Vinopolis Newsletter 12-20-24 PM

 

 

 

Pierre and Sophie Larmandier, of Larmandier-Bernier, having holdings in the Côte des Blancs region of Champagne, including in the grand crus villages of Cramant, Chouilly, Oger, and Avize. The estate is meticulously run (by hand) at this small, independent estate. The moderate yields are harvested by hand, and the grapes undergo gentle pressing and a long settling process on the lees, with native yeast fermentation. The wines rest in in family’s chalk caves, awaiting hand disgorgement before going to market after a period of settling.
 
The results are the Champagnes of depth, transparency, and precision, with notes of “striking salinity,” “deep and vinous” layers, and a plethora of “wines-of-the-vintage.” We’re excited to restock on two exquisite vintage Champagnes that sold out here previously, arriving tomorrow.
 
Guy Larmandier Vertus 1er Cru Brut Zero, Champagne, France NV 750ml $49 special, 36 bottles available
Rosenthal Wine Merchants- Importer “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.”
 
Guy Larmandier Premier Cru Brut Rose, Champagne, France NV 750ml $59 special, 12 bottles available
Rosenthal Wine Merchants- Importer “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.”
 
…also from Guy Larmandier:
 
Guy Larmandier Cramant Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs Brut, Champagne, France Brut NV 750ml $59 special, 13 bottles available
Importer Note “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.”
 

 
Importer’s Note “70% Pinot Noir, 20% Pinot Meunier, 10% Chardonnay. Joël is one of only a few producers to use a soléra system for his vin de reserve. The current soléra is 12 years-old and each vintage, 30% is blended with the currant vintage. 42 months on the lees, nine grams of dosage.”
 
Joel Falmet Les Parcelles Brut, Champagne, France Brut NV 750ml $44.50 special, 12 bottles available
Alison Napjus-Wine Spectator 92 Points “Creamy in texture, yet lithe and lively, thanks to bright, citrusy acidity, buoying finely meshed notes of poached quince, ripe melon, blood orange sorbet and Marcona almond. Clean-cut and lightly spiced on the lingering finish. Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier and Chardonnay. “
 

 
Hebrart Premier Cru Mes Favorites Vieilles Vignes, Champagne, France NV 750ml $79 special, 24 bottles available
Antonio Galloni-Vinous 93 Points “[Reviewed Nov 2023] The NV Brut Mes Favorites Vieilles Vignes is a blend of 75% Pinot Noir and 25% Chardonnay taken from ten lieux-dits in Mareuil. Rich, creamy and ample in feel, Mes Favorites offers a beguiling mix of old-vine intensity wrapped around a core of bright acids. Kirsch, dried flowers, mint, spice and pear build as this showy, inviting Champagne offers a warm embrace.”
 
Hebrart Premier Cru Brut Rose, Champagne, France NV 750ml $69 special, 11 bottles available
Antonio Galloni-Vinous 92 Points “Reviewed Nov 2023] The NV Brut Rosé is a very pretty, effusive Champagne. Light in color but with gorgeous depth, the Rosé is a charmer. Cranberry, white pepper, mint, crushed rocks and slate give this its dynamic upper register. The blend is 60% Chardonnay and 40% Pinot Noir from Mareuil-Sur-Aÿ, but the Pinot is quite strong in this release.”
 
Hebrart Selection Premier Cru Brut, Champagne, France NV 750ml $69 special, 20 bottles available
Antonio Galloni-Vinous 91 Points “[Reviewed Nov 2023] The NV Brut Sélection is a blend from Mareuil-sur-Ay, Avenay-Val-d’Or and Bisseuil. Aromatic and vibrant, the Brut Sélection impresses with its balance and sensuality. Lemon confit, white flowers, apricot, mint, chamomile and plum meld together in an understated, classy Champagne ready to go now. I loved it.”
 

