Alcohol: 12.5%
Grape(s): 100% Chardonnay
Location: Mesnil-sur-Oger, Champagne, France
Tasting Notes: Chétillon de Haut is serious and complex, with a distinct minerality, cutting structure, racy acids, chalky extract, and an incredibly long finish. Medium- to full-bodied, pillowy, and textural, it’s layered and hyper-elegant. Our tasting notes for the inaugural vintage say “lights out.” Only 900 bottles of this glorious blanc de Blancs were produced, destined to be a legendary Champagne for those who get their hands on a bottle.
Notes: Pressing in an old, traditional 4000kg vertical basket press, alcoholic fermentation with native yeasts in stainless steel, 18 months in used 600L demi-muid Burgundy barrels and Avize Champagne barrel.
The Domain: The dynamic, young Waris-Larmandier family farms prime, old-vine vineyards of Grand Cru chardonnay in the Côte des Blancs, located in the villages of Chouilly, Cramant, Avize, Oger, and Le Mesnil-sur-Oger. Jean-Philippe Waris is supported by his brother Pierre-Louis, an architect, and his sister Inès, a designer and sculptor. Together with their mother, Marie-Hélène Larmandier, they form the “racines de trois” (the three roots) of Waris-Larmandier, each contributing to the artistic vision of this young and dynamic Champagne house. Exceptional farming is the primary focus at Waris-Larmandier. Their vineyards are certified organic (Ecocert) and biodynamic (Demeter), primarily producing transparent, terroir-focused wines.
Waris-Larmandier Champagnes are made in a long-aging style characterized by elegance and a superb balance of minerality and silkiness. Secondary fermentation produces a pressure at 4.5 bar. This lower pressure, traditional to Avize, gives the wine a very fine and creamy mousse and delicate texture that is neither aggressive nor overwhelming, yielding gastronomic Champagnes with great complexity and verve.
Waris-Larmandier releases a series of extremely limited lieu-dit bottlings in only the best vintages, when the family feels that each cru has reached its peak terroir expression. The total production of each bottling is minuscule, averaging approximately 1000 bottles each vintage. Only the best barrels of each village are bottled for their lieux-dits; the rest are destined for the multi-vintage Particules Crayeuses cuvée.
