Coteaux Champenois Blanc "Pierre de Bellevue" Oeuilly 2021

A still white wine from Champagne, made entirely from Pinot Meunier, dry and without carbonation. The Pierre de Bellevue shows the variety unadorned: clear fruit, taut acidity, a cool tone.

Œuilly, where the Tarlant family has made wine since 1687. In 1911, Louis Tarlant, serving as mayor, organised the growers' resistance and helped secure the AOC boundaries of Champagne; in 1928 he bottled the estate's first own cuvée. Today Benoît and Mélanie Tarlant run the estate in its twelfth generation: 14 hectares spread across more than 55 parcels, farmed organically, without herbicides or synthetic plant protection products. Work in the vineyard follows biodynamic practices, though the estate does not pursue certification.

Pinot Meunier, often treated in Champagne as a filler variety, stands alone in the bottle here. In the cellar, Tarlant works with wild yeasts and ferments in barrel rather than stainless steel, without filtration and without malolactic fermentation. 12.0% ABV, dry.

Ripe apple and yellow pear, alongside white blossom and lemon zest. The entry is dry and lean, the acidity carries straight through, and the finish stays long without sweetness.

Smoked trout, goat cheese and roasted cauliflower with tahini, as well as Comté or white meat.

Since the late 1970s, the house has bottled its champagnes without dosage, now accounting for over 90 percent of production; for a still wine, the question of dosage simply doesn't arise. Tarlant cultivates all seven grape varieties permitted in Champagne.