- Producer
- Tarlant
- Grape variety
- Chardonnay, Pinot Noir (Spätburgunder)
- Region
- Champagne
- Country
- France
- Vintage
- 1996
- Alcohol
- 12 % vol
- Volume
- 0.75 l
- Item no.
- 9920310074
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Cuvée Louis, Brut Nature Millésime 1996
The Cuvée Louis Brut Nature Millésime 1996 from Tarlant is a single-parcel Champagne from the lieu-dit Les Crayons in Œuilly, an even split of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, aged 26 years on the lees and bottled with no dosage.
CHF 204.50
Prices in CHF, including customs duty and all import charges, plus shipping CHF 15 (free from 12 bottles or CHF 300) — no further charges on delivery.
Available for Switzerland
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About this wine
Character
The Cuvée Louis comes from a single small parcel on the lower slope of Œuilly and, after almost three decades in the cellar, opens with a freshness one would hardly expect at this age. On the nose, orange paste and lightly roasted nuts sit alongside citrus zest, iodine, white and red berries, soft apricots and ripe yellow apples. Power and finesse sit closely together.
Terroir and origin
The lieu-dit Les Crayons lies at 90 metres in Œuilly in the Vallée de la Marne, on a 12 percent slope with an east-to-west exposure, over a subsoil of pure Campanian chalk. The cool Marne shapes the microclimate. The vines descend from a sélection massale planted by Louis, Georges, Germaine and Geo Tarlant between 1946 and 1948.
Grape variety and vinification
50 percent Pinot Noir and 50 percent Chardonnay, harvested on 1 and 4 October 1996. Gentle gravity-flow pressing, spontaneous primary fermentation and eight months on full lees in Burgundian oak casks, with no induced malolactic fermentation, neither filtered nor fined. Bottled in spring 1997, disgorged on 5 June 2023 after 26 years of lees ageing in bottle. Dosage of zero grams, making it a Brut Nature.
On the palate
The acidity feels as fresh as on day one: lemon zest, lemon pips, alongside a saline streak. Set against this are candied fruit, pastry and beeswax in a creamy texture. The yellow-toned Chardonnay leads at first, and as the wine warms in the glass, the red tones of the Pinot Noir emerge. The final sip brings walnut, cinnamon and a hint of Fino.
Distinctive features
Tarlant has been bottling Champagne with no dosage whatsoever since the 1970s; the estate in Œuilly has existed since 1687 and is now run by the twelfth generation, Mélanie and Benoît Tarlant. The 1996 was still made by their parents; the siblings let it rest until they judged it ready.
