Champagne A & S Boever is based in Tauxiéres-Mutry, a small village north of Épernay in the Montagne de Reims. Anne-Sophie & Sébastien currently tend 5 hectares in the Montagne de Reims, serving as the third generation of Récoltant-Manipulants making their own wines from only the grapes they grow and harvest. Their plots are found only in the Grand Cru regions of Champagne, in the famed villages of Louvois, Bouzy, and Aÿ, where they farm sustainably in accordance with HVE 3 certification. 

For this 2014 flagship, the vineyard sources are further whittled down to their two most exceptional plots – "La Goutte d'Or" in Louvois and "Les Monts" in Bouzy. The blend here is an equal parts split between pinot noir and chardonnay, from 40 year old vines that grow in limestone. The fruit is delicately pressed and fermented in oak vats, followed by malolactic fermentation before bottling to rest on the lees for a full eight years in their cellars. The complexity is beautifully done with this wine, and the Brut dosage brilliantly amplifies the toasty and fruity facets of the wine to give this an ample, generous, and powerfully bold demeanor. The golden color and dry-popped corn element welcomes you to the glass, with rich, autolytic notes of toasted hazelnuts, brioche, and creme de caramel notes rush in to warm your very soul. Ripe but tart fruit notes of pineapples and kiwis build an amiable core of sheer pleasure, further enhanced by luscious stone fruit accents of white peaches and golden apricots. There’s a bright, citrine acidity that gives freshness and lift, but a generous vinosity of a stand alone, sipping wine is really what this style is going for.

Sign me up, I say, as I love the aperitif opportunities that this dazzling sparkler presents… and the price we’ve scored here for vintage, eleven-year-young, Grand Cru, Grower Champagne with such considerable efforts already applied to the aging and finishing of the product… well, that makes for one rare creature indeed!