2013 LARMANDIER-BERNIER Vieille Vigne du Levant Blanc de Blancs Extra Brut Grand Cru Cramant, Lea & Sandeman

LARMANDIER-BERNIER

2013 Vieille Vigne du Levant Blanc de Blancs Extra Brut Grand Cru Cramant

IN STOCK
Grapes Chardonnay
Colour White
Origin France, Champagne
Other Bio-dynamic, Certified Organic
Village Cramant
Classification Grand Cru
ABV 12.5%

100% Chardonnay from old-vine south-east-facing plots in Cramant. Vines between 57 and 80 years old. Spontaneous fermentation in old wooden vats and casks. Natural malo. Wines are aged on lees, unfined, unfermented. Tirage is followed by eight years sur lattes. Disgorged by hand and aged for a year in bottle before release. Dosage 2 g/l.
Smells like lemon posset with a quenelle of caramel. Then something sweetly herbal – angelica, sweet cicely. Lacy mousse and apple honey disguise a steely core. Wild ripe apples and a scarf of smoke. Layer upon layer upon layer of violin-like soaring flavour. Fennel, angelica, apple, kumquat and masses of spice, lime marmalade, lime pickle. Minerality like tiny marbled pebbles. Texture like holding your lips a breath away from the vibrating strings of a violin played by a maestro. Monumental, staggering complexity. It is impossible to capture a wine like this in a snatched, hurried moment during a walk-around tasting. Anything I write is going to be a disservice. Drinking range: 2023 - 2038 Rating: 18.5 Tamlyn Currin - www.JancisRobinson.com (Jun 2023)

*Case price discount: Mix any 12 bottles of wine (or 9 litre equivalent) or 6 bottles of Champagne, Spirits, Sweet Wine or Fortified (4.5 litres) to get the discounted 'case price' for each bottle.

The Larmandier purity is very much to the fore here, with definite chalk, marmite and rich citrus on the nose. In the mouth the wine has incredible sapidity, a real juiciness to the citrus and stone fruit, creamy, marmite/umami touches, broad, complex and long.L&S (May 2023)

Single-vineyard Bourron du Levant, south-east-facing on a particularly rich and powerful slope of Cramant, with vines 56–80+ years of age; wild fermented in Stockinger barrels and vats; aged 7–8 years on lees; 2g/L dosage

To Pierre Larmandier, Cramant is a different world that deserves to be showcased solo. 'We indicate the vintage only on the back label because the place is more important than the vintage,” he explains. 'In this special part of Cramant, from such old vines, cultivated carefully, we are not so sensitive to seasonal fluctuations and we could make a vintage ever year. 2013 was an historical vintage with an October harvest. It’s the old style of freshness, not so rich, even in Cramant, which is ordinarily so rich. You can smell the vintage before the terroir!'

I love the way the characterful and ripe style of Larmandier sits in the mood of cool and classic seasons. A pretty, bright medium straw hue announces impressive tension of lemon and preserved lemon fruit with the presence of perfectly ripe pear and apple, accented with fresh fig. It strikes a wonderful tussle between a tense season and the generosity of Cramant in the fully ripe vibe of Larmandier. Oak sits comfortably in this mix, lending subtle spice and toast and building a supple and creamy generosity to the mouth feel.

Tasted 2023 Rating: 94 Tyson Stelzer - The Champagne Guide

The Larmandier family excelled in this cooler vintage, so it's unsurprising that the 2013 Extra-Brut Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru Vieille Vigne du Levant has turned out beautifully. Wafting from the glass with notes of crisp yellow orchard fruit, brioche, white flowers, oyster shell and honeycomb, it's medium to full-bodied, deep, layered and incisive, with a tangy spine of acidity, terrific tension and a long, racy finish. Drinking range: 2025 - 2040 Rating: 96+ William Kelley, The Wine Advocate (Dec 2023)

Champagne Larmandier-Bernier

Pierre and Sophie Larmandier and their sons Arthur and now Georges too (joined September 2021) are determined to make wines as true as possible to their origins in their different vineyards. These are split into around fifty separate parcels spread across the Côte des Blancs in the grand cru villages of Cramant, Chouilly, Oger and Avize, and the premier cru of Vertus.

All but three of the parcels (representing 0.5 hectares) are farmed using non-officially certified biodynamic methods. Wines are made only from their own 15 hectares of vines, which are on average 33 years old. All of their Champagnes are the purest expressions of Chardonnay.

Working only with natural yeasts the influence of 'terroir' is all important to the style of his wines, so much so that he uses a minimum 'dosage' (if at all) so as not to mask the wines natural characteristics.

Pierre has recently changed the 'Tradition' cuvée, re-launching it as 'Latitude', and it is now also a Blanc de Blancs, with its origins in the vineyards south of Vertus. The old 'Blanc de Blancs cuvée, which is known henceforth as 'Longitude', comes exclusively from vineyards on the Cote de Blancs itself and is classified Premier Cru'.

The Pinot Noir is now reserved exclusively for Pierre's distinctive dark rosé and for the Vertus Rouge Coteaux Champenois.

Awarded the Robert Parker Green emblem in July 2021.

Single Vineyard Champagne Mixed case

Grower Champagne is one of the most exciting areas in the market right now, and single vineyard grower Champagne is the pinnacle of this.

These wines are incredibly characterful, complex and tell the story of a single plot of land in a way which draws so many comparisons with fine Burgundy (not least the grapes involved). They are also enticingly rare.

Here is our mixed six - a starting guide to these fascinating wines and an exceptionally fun experience to boot.

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