Chardonnay. Disgorged May 2023. Aurélien Laherte has been experimenting with a sans soufre (zero-sulphur) cuvée for several vintages. In 2018, he cracked it with two barrels of Côte des Blancs juice from two Premier Cru terroirs in Vertus and Voipreux. Laherte noted that the critical factors to the stability of vinifying in the absence of any additions were zero dosage and full malolactic conversion. His successful work with this wine has encouraged him to work without sulphites with some of the components of the blended wines.
The third release of Laherte’s Nature de Craie is drawn from a single vintage (2021) sourced from vines planted in 1960, 1965 and 1987. The word craie refers to the chalky soil of these terroirs, which lie on the lower slopes, ensuring good exposure and providing fruit ripeness with no need for additional dosage. This release was vinified in neutral oak barrels before aging on cork for 12 months. It was disgorged in April 2023 with no dosage. This is a unique and powerful Burgundian Blanc de Blancs, wonderfully pure and deeply textured, drawing together notes of iodine, wildflowers and chalk with white-peach fleshiness and smoky mineral complexity. Boom.