2015 Larmandier-Bernier Premier Cru Terre de Vertus Blanc de Blancs

Larmandier-Bernier in Vertus was founded in 1970 when Philippe Larmandier and his wife Elisabeth Bernier decided to start their own Champagne house. Larmandier’s family had been making Champagne for several generations and Bernier owned family vineyards. When Philippe died in 1982 Elisabeth continued to run the estate, expanding their export business to Belgium and Switzerland. In 1988 after finishing his college business degree, Pierre joined his mother in running the estate. Today Pierre and his wife Sophie farm the 48-acre estate following biodynamic principles, and make a portfolio of Champagnes including a signature cuvée called Terre de Vertus, which is a no dosage Champagne, meaning that no sugar is added at all.

Champagne is a small, beautiful wine growing region northeast of Paris whose famous name is misused a million times a day. As wine enthusiasts and all French people are well aware, only sparkling wines produced in Champagne from grapes grown in Champagne can be called Champagne. Sparkling wines produced anywhere else, including in other parts of France, must be called something besides Champagne. Champagne producers are justifiably protective of their wines and the prestige associated with true Champagne. Though the region was growing grapes and making wines in ancient times, it began specializing in sparkling wine in the 17th century, when a Benedictine monk named Dom Pierre Pérignon formulated a set guidelines to improve the quality of the local sparkling wines. Despite legends to the contrary, Dom Pérignon did not “invent” sparkling wine, but his rules about aggressive pruning, small yields and multiple pressings of the grapes were widely adopted, and by the 18th and 19th centuries Champagne had become the wine of choice in fashionable courts and palaces throughout Europe. Today there are 75,000 acres of vineyards in Champagne growing Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Pinot Meunier. Champagne’s official appellation system classifies villages as Grand Cru or Premier Cru, though there are also many excellent Champagnes that simply carry the regional appellation. Along with well-known international Champagne houses there are numerous so-called “producer Champagnes,” meaning wines made by families who, usually for several or more generations, have worked their own vineyards and produced Champagne only from their own grapes.