Wines

Sporting a markedly floral, chalky nose, this Vertus 1er Cru has a schiseled frame of a brut zero but it is not excessively bone-dry on the palate—the ample character typical of the village manifests itself in a round overall texture. The wine is firm without being hard, with a great interplay of supple fruit and intense stoniness. Comprised of 90% Chardonnay and 10% Pinot Noir, aged for 3 years on the lees before disgorgement.

From Chardonnay vines in the Grand Cru village of Cramant. The total absence of any sense of sweetness in this Brut Zéro allows the limestone to take center stage, and it presents in a more piercing and saline manner than in Larmandier’s Brut wines. Despite its relative rigorousness and austerity, however, this is by no means a difficult wine. Rather, it will appeal to those who relish the sort of palpable, intense mineral character Champagne is capable of when made in such a straightforward fashion. Aged 3 years sur lattes.

A vintage Champagne from the finest soils of the Grand Cru village of Cramant (and a bit from a GC holding in Chouilly) and drawn from the oldest vines of the family’s holdings; aged for 5 years prior to being disgorged. The wine’s depth and richness is extraordinary, voicing the sappy and dense character of the fruit François wrests from these old vines. Notes of pear tart, fresh figs, baked apples and cherries frame a vibrant, expansive palate, and the wine’s chalky core shows itself in a clinging, salty finish.

Larmandier’s Vertus Rosé has always been exemplary, a happy marriage of Côte des Blancs elegance and ripe, succulent red fruit with a caressing texture. In keeping with the traditional method by which most rosé Champagne is made, Larmandier Rosé blends a splash of red wine into a base of white wine—in this case, Pinot Noir vinified as a red constitutes 15% of the final blend. 6 g/l dosage, aged 3 years on the lees.

Francois Larmandier employs a portion of his oldest Pinot Noir—around 50 years of age—in the production of a still red wine, which he vinifies and ages entirely in steel. Based largely on the fruit of a single vintage, the wine is augmented by small amounts of a perpetual reserve—a steel vessel to which Francois adds a small amount of wine each harvest. “Rouge de Vertus” is a soft, pretty Pinot Noir with sappy plum and cherry fruit, ample but not obtrusive acidity, and virtually undetectable tannins.