Larmandier-Bernier MV "Rosé de Saignée" Extra Brut 1er Cru Champagne, France

Winemakers: Pierre & Sophie Larmandier

Farming: Biodynamic

Grapes: 90% Pinot Noir & 10% Pinot Gris

Soil / Terroir: Vineyards are located in Vertus (Côte des Blancs) with deep chalky soil and rich topsoil with an average vine age of 30 years.

Vinification: This Rosé is made in the saignée method (contrary to many Rosé Champagnes, which add still red wine to the blend before the second fermentation). The wine is fermented in 1 stainless tank and 2 concrete eggs followed by lees aging with bâtonnage for one year. Secondary fermentation and further aging on the lees for over two years. Disgorged 6 months prior to release. Native yeasts. 

Dosage: 3 g/l RS.

Scores / Accolades:

• 96 Points, Wine Advocate
• 95 point, Vinous

Tasting Notes: This is one of our absolute favorites at DECANTsf! This is a savory, explosive Rose de Saignée Champagne, evocative of blood orange, hibiscus tea, and chalk-dusted Pink Lady apples. This wine is brimming with tension, and is rich enough to stand up to more serious dishes, or even just a bag of Salt & Vinegar chips (one of Simi's favorite pairings)!

From our 2021 Q3 Serious Inquiries Only Bottle Club Notes:

Eight generations. Eight generations of patience, craftsmanship, and independence. Since the time of the French Revolution, the Larmandier and Bernier families have been tending vines and making wine on the chalky white soils of Cremant and Vertus in the Côte des Blancs of Champagne. In the 1970s, the families and vineyards joined through marriage, and a new house was born to showcase the extraordinary terroir of the Côte des Blancs through the eyes of the farmers who had been working the land for centuries. In the late 1980s, a new generation of vigneron was born, when Pierre Larmandier and his new wife Sophie took over the estate, and in 1992, they ended the use of herbicides and pesticides and began to breathe new life into these old vineyards by employing biodynamic farming principles and natural yeast in fermentations (long before the trend was chic in Champagne), and grew the estate to 45 acres. This grower-producer only makes Champagne from their own hand-farmed fruit, never purchasing from anyone else. The belief at Larmandier-Bernier is that wine is made in the vineyard, not in the cellar; healthy vines equal healthy wines. 

    This rosé is a bit of an anomaly in Champagne winemaking. Typically to make rosé sparkling wines, we begging with still white wines from both white and red grapes, and then still red wine is blended in to capture the desired color and aromas. This is really the only region in the world where this is even allowed by law, and around ~99% of rosé Champagne is made in this method. Larmandier-Bernier does it a little differently— instead of making red and white wines to blend, they make a rosé wine first of perfectly ripe Pinot Noir and then blend that with white wines from Pinot Gris (a lawful, but very rare grape in Champagne!), both from Premier Cru vineyards in Vertus. After the second fermentation (when the bubbles are made), the wine lays for two years in the cellars before receiving its cork. This is a much riskier and time-consuming process, but we think it really pays off (it’s no wonder that the Wine Advocate gave this Champagne 96 points!)

    A heady explosion of fruit and floral aromas hits you once the wine is in the glass, orange rind, rose petals, strawberries and cream.. We could drink this all day. 

    Feel free to hold this wine in the cellar for a bit– We think it can go at least five years easily, or enjoy it the next time you are feeling a little luxury at home!

— Cara Patricia