 
Billecart-Salmon ‘Cuvee Elisabeth Salmon’ Brut Rose Millesime, Champagne, France 2012 750ml $219 special, 3 bottles available
Billecart-Salmon ‘Cuvee Elisabeth Salmon’ Brut Rose Millesime, Champagne, France 2012 1.5L $469 special, 1 magnum available
Yohann Castaing-Wine Advocate 97 Points “A blend of 45% Pinot Noir and 55% Chardonnay, the 2012 Brut Rosé Cuvée Elisabeth Salmon is a real success, wafting from the glass with aromas of red berries, rose, peony, orange blood and dried flowers. Medium to full-bodied, vinous and broad, it’s dense and deep with a multidimensional core of fruit, racy acids and a textural structure, concluding with a long, delicate, mouthwatering finish. This is one of the finest rosé I’ve tasted at this address. Kudos! Drink: 2024-2054.”
 
Winery Note “Delicacy and Elegance. This cuvée has been elaborated from the four Grand Cru vineyards of the Côte des Blancs: Avize, Chouilly, Cramant, Mesnil-sur-Oger.”
Billecart-Salmon Cuvee Louis Blanc de Blancs Millesime, Champagne, France 2012 750ml $199 special, 12 bottles available
Wine Advocate 96 Points ” …the 2012 Brut Blanc de Blancs Cuvée Louis Salmon evokes aromas of lemon oil, pastry, baked bread, walnuts and chalk. Medium to full-bodied, deep and seamless, it’s vinous, almost creamy, with a layered, delicate structure that leads to a delicately citrusy, long and delicate finish. This Champagne is built to age, thanks to the power of the 2012 vintage and the house’s signature tension. Disgorged in the second quarter of 2023 with 3.9 grams per liter dosage, it was matured 75% in stainless steel and 25% in barrels.”
 

 
“We don’t buy or sell grapes. We have to work our vines the best we can to have the best wine.” – Benoit Tarlant
 
Tarlant ‘Saignee des Tempetees’ Rose Brut Nature, Champagne, France 2015 750ml $119 special, 5 bottles available
Audrey Frick-Jeb Dunnuck 93+ Points “The first release of this cuvée, the 2015 Champagne Saignée Des Tempetée Brut Nature Rosé is 100% Pinot Noir, macerated on the skins for 16 hours and disgorged in March 2021. A deep salmon/garnet hue, it offers a very expressive, savory profile, with notes of blood orange, candied roses, and crushed rocks. Full-bodied with a pillowy mousse, it opens to notes of fleshy ripe apricot, which is followed by a long-lasting finish. It’s ripe with generous fruit and has no harsh edges to it. It is a very attractive wine to add to the range. Drink 2024-2034. Only 888 bottles were produced. (Drink between 2024-2034).”
 
Tarlant ‘Le Triumvirat’ Brut Nature Millesime, Champagne, France 2009 750ml $119 special, 3 bottles available
Importer Notes “58% Chardonnay/42% Pinot Noir. Most vintages, the Tarlants make a unique, usually multi-parcel wine as a snapshot of that particular vintage’s personality. The “Triumvirat” blend came from three plots–L’Enclume, Crayons and Sablés–and together embody 2009, which per Benoît Tarlant was “a very solar year, of richness and power”. All of the vines are organically farmed and harvested by hand, with the clusters very slowly and gently pressed. The juice ferments spontaneously with native yeasts in Burgundy barrels; the wine does not go through malolactic fermentation. Triumvirat was bottled in 2010,disgorged in 2023 and received zero dosage.”

 

 

Founded in 1993 by Peter Sisseck, Pingus has grown into one of the biggest cult wineries on the planet. Sisseck, a Danish born winemaker had fallen in love with the Ribera Del Duero and its native clone of Tempranillo, Tinto Fino. His work elevated the region to an unprecedented level of international acclaim and interest.
 
This wine project, Pingus PSI, came from a cooperative effort at the behest of Peter Sisseck by nearby grape growers to restore the soil and vineyard practices of many old vine plantings in the surrounding Duero region. The Danish born Sisseck, who fell in love with the Ribera Del Duero and its native clone of Tempranillo, is considered one of the greatest winemakers in the world. His work transformed
work elevated the region to an unprecedented level of international acclaim and interest.
 
