Bérêche & Fils Champagne Brut Réserve

One of the up-and-coming producers in Champagne is Raphaël Bérèche. Bérèche produces stunning, singular wines from sustainably farmed vineyards in the Montagne de Reims and the Vallée de la Marne. The current Brut Réserve is a blend of Chardonnay, Meunier and Pinot Noir based on the delicious and precocious 2009 vintage. A gorgeous lemon-gold color, Bérèche’s Brut Réserve presents a fine, persistent, vivacious effervescence and stunning aromas of straw, chalk and buttery lemon fruit. Firm and bone-dry on the palate, the wine presents a chalky, tactile, gripping mouth-feel, thanks in part to its low dosage as well as the winemaker’s use of indigenous yeasts. The wine gains in volume and aromatic complexity as it sits in your glass, which retains a pungent chalky aroma long after the wine is consumed. There is no better example of small-grower Champagne that can compete in quality and complexity with this wine at its remarkably affordable price. Enjoy now and over the coming decade with sushi, sashimi, broiled true cod, oysters, vegetarian lasagna with béchamel sauce, light poultry dishes, or as a fitting toast to a great event.

Naturally farmed.

A November and December 2012 Newsletter selection.