Log in for prices and ordering

Aurélien Laherte

Burgundy Comes to Champagne
Aurélien Laherte

Antonio Galloni’s commentary may not be breaking news for those following this grower. Yet his words neatly underline how Aurélien Laherte is working at a level that bears comparison with many of the best growers in Champagne. Laherte’s 10 hectares of vines are fragmented into no less than 75 parcels spread across 10 different villages. In Laherte’s home village of Chavot itself—not a prominent place by any means—Aurélien has identified no less than 27 distinct terroirs. Many of these parcels are planted to old vines from sélection massale cuttings. Such Burgundy-style diversity has given rise to a series of exceptional and distinctive cuvée parcellaire wines that sometimes comprise just a single barrel of Champagne.

Aurélien has a fine reputation for his work with Meunier, so starting with his tour de force makes sense. Les Vignes d’Autrefois means ‘vines of another time’, so this is Laherte’s tribute to his region’s 1940-era Meunier vines planted around Chavot. It is made from a single four-tonne press of grapes grown on old vines in chalky terroirs: La Potote, Les Rouges Maisons, Les Hautes Norgeailles and Les Bas Putroux. One of Champagne’s great Meunier bottlings, it reflects the best qualities of its variety and place: penetrating, spicy, fleshy red fruit, chalky tension and long, mineral resonance.

Les Grandes Crayères showcases Laherte’s two most chalky-mineral soils in Coteaux Sud d’Épernay. Crayères means chalk, and Aurélien’s 40-plus-year-old mass-selection vines are situated on a west-facing hillside composed of Campanian chalk under just 20 centimetres of topsoil. Vibrating with chalky sensations, it is perhaps Aurélien’s most taut and intensely mineral wine. The soaring Les Longues Voyes is this wine’s counterpoint, a 100% Pinot Noir drawn from a single hectare of biodynamic vines in Chamery in the Montagne de Reims. The name, The Long Way, refers to the 25 kilometres Laherte must travel to work these vines. It’s a profound, rocky Blanc de Noirs, all layered red fruit and delicate spice sculpted by the mouth-watering austerity typical of Pinot Noir grown on limestone in Champagne.

Laherte refers to Les Empreintes as the “quintessence of the Chavot terroir.” It is always a selection of Aurélien’s five best barrels from his two finest Chavot plots: old-vine Chardonnay from Les Chemins d’Épernay. The wines are vinified separately and raised in old Burgundy barrels, giving a Champagne of alluringly vinous substance vibrantly anchored by crystalline freshness and the striking quinine-like minerality of its rocky soils.

Finally, one of Champagne’s most unique (and delicious!) rosé wines, Laherte’s Les Beaudiers is crafted from vines that date back to the 1950s. In Chavot, this powerful limestone terroir can ripen Meunier to full maturity—so much so that Aurélien’s father used to make red wine from this area. Aurélien seeks a vinous and textured rosé de saignée from this potent terroir, but also one with delicacy and lift. Soaked on its skins for half a day to gain colour and structure, it is deeply textured and mouth-filling and marked by smoke and liquorice, yet equally a wine with a great deal of finesse for this style.

View all wines in this blog post. 

The Wines

“What I admire most about these Champagnes is their purity and singularity of expression. Varietal and site character are always front and center. Organic/biodynamic farming and a minimalist approach in the cellar inform these wonderfully distinctive Champagnes. It’s next to impossible to choose favorites in this range.” Antonio Galloni, Vinous

Other Recent Releases

  • Roc Breïa
    Roc Breïa
    It is fitting to start today’s offer with some words from Jasper Morris MW, who joined ...
    It is fitting to start today’s offer with some words from Jasper Morris MW, who joined us last week in Sydney and Melbourne for a series of events ...

    Read more

  • Lalù
    Lalù
    Starting with just half a hectare of Nebbiolo in La Morra’s Roncaglie in 2015, Lara and...
    Starting with just half a hectare of Nebbiolo in La Morra’s Roncaglie in 2015, Lara and Luisa now own more than two hectares and farm over five, sp...

    Read more

  • Noble Rot - Issue 37
    Noble Rot - Issue 37
    “Whoever said young people in 2025 don’t drink wine probably hasn’t spent much time aro...
    “Whoever said young people in 2025 don’t drink wine probably hasn’t spent much time around young people — or good wine, for that matter. Yes, globa...

    Read more

  • Lambert Wines
    Lambert Wines
    Luke Lambert has a twenty-year history with the Denton View Hill Vineyard, long enough ...
    Luke Lambert has a twenty-year history with the Denton View Hill Vineyard, long enough to know the granite slopes like the back of his hand. We’ve ...

    Read more

  • Murdoch Hill
    Murdoch Hill
    Three words to capture Michael Downer’s new flagship wines? Try class, vibrancy and del...
    Three words to capture Michael Downer’s new flagship wines? Try class, vibrancy and deliciousness. For the first time, the Rocket Chardonnay, Apoll...

    Read more

  • Kings County Distillery
    Kings County Distillery
    Every industry needs its trailblazers and mavericks. For American Whiskey, that’s Colin...
    Every industry needs its trailblazers and mavericks. For American Whiskey, that’s Colin Spoelman. Spoelman’s Whiskey journey has taken him some way...

    Read more

  • Müller-Catoir
    Müller-Catoir
    Philipp Catoir still finds it amusing that his best-selling wine in Australia is the on...
    Philipp Catoir still finds it amusing that his best-selling wine in Australia is the one he does not generally export at all. Australia is still th...

    Read more

  • Bodegas Exopto
    Bodegas Exopto
    A visit to Tom Puyaubert’s winery on the outskirts of Laguardia in the Basque corner of...
    A visit to Tom Puyaubert’s winery on the outskirts of Laguardia in the Basque corner of Rioja can be a culture shock after visiting some of the gra...

    Read more

  • The Road Less Travelled
    The Road Less Travelled
    There are few certainties in life. One is that great wine is great wine, regardless of ...
    There are few certainties in life. One is that great wine is great wine, regardless of where it is grown and made. On the one hand, our role as win...

    Read more

View All Offers

More Content

Read More About this Producer