LARMANDIER-BERNIER

The NV Extra Brut Blanc de Blancs Longitude 1er Cru impresses with its elegance and finesse. Chalk, mint, white flowers and green apple are all beautifully delineated. Understated and light on its feet, the Longitude is impressive. It exudes the sort of nuance that only emerges over time. Dosage is 3 grams per liter. Disgorged: September 2023. Drinking range: 2024 - 2032 Rating: 93 Antonio Galloni, www.vinous.com (Mar 2024)

Chardonnay from Vertus, Avize, Cramant and Oger. 2019 base with 40% reserve wines. Inviting nut milk and clementine sweetness up front here, with a delicious sourdough tang here and a classical, fine and layered profile with ripples of fine lemon peel. The assemblage and the reserve wines make this feel truly involved and complex for a young wine – a classic that remains approachably priced. Tom Hewson Rating: 93 Tim Atkin MW, www.timatkin.com (Dec 2022)

The NV Extra Brut Blanc de Blancs Longitude 1er Cru is a blend taken from parcels in Vertus, Avize, Cramant and Oger that lie on the same longitudinal axis. Crushed rocks, jasmine, mint, white pepper and lemon peel race out of the glass. This taut, beautifully sculpted yet airy Champagne from Larmandier-Bernier is a winner. This release is based on 2019 and 40% a perpetual reserve that goes back to 2004. Dosage is 3 grams per liter. Disgorged: February, 2022. Drinking range: 2022 - 2030 Rating: 94 Antonio Galloni, www.vinous.com (Nov 2022)

The NV Extra Brut Blanc de Blancs Longitude 1er Cru comes across as a bit closed and narrow today. I would give it 6-12 months in bottle to come together. Citrus, dried flowers, mint, spice and marzipan all open in the glass. The Longitude is powerful, but also inward. This release is 60% 2018 and 40% a perpetual reserve that goes back to 2004. Dosage is 4 grams per liter. Disgorged: June, 2021. Drinking range: 2021 - 2029 Rating: 92 Antonio Galloni, www.vinous.com (Nov 2021)

I have chosen one elite Champagne for New Year’s Eve from hundreds of candidates. Made from 100 per cent Chardonnay, the purity and energy of this awe-inspiring wine will rewire your palate in preparation for 2021.Matthew Jukes, The Daily Mail (Dec 2020)

An exceptional champagne from Larmandier’s prized 37 acres of vines. Comprising 100 per cent chardonnay, it is delicately textured and intense, with a lingering, slightly saline, nutty finish.Will Lyons, The Sunday Times (Dec 2020)

Although this was one of the first so-called grower champagnes to earn an international reputation, its prices have not increased unduly and quality has been admirably consistent. I would be happy with any of Pierre Larmandier’s wines, such as the even more mature Terre de Vertus 2013, but this one, a top-quality Chardonnay that’s livelier than many a famous grande marque, triumphed unequivocally in a recent blind tasting of champagnes and English sparkling wines.Jancis Robinson OBE MW - www.JancisRobinson.com (Nov 2020)

The NV Extra Brut Blanc de Blancs Longitude 1er Cru sizzles with tension and energy. Chalk and limestone soils in the villages of Vertus, Cramant and Oger give birth to a Champagne endowed with so much vibrancy. Citrus, yellow flowers, spice and baked apple tart add aromatic nuance, but it is the wine's pure drive and texture that stand out most. This is a fabulous showing. The current release is based on 2016, with 40% wines from a perpetual reserve that dates back to 2004. Dosage is 4 grams per liter. Disgorged: October, 2019. Drinking range: 2020 - 2028 Rating: 94 Antonio Galloni, www.vinous.com (Nov 2020)

Up there with the best fizz on the planet – pristine, complex and worth the cash. Treat yourself.Olly Smith, The Mail on Sunday (Oct 2020)

The latest rendition of the Larmandiers' NV Longitude Blanc de Blancs Premier Cru Extra Brut is predictably superb, offering up scents of waxy lemon rind, crisp yellow apple, dried white flowers and fresh hazelnut, followed by a medium to full-bodied, vinous but precise palate that's pure, delicately textural and captivatingly weightless despite its undeniable intensity and concentration, concluding with a complex, mouthwateringly saline finish. It's hard to think of a better value in Champagne. Drinking range: 2018 - 2028 Rating: 93 William Kelley, The Wine Advocate (May 2019)

