Champagne Gallimard Père et Fils Blanc de Noirs Les Meurgers Extra Brut NV

This 100% Pinot Noir is a wonder, sourced from their Les Riceys estate vineyards, built using only the very top lots, from the best parcels of vines. These vines are grown in the region’s mix of clay and chalk soils amongst the rolling wood-topped hills surrounding their village, in an area pristinely suited to Pinot Noir. The base here is some 70% Pinot Noir from the 2020 vintage – one that Arnaud describes for his village of Les Riceys as, “A great vintage…a perfect one, with no rain, no humidity at harvest, which was complete before the odium (powdery mildew) set in.”  The final 30% of the wine comes from the house’s perpetual cuvee of Pinot Noir – comprised of vintages from 2009 to 2019. The wine is disgorged in the “à la volée” style, wherein the yeast is forcefully expelled without first freezing the neck of the bottle. Quite the sight!

Didier and Arnaud happen to make the perfect father-son team. Didier is the old guard, rooted in tradition and paying homage to the generations of the family who farmed this land before. Arnaud is the future, experimenting, re-evaluating, and driving the wines to newfound heights – even chosen by Wine Enthusiast as one of the "Champagne Producers Redefining France’s Bubbly".

The wine they’ve crafted here is utterly fantastic, compelling stuff that leads with an intense attack of red cherries, freshly shaved coconut, and almond liqueur, followed by aromatic expressions of candied violets, followed by white peaches, baked pears, strawberry coulis, pineapples, golden raspberries, and a stony and fresh minerality throughout. The acidity keeps this vivaciously fresh, and persistently bright – evolving into a long and penetrating finish. The mousse is on the low-pressure side, and my preference here is to pour straight into wide Burgundy bowls to be enjoyed with food. It’s a spectacular wine at any price – but for our utterly silly mark of $42… this can’t be beat!