Esprit de Solemme, 1er Cru Brut Nature, Millésimé 2019

A Champagne with a profile all its own: pale bronze in the glass, a lively mousse, and a nose that opens with elegance before heading in an unusual direction. Hazelnut, fine pastry and candied lemon peel sit alongside notes of fino sherry, stone and herbs.

The grapes grow on the chalky soils of Villers-aux-Nœuds and on the clay-limestone slopes of Chamery. The estate's 6.11 hectares of Premier Cru sit at the heart of the Petite Montagne de Reims, a cool, rain-fed corner with soils of chalk, limestone and flint.

A blend of 50% Chardonnay, 25% Pinot Noir and 25% Pinot Meunier. Olivier Langlais lets the base wines ferment spontaneously in small batches, part aged in 228-litre barrels, part in steel. No chaptalisation, no filtration, no tartrate stabilisation. After at least 36 months on the lees, disgorgement follows the lunar calendar, with no added sulphur and no dosage.

Dry and linear, with a pronounced mousse and a chalky, limestone texture. The sherry notes from the nose return, alongside ripe, soft stone fruit, grapefruit peel and citrus fruit.

With a puff pastry onion tart with a touch of honey, with tinned smoked sardines with olives and kumquats, or with spiced almonds, Taggiasca olives with hazelnuts and lentil hummus.

Champagne Solemme in Villers-aux-Nœuds has been organic-certified since 2013 and Demeter-certified since 2015. Langlais ploughs with a horse, weeds by hand and applies biodynamic preparations at night, following the lunar calendar. Every vintage is bottled as a Millésimé, with annual production of around 30,000 bottles.