Champagne Larmandier-Bernier Les Chemins Champagne Grand Cru 'Avize' 2011

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Robert Parker
The 2011 Extra Brut Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru Les Chemins d'Avize is superb, unfurling in the glass with a classy bouquet of warm biscuits, waxy citrus rind, buttered yellow apples and hints of gingerbread. On the palate, the wine is broad, full-bodied and powerful, with an ample core of fruit, ripe acids, superb concentration and a delicate mousse, concluding with a long finish. From the southeast-facing Chemin de Plivot and Chemin de Flavigny lieux-dits, this is the most generous, sun-kissed wine in the range. It's fermented in old barrels and sees four years sur lattes, followed by disgorgement with two grams per liter dosage. This Champagne displays some of the textural qualities of an excellent white Burgundy, and its glorious bouquet shows that ripe grapes and minimal dosage can deliver all the aromatic plenitude that some commentators contend only derives from added sugar and bottle age.

In the 1990s, Pierre Larmandier and his wife Sophie began to work the soils of their vineyards and abandoned the use of herbicides, moving toward organic and then biodynamic farming. They have had few imitators: "I thought I could be five years ahead of the others in giving up on chemical farming," Pierre observed to me, "but I never imagined that I might be fifty years ahead!" Pierre's father had always advocated picking mature fruit, and with the new farming methods, the wines became almost too concentrated and tightly wound, he relates. So, changes in the winery followed suit: fermentation in wood—foudres, demi-muids and barrels (today, mainly from Stockinger)—instead of stainless steel, and the use of ambient instead of selected yeasts. Today, Larmandier-Bernier numbers among the Côte de Blanc's—and Champagne's—finest estates, and with some 19 hectares of vines, their wines are happily not as hard to find as those released by the region's smallest micro-producers. All these recent and forthcoming releases are warmly recommended, and I'll be writing more about the estate in a future issue.

Champagne Larmandier-Bernier er grundlagt i 1971 af Philippe Larmandier i Vertus. Familierne Larmandier og Bernier har dyrket druer og fremstillet Champagne siden den franske revolution.

I 1988 indtræder Pierre Larmandier i husets drift og i 1992 omlægger han Champagne Larmandier-Berniers drift fra traditionel produktion til økologisk og siden biodynamisk sammen med sin kone Sophie.

Husets vinmarker tæller ca. 50 ha, hvor de yngste er ca. 3 års nyplantninger og de ældste over 75 år. Gennemsnitsalderen er 33 år og markerne er beliggende i Côte de Blancs med parceller i Vertus, Cramant, Chouilly, Oger og Avize – alle ”Cru Village”.

Druefordelingen er 85% Chardonnay og 15% Pinot Noir der altid høstes via håndkraft.

Teknikkerne Pierre bruger er naturlig gæring hvor vinen efterfølgende ligger på deres grove bundfald i fade fra Østrig der variere i størrelser. Alle marker behandles med individuelle fermenteringer af parceller og meget begrænset ”dosage” foretages. I visse tilfælde bruges der ingen ”dosage”. Pierre foretrækker ikke at filtrer sine vine, så de beholder deres aromaer maksimalt.