At the risk of sounding like a broken record, it’s hard to overstate how far the wines of this producer have come over the years. Aurélien Laherte’s terroir-centric wines are at a level that compares with the best grower wines in Champagne. Let’s not forget we are talking about a vigneron barely in his forties. To put it mildly, these intensely focused wines, composed with an innovative approach to vinification, have expanded the limits of what many thought possible in the Coteaux Sud d’Épernay.This exciting terroir sits at the crossroads of the Côte des Blancs and Vallée de la Marne and is home to over 60% of Laherte’s vines. Most of these vines lie in the domaine’s picturesque home of Chavot, a village that gives clear insight into how much we tend to simplify the soils of Champagne. While most writing on the region talks only of the famous chalk, the CIVC— the regional association that represents the producers and growers—notes that there are at least 30 soil types in Champagne. Chavot alone features 15 of those! Such Burgundian diversity has given rise to a fascinating series of soil-specific wines, many comprising a single barrel or two.This fact, not to mention the range of varieties involved, makes it tricky to talk of a Laherte style. But Tyson Stelzer notes that, tasting Laherte’s young vin clairs, “the distinctive saltiness, glassy chalk minerality and north-facing freshness of Chavot are unique compared with his parcels from other villages”. Aurélien concludes that Chavot’s clay terroirs give fruiter Chardonnay than the Côte des Blancs, while the limestone-dominant sites deliver finer Meunier than the Marne Valley. We could also point to the deliciously refreshing quinine and flinty lick particular to Laherte’s Coteaux-based wines.One of the many exciting developments at this address is the Laherte family’s work with one of Champagne’s heirloom grapes, Petit Meslier. Although this low-yielding variety has been largely forgotten in Champagne, Aurélien is betting that Meslier will play a growing part in Champagne’s future, not least for its ability to retain acidity, even in warmer vintages. Aurélien’s father, Thierry Laherte, established the domaine’s first vines in 2003 as part of the Les 7 field planting. Between 2018 and 2023, Aurélien developed a mid-slope vineyard on Chavot’s clay/limestone soils, using mass-selection cuttings from the domaine’s oldest Meslier vines. In the future, Laherte says he expects to use most of his Meslier to boost the freshness and acidity of his blended wines, using the variety like a condiment to improve the balance. For now, he is bottling a rare single-vineyard and single-variety cuvée that sings of Meslier’s vivid intensity and Alpine-meadow freshness.Later this week, we will look at the domaine’s viticulture and winemaking techniques and offer Laherte’s current Parcellaire releases. Today, we offer the latest disgorgements of Aurelian’s principal and, for lack of a better word, experimental cuvées (those with cracking labels by Hanna Albrektson). Each wine sings with the energy, transparency and crystalline definition particular to only the finest grower wines of Champagne. And they are packed with character, not to mention wildly delicious to drink. To quote Antonio Galloni: “It’s pretty hard to go wrong with any of these Champagnes.”