The NV Extra Brut Blanc de Blancs 1er Cru Longitude is powerful, resonant and beautifully textured in the glass. This is the Larmandier-Bernier style at its best. Almond, dried flower, lemon confit, chamomile and mint are all laced together in a super-expressive, resonant Champagne that is firing on all cylinders today. Ample and enveloping, the Longitude is a wine of pure and total class. Longitude is 1005 Chardonnay taken from chalk and limestone-rich sites in Vertus, Cramant and Oger that sit at the same longitude. Of these, only Vertus is a 1er Cru village, as Cramant and Oger are both Grand Crus. The current release is 60% 2013 and 40% reserve wines. Dosage is 4 grams per liter. Disgorged: December 2017. Drinking range: 2019 - 2027 Rating: 94 Antonio Galloni, www.vinous.com (Dec 2018)

Superior fruit concentration, freshness and expressive style here. This is delicious. Ripe peaches and nectarines with a fine, chalky edge. The palate really delivers in bold, fleshy and flavorsome style. Lots to like here. Drink now. Rating: 93 James Suckling, www.jamessuckling.com (Aug 2018)

One of the most renowned viticulturists in the Côtes des Blancs, Pierre Larmandier has been working biodynamically since 2000 and has farmed his entire 16ha estate biodynamically since 2004. The wines are fermented with indigenous yeasts in a mix of oak barrels and stainless steel tanks, and released with little dosage. Sourced from the village of Vertus, as well as the grands crus of Avize, Cramant, Choilly and Oger, Longitude reflects the character and finesse of these chalky soils.

Michael Edwards: Lovely, classy, green gold in colour, shouting Chardonnay straight away. There are minerals, chalk, a hint of spices, and fine, fine tension in the mouth. It is moreish, complete, a fine, long wine. Drinking range: 2018 - 2025 Rating: 95 Decanter Magazine (Jun 2017)

Larmandier-Bernier's NV Extra Brut Blanc de Blancs Longitude 1er Cru is a powerful, tightly wound wine that captures the inherent energy of these soils rich in limestone and chalk. The trademark Larmandier-Bernier breadth comes through, but it is also tempered by the wine's tightly wound sense of energy. Citrus, orchard fruit, dried herb and crushed flowers all develop nicely. Above all else, though, the Longitude is a wine of mineral-driven intensity and focus. Ideally, readers should be prepared to cellar this edition for at least another 2-3 years. The Longitude is a gorgeous, striking Champagne, but it is also one of the most reticent wines in this range. Rating: 93+ Antonio Galloni, www.vinous.com (Dec 2016)

An all-Chardonnay Champagne from one of the best growers in the Côte des Blancs, this stylish fizz shows an elegant nuttiness of aroma followed by a finely-textured purity of flavour and the rich creaminess of mousse that's consistent with fine Chardonnay, finishing on a bone dry note thanks to a relatively low dosage of just four grams per litre. Rating: 92 The Wine Gang - www.thewinegang.com (Jun 2016)

Wonderful balance and refreshment factor. Not mean at all but with great refinement. Tiny bead. Sophisticated and subtle. 12.5% Drinking range: 2015 - 2018 Rating: 17 Jancis Robinson OBE MW - www.JancisRobinson.com (May 2015)

(mostly from Vertus, with some fruit sourced from the grand crus Cramant, Avize and Oger; 4 g/l dosage): Bright straw. Intensely perfumed bouquet displays aromas of green apple, Anjou pear and quinine, plus a strong chalky mineral overtone. Spicy citrus and orchard fruit flavors are complemented by deeper notes of sweet butter, toasty lees and anise, gaining power with air. Impressively focused on the finish, with strong mineral cut and lingering spiciness. Rating: 92 Josh Raynolds, www.vinousmedia.com (Jan 2015)

A big, ample Champagne, Larmandier-Bernier's NV Longitude wraps around the palate with gorgeous depth and textural richness. Apricot pit, almonds, wild herbs, honey and crushed flowers are some of the notes that meld together on the creamy, expressive finish. The Longitude is made mostly from parcels in the northern sector of Vertus, although 30% of the fruit is sourced from parcels in Cramant, Avize and Oger. Drinking range: 2014 - 2021 Rating: 92 Antonio Galloni, www.vinous.com (Nov 2014)

The Blanc de Blancs Premier Cru is elegance personified. Smoke, minerals, chalk, and pears emerge as this generous yet subtle wine opens up in the glass. Sweet floral notes develop with air, but minerality is this wine's calling card, particularly on the finish, which is incredibly elegant and refined. Simply put, this is gorgeous juice. Though labelled as Premier Cru, only the fruit from Vertus is premier, while all of the fruit from Cramant, Avize and Oger in the blend is Grand Cru. The blend is 60% 2005 wine, with the addition of 40% reserve wine from 2004 and 2002. Rating: 91 Robert Parker, The Wine Advocate, www.RobertParker.com