Lilbert & Fils Brut Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru "Perle" NV

Alcohol: 12%

Grape(s): Chardonnay

Localization: Cote des Blancs, Champagne, France

Tasting Notes: Lilbert’s rarest and most sought-after wine, this also comes from all three communes and is sourced from the best old vines. It is bottled with a lower pressure than the non-vintage classic, making it particularly transparent and mineral.

93 points Wine Enthusiast - "The Perle style is a comparative rarity in Champagne, bottling the wine at a lower than usual pressure. This dry Champagne is therefore softly textured with an open mousse. It does however have all the fine, tight minerality of great Chardonnay in Champagne and will surely develop further."

The Domain: Lilbert owns 3.5 hectares of vines- all Grand Cru, and all Chardonnay, with an average vine age of 45 years- in the Côte des Blancs. 60% of their vines are in Cramant, 30% in Chouilly, and 10% in Oiry. These are three of the six Grand Cru villages in the Côte des Blancs. It is rare that anyone house owns exclusively Grand Cru vineyards in the Côte des Blancs; Bertrand calls himself "very lucky" to be able to make wines from such prestigious vineyards. All of the parcels are vinified separately until two weeks before bottling. The NV represents 80% of the production and is aged in the cellar for two years. Dosage is normally around 7g/L since Bertrand is going for acidity in his wines and not ripeness. (He does not perform batonnage because it makes the wines too heavy.) The winery is tiny and the latest investment is a 4,000kg pneumatic press and a disgorgement machine. Each bottle is still riddled by hand. The end result is a true connoisseurs champagne.