Argilité, Brut Nature 2015

Taut, mineral, and with no sugar correction whatsoever: at zero dosage, the material alone carries the wine. Texture is the most striking feature of this cuvée, joined by depth and length.

The grapes grow in the single vineyard Notre Dame in Celles-lès-Condé in the Marne Valley, on a south-facing slope with a 20 percent gradient at 120 metres of altitude, where the Surmelin and Dhuys streams meet. The soil is hard Lutetian limestone mixed with clay. In the vineyard: minimal disturbance of the soil structure, cover crops between the rows, light ploughing beneath the vines, herbal treatments and natural green manure.

50 percent Chardonnay and 50 percent Meunier, planted in 1987 as a massal selection by Maurice Boiselle, Jean-Mary and Micheline Tarlant. Harvested on 16 September 2015, gently pressed by gravity, spontaneously fermented in terracotta amphorae where it aged for ten months on fine lees. No malolactic fermentation, no filtration, no fining. Bottled on 24 July 2016, disgorged in July 2021, dosage of zero grams per litre, hence Brut Nature.

First wet stone, petrichor. Then green and yellow citrus, crushed stone, herbs, a touch of smoke, opening up to hemp, chamomile, apple and orange peel. On the palate, the ripe fruit of the Meunier sits alongside citrus notes, with the grip contributed by the amphora ageing. The finish stays creamy and citrusy, with mineral tension.

Fillet of sea bass in herb crust with clams and citrus, sole in fig leaves with fresh figs, or pheasant with chard confit and toasted bread.

Only 900 bottles. Tarlant has been bottling Champagne with no dosage since the 1970s, today accounting for over 90 percent of production. Benoît and Mélanie Tarlant run the estate founded in 1687 in its twelfth generation, 14 hectares, farmed organically, with wild yeasts.