Disgorged February 2023. Latitude is 100% Côte des Blancs Chardonnay from vineyards on the southern side of Vertus. These vineyards are on roughly the same latitude, hence the name, which also hints at the breadth of texture that wines from these sites (having more clay in the soil) tend to offer. In the cellar, Larmandier uses mostly large-format casks (almost all the wood now comes from Stockinger in Austria). Fermentation and malolactic conversion take place naturally, and there is no filtration. Bottles are matured for more than two years, are manually disgorged and dosed at low, extra-brut levels (in this case, 4 g/L) at least six months before release.

Pure and mineral, this offers texture and stone-fruited depth without sacrificing the cut-diamond precision and citrusy, chalky energy that is a given at this address. Extremely versatile at the table, both entry cuvées work with a wide range of dishes, including fish, terrines, any chicken dish (particularly lemon chicken) and most cheeses (except blue or strong washed-rind). This bottling is based on the 2020 vintage, with 40% reserve wine drawn from a ‘perpetual’ reserve started in 2004.

Base 2020. Disgorged November 2022. Like this grower’s Latitude, this is 100% Côte des Blancs Chardonnay (the vineyards are in Cramant, Avize, Oger and Vertus), but the vineyards have thinner topsoils, so the vine roots plunge straight into the chalky bedrock. The name here refers to the vertical nature of the geographic locations of the vineyards, as well as the style of wine that comes from the chalky soils, i.e. a more linear, mineral wine.

While Larmandier’s Latitude is expansive across the palate, the Longitude is all about minerality, line and raciness. Pierre Larmandier explains that “We are aiming for more tension than in the past,” and cites his northwest facing vine Cramant as brining fresh spine to the density of his Vertus fruit. William Kelley has called this wine “one of the finest non-vintage bottlings to be found in Champagne”, and the high ratio of reserve wines (40% from their ‘perpetual’ reserve started in 2004) should leave you with little doubt as to the quality on offer.

Disgorged November 2022. Terre de Vertus is one of three single-terroir Blanc de Blancs produced at this estate and certainly the most famous. It is from a parcel of vines on the chalky mid-slope of Vertus, traversing the 1er Cru lieux-dits of Les Barillers and Les Faucherets. These sites produce intensely mineral wines that recall the best of Le Mesnil (to the north) in their chalky raciness and drive.

This fermented naturally, with roughly 60% fermented and aged in neutral barrique and the other 40% in large Stockinger casks. Malolactic conversion began spontaneously, and the wines were left on their lees for nearly a year. After the second fermentation, the wine aged in bottle for another six years before being disgorged. There is no dosage in order to respect the purity of the terroir. The result is one of the most distinctive and mineral wines of the entire Champagne region—and one of the benchmark wines of the great grower movement.

Since the mid-‘90s, this wine has always been non-dosé—long before it was fashionable. The Larmandiers made the decision because this particular terroir (when farmed in their way: old vines, biodynamics, low yields, etc.) works best without any additions. Still very young and brimming with textural richness and energy, the new release shows a little more flex than the previous vintage. Courtesy of an especially low-yielding year high in dry extract, the palate is buoyed with freshness and the chalky finish is incredibly long and scintillating. Try it with oysters, terrine, hard cheeses, roast chicken or grilled white fish.

Base 2019. Disgorged September 2021. The Rosé de Saignée is drawn mostly from what are thought to be the oldest Pinot Noir vines in Vertus (45 years old), and one of this village’s very last 100% Pinot vineyards. In fact, the vineyard is a co-planted blend of 90% Pinot Noir and 10% Pinot Gris, with both varieties contributing to this wine. The grapes are allowed to macerate for a period of two to three days before the juice is drawn off, providing the wine’s colour and much of its body and flavour. This saignée technique is now rare in Champagne, primarily as it is a demanding method of vinification and requires grapes with an excellent degree of maturity. Most rosé in Champagne is made with the addition of a little red wine. Vive la différence! As with all Larmandier’s wines, it fermented naturally. Part of this cuvée was raised in a Nomblot concrete egg and part in stainless steel. More recently, Larmandier has also been trialling amphorae designed by Mizel Riouspeyrous from Domaine Arretxea.

