France

Insider alert! This is the domaine of Anne Ramonet's family. Anne is the ex-wife of Jean-Claude Ramonet, and Anne and Jean-Claude's daughters make the wines at both spots! Some of the original plantings from 1872 may be in THIS wine with an average vine age of over 90+ years!

The R. Renaudin Brut Réserve Non-Vintage spent an amazing 14 years en tirage in their cold cellar near Epernay before recent disgorgement. Incredible! The base wine for this 100% Chardonnay cuvee was from the 2010 vintage. Damn. And, of course, the usual 20% of the cuvee is reserve wine from an even older stocks. Crazy. The house does no malolactic fermentation so the wines have a naturally bright, vivid, green apple character that meshes wonderfully with the brioche-y notes from the extnded time aging in bottle prior to disgorgement. Learn More

Les Déserts is steep, sun-drecnhed vineyard overlooking Bué that borders Chavignol. This cuvée is a selection of about one third of the one-hectare holding— vines were planted in the 1990s on clay-limestone, "Terres Blanches" from the Kimmeridgian geological stage, rich in fossilized seashells. Manual harvest with strict sorting of clusters or parts of clusters altered or insufficiently ripe, 20% is vinified in medium-aged oak barrels of a wine, 80% is vinified in vats at a low temperature, indigenous yeasts and the lees are suspended regularly to feed the wine until spring. Bottling takes place in late-spring after a light filtration.

From the importer: This comes from all three communes where Lilbert farms vines. Typically it is made with three consecutive vintages and is aged on its lees for a minimum of three years beginning in April following the harvest. It's also made entirely from the first pressing; Bertrand's second press juice for all three cuvées is sold to Moët.

With the warmer years, Bertrand began to lower his dosages from the usual 6-7 grams to less than 5 grams, beginning with the NV based on 2014. The NV based on 2015 received 4 grams; the NV based on 2016 received 3 grams. The style isn't changing so much as the weather is warming.