Alright, thus far, you wise bubble mavens have gobbled up all the 100% pinot meunier “Origine” blanc de noirs, as well as all of the 50/50 pinot noir chardonnay “Sous Bois” that we’ve offered from Goulin-Roualet. Who’s ready for 100% chardonnay?! This is a Last Bubbles exclusive for the USA – we bought every last bottle that came to our shores!

Ok, bad news first… we didn’t get a lot...only about 15 cases to go around. We’re trying to get more though, but with a producer this tiny…we simply can’t make any promises. This exceptional Saint Vincent Blanc de Blancs hails from five separate parcels in the Goulin-Roualet portfolio, all chardonnay grown in the Montagne de Reims – and specifically in the villages of Sacy and Villers-aux-Noeuds. While not labeled as a vintage cuvee, this hails entirely from the 2019 vintage, with all the fruit fermented in stainless steel tanks. The wine is also allowed to undergo malolactic fermentation, before blending and aging on the lees in bottle for an additional three years. The pacing on this bottling is frenetic, as Marine Goulin-Roualet races the clock to preserve the intense freshness of these grapes and maintain the minerality and laser-like focus of pure chardonnay. A quick fermentation in stainless steel, followed immediately by inoculation for malolactic fermentation, then blending and followed straightaway by bottle aging. Harvest to bottle occurred in just over two months – an impressive feat for any small grower-producer. The wine received no dosage upon disgorgement – with a tiny 2.6 grams per liter residual sugar left unconsumed. 

A jolt of lift, without any unctuous heaviness, and this youthful and exuberant expression is the happy result. The wine is lean, racy, and profoundly layered – if ever there was a Champagne to decant in its youth – this is that. Over time, deeply complex expressions of hay and wild grass, then crumbled chalk, and oyster shells, followed by lean and zippy lemony citrus and yellow plums, with accents of coriander seeds and a lingering finish of salty sea spray. I have a pretty sure sense that this will continue to evolve over time, and given the depth and sheer class overtly displayed by every other bottling we’ve tasted from this house…this is a prime candidate for aging. Grab a handful of these and enjoy… these are not to be missed!