express the terroir they farm biodynamically and use only naturally occurring yeasts.

This is a Blanc de Blancs made from 100% Chardonnay grapes. Unlike the vast majority of Champagnes they use zero dosage, i.e. no sugar is added at bottling. A bit of sugar can hide all manner of sins and without it the grapes really have to speak for themselves. Thankfully the quality of fruit really shines through here. It’s razor sharp and fresh without quite stepping over the line into becoming too acidic. One the nose there are intense stone fruit aromas. Whilst there is a hint of yeastiness, it’s a much leaner style of Champagne with more minerality than some of the overly biscuity or briochey styles that are more abundant. At just under £50 it’s not cheap but if you’re looking for something extra special I can’t recommend it highly enough. It’s also a good excuse to visit Green & Blue.