Les Grands Nots Brut Nature 2010

A vintage Champagne with a bright, natural disposition, whose tension comes from acidity rather than weight. Despite twelve years on the lees, it stays slender, linear and weightless in its drive.

The grapes come from selected plots in the Vallée du Petit Morin, on slopes above the river near Talus-Saint-Prix, between the Côte des Blancs and the Côte de Sézanne. The soils combine limestone and clay with an unusually high proportion of flint, once quarried here for millstones. The risk of late frost is high, which is why Meunier dominates the estate's grape variety mix. Cyril Jeaunaux and Clémence Robin run the domaine in its third generation, farming biodynamically with the guidance of consultant Jacques Mell since 2013.

Equal parts Meunier, Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, hand-harvested and pressed the traditional way on a Coquard press. Fermentation starts spontaneously and takes place entirely in used barriques, with malolactic fermentation partly withheld to preserve freshness. The 2010 spent around twelve years ageing on the lees, in the cellar that Cyril's parents hand-dug into the chalk in 1986, where the temperature holds steady at 12 degrees. It was disgorged in 2022, followed by further ageing in bottle. Bottled with no dosage whatsoever, making it a Brut Nature.

A precise, brisk entry: mature, high-toned acidity draws the arc over dense, extract-rich fruit that mirrors the aromas on the nose, candied lemon peel, dried quince and roasted hazelnut. The finish is salt-tinged and long.

A vintage with absolutely no dosage, aged in a hand-dug chalk cellar. Cyril Jeaunaux is a member of the Terres et Vins de Champagne association.