We featured their Blanc de Noirs Extra Brut a little ways back and have gotten nothing but fantastic feedback on this… quality, value, sheer bottled happiness… just fantastic. We think this will please in much the same way, a bit richer perhaps, and, if possible, even friendlier for all-the-time bubbly popping! 

Armel and José Baudry are brothers, running a 20 hectare vineyard in the southernmost reaches of Champagne, and serving as the 11th generation of their family to do so. Their principle focus carries on a long-standing family philosophy: healthy grapes grown with a focus on high quality, through use of ecologically sustainable methods. This helps to preserve the environment of their site, as well as the vineyard’s health, all the while allowing them to craft unique and exceptional Champagnes.

As this is the Côte des Bar, and their house sits in the village of Neuville-sur-Seine, it is only natural that pinot noir dominates their vineyard plantings – here with 80% of their 20 hectares – and the rest, chardonnay. This wine mimics that blend, and folds in an additional 20% of the house’s reserves for added depth and complexity. Grown on the region's Kimmeridgian soils (the same found in Chablis) and dating back to the Jurassic age, the vineyards span the hillsides and valleys across the region in a mosaic of different plots and different exposures. This complexity is embraced by the brothers, with single lots carefully vinified and then blended together to create a complex and nuanced wine. The Brut dosage really allows the chardonnay elements to expand – transforming the linear and elemental style of the fruit here into a more rounded and expressive component that showcases ripe orchard fruits, and bright citrus sensations. 

Pinot noir sets the overall tone of the wine, with stone fruit aspects that range from Rainier cherries to yellow plums, and crushed raspberries and white sage – leading into a deeply rich and vinous sensation that hints at fresh-turned earth and licorice elements. The crisp green apples and Bartlett pears follow, with a nice Meyer lemon and Thai lemongrass note. The wine is mouth-coating yet swift and clean, allowing you to sip and sip with ease. For such an exceptional value, there is simply so much going on here, and we’re thrilled to have snagged as much as they’d allow! This is the perfect wine to have in great supply – and casually and carelessly drink through all summer long!