Champagne Bérêche et Fils Grand Cru Mailly-Champagne Blanc de Noirs 2017 (Disg. Jul 2022)

The Bérêche brothers purchased this magnificent plot in 2011. It’s the estate’s first and most prized Grand Cru. Situated between Ludes and Verzenay in Montagne de Reims, Mailly’s chalky subsoil and predominance of north-facing slopes bring out a unique mineral freshness in Pinot Noir. Vincent and Raphaël are no strangers to Mailly; previously, as much as 70% of their Montagne cuvée was drawn from this Grand Cru. Raphaël describes his decision to jump on the offer of a 0.4-hectare parcel of 60-year-old Pinot Fin vines rooted in the rich clay and chalk of the Les Chalois vineyard as the easiest of his life.

The wine was vinified with indigenous yeasts in oak barrels up to 600 litres in size. It spent 48 months under cork before disgorgement. The dosage was 3 g/L. This wine is the only independent bottling of the Mailly Grand Cru we have come across, and it gives us a taste of what we have been missing. In style, it’s an incisive and super-pure Champagne with an array of flavours stretching out over citrus oil, stone fruit and herbal notes, as well as a distinctive aniseed/liquorice note.