Terroirs d'Ecueil, Premier Cru Extra Brut 375ml

The Terroirs d'Ecueil is Lacourte-Godbillon's foundational cuvée: 85 percent Pinot Noir, 15 percent Chardonnay, grown on the limestone of Écueil. The entry is lush, the fruit charming, the stature present. Power and nobility sit side by side without the wine making a fuss about it.

Écueil lies at the heart of the Petite Montagne de Reims, between limestone slopes and a small forest that shelters the microclimate. The soils are pure limestone, the exposure mostly southerly. Géraldine and Richard have farmed the 8.5 hectares of Premier Cru in Écueil and Les Mesneux since 2008, 85 percent of it planted with Pinot Noir, an unusual dominance for Champagne.

85 percent Pinot Noir, 15 percent Chardonnay. The grapes are hand-harvested and fermented spontaneously with wild yeasts. In the cellar, stainless steel tanks sit alongside oak barrels made from the forest at Écueil, whose trees grow just a few hundred metres from the vines. No pesticides or herbicides are used in the vineyards; instead, preparations made from nettle, horsetail and valerian are applied. After 30 months on lees, the cuvée was disgorged in December 2012 and given a light dosage as Extra Brut.

With a fine bead and juicy fruit, the Champagne flows elegantly, accompanied by a subtle yeasty note. The wide arc of acidity keeps everything in balance, and the finish is long and delicately saline.

Cucumber salad with borage, stale bread, goat's cheese and elderflower dressing, smoked mackerel with gooseberry chutney and crème fraîche or pheasant terrine with Cumberland sauce.

Ninth generation of winegrowers, third with its own label: in 1947 the great-grandparents bottled their first Champagne under their own name, and in 1968 the grandparents gave the house its double-barrelled name. This bottling comes in a half bottle of 375 ml.