La Vigne d'Or Brut Nature Blanc de Meuniers 2006

A mature vintage Champagne that needs no dosage: 100 % Meunier from a single plot, 16 years and one month ageing on its lees in bottle. The nose is balanced and classic, the palate lush and lively, carried by fresh acidity.

The Pierre de Bellevue vineyard lies in Œuilly in the Vallée de la Marne, 125 metres above the river, with a 15 % slope facing east to north-east. The subsoil is Sparnacian, calcareous clay from the Ypresian. Germaine and Georges Tarlant planted the vines from 1947 onward through massale selection. The estate works with minimal soil tillage, shallow ploughing beneath the rows, natural cover crops between them, herbal treatments, Poussard pruning, and green or organic manuring. 2006 brought a sunny spring with good flowering, a cool summer and a hot September; harvest took place on 21 September.

100 % Meunier, slowly pressed by gravity, spontaneous fermentation, seven months on the lees in Burgundian oak barrels, no malolactic fermentation, no fining. Bottled on 4 May 2007, disgorged after 16 years and one month ageing on the lees in bottle. Dosage 0 g/l, so Brut Nature with no sugar added whatsoever. 12.0 % ABV, 1,300 bottles.

Golden yellow with amber highlights and a generous, fine perlage. On the nose, apple-cinnamon cake, lemon meringue and ripe stone fruit over a base of brioche, toasted almonds and toffee. On the palate, lush and lively, elegant and full of finesse, with hints of caramel, carried by a decidedly fresh acidity.

Tarlant has farmed in Œuilly since 1687, now in its twelfth generation with Benoît and Mélanie. Since the 1970s the house has been bottling Champagne with no dosage whatsoever, a practice that now accounts for over 90 % of production. 14 hectares, more than 55 plots, all seven grape varieties permitted in Champagne, organic farming, wild yeasts, no filtration. Without sugar, nothing can be corrected at the end: the wine has to carry itself.