Disg. Apr 2024. Les Chemins d’Avize debuted in 2009. For this cuvée, the Larmandier family vinifies fruit from two tiny plots in the heart of Avize (Chemin de Plivot, planted in 1955, and Chemin de Flavigny, planted in 1960). Both are chalky parcels with very little topsoil and lie on the lower slopes of Avize, not far from Agrapart and Selosse’s La Fosse vineyard. “Initially, it was really tough for the vines to grow here, the soil is so hard,” Arthur Larmandier told us. “Now, they make really, really great wines.” 

The winemaking is similar to the other cuvées, save for the use of smaller, neutral barrels due to the smaller quantities of wine produced. The wines age in bottle for a minimum of five years and are then disgorged by hand with only 2 g/L dosage. It’s a stunning, racy example of Avize, a little deeper than Terre de Vertus, though more delicate and less fleshy than this grower’s Vieille Vigne du Levant.

Disgorged September 2022. The Larmandier family vinifies fruit from two tiny plots in the heart of Avize (Chemin de Plivot planted in 1955, and Chemin de Flavigny planted in 1960) for this cuvée. Both are chalky parcels with very little topsoil, and both lie on the lower slopes of Avize (not far from Agrapart and Selosse’s La Fosse vineyard).

The winemaking is similar to the other cuvées, save for using smaller neutral barrels for the fermentations because of the smaller quantities of wine produced. The wines age in bottle for a minimum of five years and are then disgorged by hand with only 2 g/L dosage. It’s a stunning, racy example of Avize, a little deeper than Terre de Vertus, though more delicate and less fleshy than this grower’s Vieille Vigne du Levant.

Terre de Vertus is one of three single-terroir Blanc de Blancs produced at this estate and is certainly the most famous. It is from a parcel of vines on the chalky mid-slope of Vertus, traversing the 1er Cru lieux-dits of Les Barillers and Les Faucherets. These sites produce intensely mineral wines that recall the best of Le Mesnil (to the north) in their chalky raciness and drive.

This fermented naturally, with roughly 60% fermented and aged in neutral barrique and the other 40% in large Stockinger casks. Malolactic conversion began spontaneously, and the wines were left on their lees for nearly a year. After the second fermentation, the wine aged in bottle for another six years before being disgorged. There is no dosage in order to respect the purity of the terroir. The result is one of the most distinctive and mineral wines of the entire Champagne region—and one of the benchmark wines of the great grower movement. 

Since the mid-‘90s, this wine has always been non-dosé—long before it was fashionable. The Larmandiers made the decision because this particular terroir (when farmed in their way: old vines, biodynamics, low yields, etc.) works best without any additions. Still very young and brimming with textural richness and energy, the new release shows a little more flex than the previous vintage. Courtesy of an especially low-yielding year high in dry extract, the palate is buoyed with freshness and the chalky finish is incredibly long and scintillating. Try it with oysters, terrine, hard cheeses, roast chicken or grilled white fish. 

Like this grower’s Latitude, this is 100% Côte des Blancs Chardonnay (the vineyards are in Cramant, Avize, Oger and Vertus), yet the vineyards have thinner topsoils so the vine roots plunge straight into the chalky bedrock. The name refers to the vertical nature of the geographic locations of the vineyards as well as the style of wine resulting from the chalky soils of these sites. While Larmandier’s Latitude is expansive across the palate, the Longitude is all about minerality, line and raciness. William Kelley has called this wine “one of the finest non-vintage bottlings to be found in Champagne”, and the high ratio of reserve wines should leave you with little doubt as to the quality on offer. This bottling is based on the 2020 vintage, with 40% reserve wine drawn from a ‘perpetual’ reserve started in 2004. 

An extended aging release, disgorged in September 2022. Like this grower’s Latitude, this is 100% Côte des Blancs Chardonnay (the vineyards are in Cramant, Avize, Oger and Vertus), yet the vineyards have thinner topsoils and so the vine roots plunge straight into the chalky bedrock. The name here refers to the vertical nature of the geographic locations of the vineyards as well as the style of wine resulting from the chalky soils of these sites, i.e. a more linear, mineral wine. While Larmandier’s Latitude is expansive across the palate, the Longitude is all about minerality, line and raciness.
William Kelley has called this wine “one of the finest non-vintage bottlings to be found in Champagne”, and the high ratio of reserve wines (40% from their ‘perpetual’ reserve started in 2004) should leave you with little doubt as to the quality on offer. This special aged release is based on the 2017 vintage and has therefore spent considerably more time on lees than the traditional release. 

Disgorged May 2022. Larmandier-Bernier tends just 1.2-hectares of old-vine Pinot Noir in Vertus, grown on the southern side of the village where the soil is a little richer, with higher clay content. These vines are best known as the source for the domaine’s pioneering Rosé de Saignée. Over the years Pierre Larmandier has also made a little still wine from these vines—in the past, Vertus Rouge was as famous as the red wines of Bouzy—but, until now, never a Blanc de Noirs.

2015 was a beautiful year for Pinot Noir in Vertus, leading Larmandier to vinify a white Champagne from these grapes alongside the rosé. It’s made in the same way as the domaine’s Terre de Vertus, with the base wine naturally fermented and raised in a mixture of large cask and vat for 11 months on lees and tiraged in July 2016. Following almost six years in bottle, it was disgorged in May 2022 with zero dosage to preserve the natural richness of the Pinot Noir.

The result is wonderfully complex and vinous Blanc de Noirs. A scintillating cocktail of red apple, sour berry compote and rushing minerals introduces a powerfully structured palate balanced by a rigid spine of freshness and tense, holding grip. It’s very Larmandier and very delicious; a Champagne of exceptional detail and vinous depth. A wow wine. Unfortunately, this release is very limited, and the next vintage, from 2019, is a good four years away. Make hay while the sun shines!