L'Étincelante Brut Nature 2002

The long lees ageing gives this vintage champagne depth without robbing it of tension: roasted hazelnuts and almonds alongside yellow and green apples, buttered brioche, shortcrust pastry and lemon tart with scorched meringue, all set on a chalky base.

The grapes come from Œuilly and Celles-lès-Condé in the Vallée de la Marne. In Œuilly, L'Enclume sits on flint, while Les Bouleaux and La Perchape lie on chalk; the Mocque Tonneau, Monts Martin and Haut du Four à Chaux plots in Celles-lès-Condé are rooted in limestone. Work is done with shallow tillage beneath the vine row, natural cover crops between rows, Poussard pruning, herbal treatments and green manure.

57 percent Chardonnay, 29 percent Pinot Noir, 14 percent Pinot Meunier, harvested from 19 to 29 September 2002 after a mild spring and warm summer. Slow gravity-fed pressing, spontaneous fermentation plot by plot, ten months on the fine lees in Burgundian oak barrels, with no malolactic fermentation and no fining. Bottled on 22 July 2003, followed by fifteen years of lees ageing in the bottle. Dosage of 0 g/l, making it a Brut Nature without any added sugar.

Creamy, mellow entry, then the acidity takes hold and sets the wine on a narrow path between maturity and freshness. Lemon and apple keep it lively, while the minerality carries the finish far. 12.0% vol.

With turbot with beurre blanc, almonds and roasted cauliflower, with oven-baked veal fillet with herb jus, caramelised carrots and pommes dauphine, or with oven-roasted white cabbage with parmesan, hollandaise sauce and buttered breadcrumbs.

5000 bottles. Champagne Tarlant has existed since 1687 in Œuilly, with Benoît and Mélanie Tarlant leading the twelfth generation. Since the 1970s, the house has been bottling champagne without dosage, today around 90 percent of its production. The 14 hectares spread across more than 55 plots are farmed organically, though the estate does not pursue official certification.