La Vigne Royale Brut Nature Blanc de Noirs 2007

The La Vigne Royale Brut Nature Blanc de Noirs 2007 is a single-vineyard Champagne made from 100% Pinot Noir, which Champagne Tarlant bottled without dosage after 14 years and two months of lees ageing in the bottle. A wine with no room for correction: what you find here comes solely from the plot, the vintage and time.

The Mocque Tonneau plot lies in Celles-lès-Condé in the Vallée de la Marne, 170 metres above the confluence of the Surmelin and the Dhuys. The south-facing slope drops at a 33% gradient, on a subsoil of hard Lutetian limestone. Work is carried out with minimal soil disturbance, natural grass cover between the rows, plant extracts, green manure or organic fertiliser, and cordon de Royat pruning using the Poussard method. 2007 brought a long, snowy winter, hard frost and a very hot summer.

The vines come from a massal selection, planted in 1991 by Maurice Boiselle and Jean-Mary Tarlant. Harvest took place early in the morning of 12 September 2007. This was followed by slow gravity pressing, spontaneous fermentation and eight months on the lees in Burgundian oak barrels, with no malolactic fermentation and no fining. Bottled on 17 April 2008, disgorged on 6 June 2022, dosage 0 g/l, making it a Brut Nature.

Taut and clear, with quince and lingonberry, alongside brioche and roasted almonds from the long lees ageing. The acidity stays vibrant thanks to the absence of malolactic fermentation, the texture feels chalky, the finish saline, with lemon zest and fine oak spice.

With pink-roasted pigeon breast, scallops with truffle butter, Pata Negra ham or aged Comté.

1500 bottles. Tarlant has been bottling Champagne without dosage since the 1970s, today accounting for over 90% of production; the 14 hectares are farmed organically, in the twelfth generation by Benoît and Mélanie Tarlant.