Champagne Larmandier Bernier Grand Cru Les Chemins d’Avize 2015 (6 Bottles) France

by Fine Wine Cellars

$2,381.00 GST Included

AUSTRALIA WIDE SHIPPING INCLUDED

The Larmandier family vinify fruit from two tiny plots in the heart of Avize (Chemin de Plivot planted in 1955, and Chemin de Flavigny planted in 1960) for this cuvée. Both are highly chalky parcels with very little topsoil, and both lie on the lower slopes of Avize (not far from Agrapart and Selosse’s La Fosse vineyard).

The winemaking is similar to the other cuvées, save for using smaller, neutral barrels for the fermentations because of the smaller quantities of wine produced. The wines age in bottle for a minimum of five years and are then disgorged by hand with only 2 g/L dosage. It’s a stunning, racy example of Avize, a little deeper than the Terre de Vertus, although more delicate and less fleshy than this grower’s Vieille Vigne du Levant.

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About Larmandier-Bernier

“Few growers’ ranges in Champagne are as consistently outstanding as that of Larmandier-Bernier,” Andrew Jefford, The New France

“In a region where vineyard work is not always given the priority it deserves, Larmandier-Bernier is a model of what can be achieved through conscientious and diligent care in the vines.” Peter Liem, Champagneguide.net

“Pierre and Sophie Larmandier craft dramatic, vinous wines of real personality and class. Sustainable farming practices, indigenous fermentations and aging in cask are some of the cornerstones of an approach that yields distinctly potent, textured wines full of character.” Antonio Galloni, Vinous

Today we offer the superb new releases from this stellar grower. The new bottlings of Latitude, Longitude and Rosé de Saignée all draw on the impressive (if small) 2019 vintage, and we can happily offer these wines in a range of formats that include extended lees aging. The new single-terroir cuvées also stem from a range of vintages: Terre de Vertus from 2015 (six years on lees); Chemins d’Avize from 2014 (seven years on lees); and Vieille Vigne du Levant (over eight years on lees). Finally, Larmandier has released the second vintage of its new Rosé de Maturation. Following over six years in bottle, the 2014 offers a totally different experience from the Rosé de Saignée: it’s a more layered, fleshy and complex wine. Across the board the quality is, once again, awe-inspiring.

Like other benchmark growers, this is a producer that keeps evolving and reaching ever-greater heights. The wines still have the energy and intense minerality they have always offered, and now there is even more depth, layers and complexity. In part this is due to an increase in the lees aging cycle, which the Larmandiers now deem essential to the expression of their wines. For some time, Pierre and Sophie Larmandier have also indicated their wish to age their Champagnes for even longer before release, and the new, underground maturation cellar now grants them this opportunity.

Fine Wine Cellars

On the one hand, our role as a merchant of all things wine & spirits could not be simpler. We aim to source the most delicious, the most authentic, and the highest quality products possible from Australia and around the world in order to offer them to our clients. We live or die by how well we perform this task. Of course things are rarely as simple or as easy as they seem. Hunting for wines & spirits is no different. Apart from the months spent travelling, countless days and evenings spent tasting and the outrageous wine expenditure in the name of ‘research’, sourcing quality wine and spirits requires expertise and experience. Understanding the potential of a producer and their products is much more than just a slurp and a spit.

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