Champagne Brut 7 Crus NV 75cl

Seven villages are represented in this cuvée with 90% chardonnay and 10% pinot noir. This is 2016 (60%) and 2015 (40%) with a very fresh nose, offering exuberant, yellow-fruit aromas with some fresh bread from the 26-month resting on lees. This has a smooth palate, with plenty of attractive citrus fruit and peaches on offer and there’s very expressive fruit flesh at the finish.

Based half-each on vintages 2010 and 2009, and with 10% Pinot Noir “smuggled in,” Agrapart’s NV Brut Blanc De Blancs 7 Crus E13 – named for the seven Cote des Blancs villages from which it is sourced, and in this instance disgorged in May, 2013 – displays uncommon delicacy, buoyancy, tension and nuance for an “intro-level” cuvee, and that uncannily combined with a sense of richness and purity to its white peach and grapefruit. Almond and pistachio cream lend allure; chalk and salt along with piquancy of peach kernel and toasted pumpkin seed impart interest, invigoration and saliva-inducement to an effusively juicy, succulent and refreshingly sustained finish. Seven grams of residual sugar, incidentally, is fairly high by estate standards but perfectly complements this wine’s forward fruit without engendering any sense of outright sweetness. This exceptional value in Champagne should remain irresistible for at least the next couple of years, and I shall be anxious to experience what happens further down the pike as I revisit the bottles I recently purchased (because older “intro-level” bottles are not usually something that growers – or, for that matter, most self-styled wine collectors – can lay their hands on to pour for you).

Floral and fresh, this elegant version offers hints of blackberry, slivered almond, tangy apple and smoky mineral riding a tightly knit, silky texture. Disgorged February 2014. Drink now through 2020. 1,000 cases made.  –AN