Founded in 1977, Guy Larmandier has been a Hi-Time staff favorite for Chardonnay Champagnes since the early 1980s. The operation of the house is now in the capable hands of Francois Larmandier whose watchwords are 'rigor, accuracy, and precision'. His mission is to create terroir-infused base wines and then employ Champagne method bubbles to augment that expression. This a mono-cru blanc de blancs sourced exclusively from the family's 8-acre vineyard in the Grand Cru of Cramant which, of course, is ground zero for top-flight Chardonnay in Champagne. With more than three years aging sur lattes, this brut zero is not austere; rather, it's a Champagne that grabs one's attention with its stirring play of crunchy lemon, grapefruit and white peach fruit that becomes subsumed in the finish by a salivating salt-tinged minerality. This is a truly fabulous aperitif or sushi bubbly-- at a great below-market price-- that could only have arisen from the heart of the Côtes de Blancs.
WINERY NOTES: "From Chardonnay vines in the Grand Cru village of Cramant. The total absence of any sense of sweetness in this Brut Zéro allows the limestone to take center stage, and it presents in a more piercing and saline manner than in Larmandier’s Brut wines. Despite its relative rigorousness and austerity, however, this is by no means a difficult wine. Rather, it will appeal to those who relish the sort of palpable, intense mineral character Champagne is capable of when made in such a straightforward fashion. Aged 3 years sur lattes."
WINERY NOTES: "From Chardonnay vines in the Grand Cru village of Cramant. The total absence of any sense of sweetness in this Brut Zéro allows the limestone to take center stage, and it presents in a more piercing and saline manner than in Larmandier’s Brut wines. Despite its relative rigorousness and austerity, however, this is by no means a difficult wine. Rather, it will appeal to those who relish the sort of palpable, intense mineral character Champagne is capable of when made in such a straightforward fashion. Aged 3 years sur lattes."