A suave, dry champagne from a small grower

Matthew Jukes is uttely impressed by this 'small grower' champagne with authenticity of flavour and a vital signature.

Matthew Jukes
By
published
in Features

NV Larmandier-Bernier, Terre de Vertus, 1er Cru Non-Dos, Champagne, France (£49.99, Selfridges Wonder Bar, 020-7318 2476).

I am utterly obsessed with 'small grower' champagnes. Producers such as Andr Jacquart; Jacquesson; Brche; Jrme Prvost; Claude Carr; Dehours; J. Dumangin; Egly-Ouriet; Gatinois, A. Margaine; Paul Dthune; Pertois-Moriset the list is endless.

These boutique houses make expert wines and fritter none of their profits away on glossy advertising campaigns, Formula One sponsorship and the like, preferring to put all their money into the wine. My favourite at the moment is Larmandier-Bernier.

Subscribe to MoneyWeek

Subscribe to MoneyWeek today and get your first six magazine issues absolutely FREE

Get 6 issues free
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/mw70aro6gl1676370748.jpg

Sign up to Money Morning

Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter

Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter

Sign up

I have followed these wines for a decade and every cuve made here is astonishingly good. The new 2004 Vieille Vigne de Cramant Grand Cru is my highest pointing champagne so far this year (19/20), but only half a point behind is this suave, bone dry, single-village wine.

The label has a picture of the soil from the vineyard and it points to the authenticity of flavour and vital signature that the earth brings to the grapes grown in it.

Do yourself a favour and visit Selfridges Wonder Bar. You will find this wine there and many other superb choices too!

Matthew Jukes is a winner of the International Wine & Spirit Competition's Communicator of the Year.

Matthew Jukes
Matthew Jukes

Matthew Jukes has worked in the UK wine business for well over three decades and during this time has written 14 wine books.  

Matthew regularly lectures, judges, speaks at wine conferences and runs masterclass tastings for both corporate and private clients all over the world. Matthew is also the creator of his ground-breaking initiative, the One Day Wine School, an indulgent day of tasting and learning first performed in 2006.

He has been the MoneyWeek wine correspondent since 2006 and has written a weekly column for the Daily Mail’s Weekend Magazine since 1999. His four highly-acclaimed, annual wine reports – the Burgundy En Primeur Report, the Bordeaux En Primeur Report, the Piemonte Report and the 100 Best Australian Wines – are published on his website, www.matthewjukes.com.

Matthew is one of the world’s leading experts on Australian wine and, with Brisbane-based wine writer Tyson Stelzer, runs an annual competition in Australia to find ‘The Great Australian Red’.  He was made Honorary Australian of the Year in the UK at the 2012 Australia Day Foundation Gala dinner. 

Matthew is a winner of the International Wine and Spirit Competition's Communicator of the Year Trophy.  His thoughts, recommendations and tastings notes are followed very closely by the wine world at large.

 

Latest