N.V. Tarlant Extra Brut Blanc De Blancs La Vigne D'Antan

Champagne Tarlant traces its history to the early 18th century, when Pierre Tarlant began cultivating vineyards in Gland. Several generations later Louis Tarlant and his wife inherited property in Oeuilly near Epernay. The family made and sold red and white wines for nearly a century, but in 1928 they started bottling their own Champagne. Today the twelfth generation of the Tarlant family still owns and operates the estate, and Benoit Tarlant is winemaker. The estate’s 35 acres of vineyards are distributed into 55 parcels in four villages, where Tarlant grows Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Pinot Meunier, Arbanne, Pinot Blanc and Petit Meslier. Tarlant makes a full range of vintage and non-vintage Champagnes. Guide Hachette des Vins 2014 notes that Benoit Tarlant “advocates a natural approach to viticulture….and winemaking. His wines do not undergo malolactic fermentation…” Wine Advocate has rated the Champagnes in the mid-90s.

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.