It’s one of Champagne’s wow wines, repeatedly compared to a Chambolle-Musigny. In short, it’s a Champagne that can stop drinkers in their tracks. The 2019 is an exceptional release built on energy and crystalline tension. Although it drinks beautifully on its own, it has the depth to go with smoked or grilled salmon. Yes, do that—you won’t regret it! This bottling was disgorged with a discreet dosage of 2 g/L. It is a superb release that will be even better with a year or two in the cellar.

Disgorged May 2022. Larmandier-Bernier tends just 1.2-hectares of old-vine Pinot Noir in Vertus, grown on the southern side of the village where the soil is a little richer, with higher clay content. These vines are best known as the source for the domaine’s pioneering Rosé de Saignée. Over the years Pierre Larmandier has also made a little still wine from these vines—in the past, Vertus Rouge was as famous as the red wines of Bouzy—but, until now, never a Blanc de Noirs.

2015 was a beautiful year for Pinot Noir in Vertus, leading Larmandier to vinify a white Champagne from these grapes alongside the rosé. It’s made in the same way as the domaine’s Terre de Vertus, with the base wine naturally fermented and raised in a mixture of large cask and vat for 11 months on lees and tiraged in July 2016. Following almost six years in bottle, it was disgorged in May 2022 with zero dosage to preserve the natural richness of the Pinot Noir.

The result is wonderfully complex and vinous Blanc de Noirs. A scintillating cocktail of red apple, sour berry compote and rushing minerals introduces a powerfully structured palate balanced by a rigid spine of freshness and tense, holding grip. It’s very Larmandier and very delicious; a Champagne of exceptional detail and vinous depth. A wow wine. Unfortunately, this release is very limited, and the next vintage, from 2019, is a good four years away. Make hay while the sun shines!

Disgorged September 2022. This Blanc de Blancs was historically labelled Vieille Vigne de Cramant. Nothing has changed save for the name, which is now inspired by the vineyard where most of the grapes come from, Bourron du Levant (planted in 1960). The balance comes from a 0.5-hectare holding in the neighbouring terroir of Le Fond du Bâteau (with 75-year-old vines).

Both plots are at the heart of Cramant’s southeast-facing slopes on the flanks of the Butte de Saran. Basking in the first rays of the morning sun, these vineyards give wonderfully ripe, layered wines. The old vines’ deep root system combines with the terroir to bring a wine of glowing density and opulence. It offers a fascinating, concentrated and stone-fruited contrast to the other Larmandier cuvées (not to mention other producers’ Cramant wines). It remains a super-mineral wine, but here you have more flesh, weight and body.

The winemaking across each of Larmandier’s single-terroir wines is similar. Here, it is spontaneous fermentation and malolactic conversion, 12 months in large Stockinger barrels and no filtration. This cuvée, however, spends at least eight years in bottle on lees. This release was disgorged with 2 g/L dosage.

Disgorged September 2022. The Larmandier family vinifies fruit from two tiny plots in the heart of Avize (Chemin de Plivot planted in 1955, and Chemin de Flavigny planted in 1960) for this cuvée. Both are chalky parcels with very little topsoil, and both lie on the lower slopes of Avize (not far from Agrapart and Selosse’s La Fosse vineyard).

The winemaking is similar to the other cuvées, save for using smaller neutral barrels for the fermentations because of the smaller quantities of wine produced. The wines age in bottle for a minimum of five years and are then disgorged by hand with only 2 g/L dosage. It’s a stunning, racy example of Avize, a little deeper than Terre de Vertus, though more delicate and less fleshy than this grower’s Vieille Vigne du Levant.