 HOT DEAL  Dominio de Pingus ‘PSI’, Ribera del Duero, Spain 2022 750ml $33 special, 36+ bottles available
Luis Gutiérrez-Wine Advocate 93-95 Points “The 2022 PSI is clean, expressive and open, much more approachable than the more reductive 2021 that I tasted next to it. It’s primary, fruit-driven and precise. “The fruit selection was better in 2022,” explained Sisseck. It has contained ripeness and a polished texture and is sleek and elegant, with fine tannins. It feels like a step up from 2021. This was also the final blend waiting to be bottled—clarified, sulfur added and everything, so pretty much the wine that is going to be bottled.”

 

Featured Close-outs:

Holiday Faves for Less! 

 
WAS $49
Cresti Fattoria Carpineta Fontalpino Do ut des Toscana IGT, Tuscany, Italy 2016 750ml $39 special, 23 bottles available
James Suckling 95 Points “The fruit here really takes your breath away with its intensity, as well as purity. Blackberry crumble, pressed violets, ink, iodine, charcoal, vanilla and resin. It’s the polish of the tannins that really makes this wine, carrying itself effortlessly over a shimmer of electric acidity to the long finish. Drink in 2023. Made from organically grown grapes.”
Monica Larner-Wine Advocate 94 Points “The 2016 Do Ut Des (a blend of Sangiovese, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon) exhibits a generous and expansive personality that hits the palate like a warm embrace from a favorite friend. This is a succulent and smooth red wine with thick layers of bold cherry, dried blackberry, leather, rose hip and scorched earth. In the mouth, the wine proceeds with medium- to full-bodied texture and elegantly contoured fruit flavors.”
 
WAS $41.90
Conterno Fantino ‘Ginestrino’ Langhe Nebbiolo, Piedmont, Italy 2018 750ml $36 special, 8 bottles available
Monica Larner-Wine Advocate 93 Points “The Conterno Fantino 2018 Langhe Nebbiolo Ginestrino opens to fragrant and delicate aromas straight from the Nebbiolo playlist. The wine opens to pretty aromas of wild cherry, rose, blood orange and iron ore. Winemaking starts with stainless steel and concludes with 10 months in French oak. The vines are planted in clay soils, and when you study the bouquet in depth, you do perceive a tad more structure and concentration as a result. Production is an ample 35,500 bottles.”
 
WAS $39
Chateau de Saint Cosme Saint-Joseph, Rhone, France 2020 750ml $33 special, 22 bottles available
Jeb Dunnuck 91-93 Points “A step up, the 2020 Saint Joseph comes all from the northern part of the Northern Rhône, and it’s medium-bodied and elegant, with good ripeness in its darker berry, violet, flower, and wet granite-like nuances. It’s another balanced, seamless red from Louis, and the 2019 vintage is a beauty for the Northern Rhône.”
 
WAS $39
Chateau de Saint Cosme Saint-Joseph, Rhone, France 2021 750ml $33 special, 22 bottles available
Wine Spectator 92 Points “Exudes a graceful profile, with litheness to the red cherry, potpourri, plum and licorice notes, underscored by a charming terroir signature and white pepper. Gains definition from a vein of salt and minerality, while the silky palate is propped up by cashmere-fine tannins. Drink now through 2028. 250 cases imported.”
 
WAS $119
Guy Charlemagne Mesnillesime Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru Brut, Champagne, France 2014 750ml $99 special, 11 bottles available
Anne Krebiehl Mw-Vinous 93 Points “The 2014 Extra Brut Mesnillésime Vieilles Vignes Grand Cru is a pure Chardonnay from on average 60-year-old vines in Le Mesnil-sur-Oger, vinified in oak with blocked malolactic fermentation. Notes of dried corn husk and salty maize meal on the nose take turns with yellow apple on the nose. The oak is apparent in savoriness rather than vanilla and a certain roundness on the body, beautifully handled. The mousse is still bright and sprightly, highlighting saltiness and fresh apple equally. This has an assertive personality, and comes across as a muscular, toned blanc de blancs, bracing at first, then relaxing into a warm smile. The umami finish can absolutely take on food.”