Agrapart Grand Cru Terroirs Blanc de Blancs NV

The latest rendition of Agrapart’s NV Extra Brut Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru Terroirs is excellent. Based on the 2018 vintage, with fully 60% reserve wines from 2017 (some 40% of which mature in wood), it’s medium to full-bodied, seamless and chiseled, evocative of citrus oil, buttered toast, mint and fresh bread. It derives from holdings in Avize, Oger, Cramant and Oiry. 93 points, William Kelley, The Wine Advocate

Creamy and flavorful, yet it remains precise and vertical, with an array of lemons, green apples, pie crust, almonds, hazelnuts and chalk. Medium-bodied with creamy, fine bubbles. Lots of energy, with zesty citrus notes at the end. Layered blanc de blancs. 94 points, James Suckling, Jamessuckling.com

Disgorged June 2022. Despite being one of the entry wines in the range, Terroirs is already a benchmark Blanc de Blancs. It is 100% Grand Cru with the fruit sourced only from great sites across four revered villages in the Côte des Blancs: Avize, Cramant, Oger and Oiry. Together with the terroir, vine age is a key factor in the quality on offer, with the average age being over 40 years.

This release is a blend of 2018 and 2017, with the reserve wine making up a significant 60% of the cuvée (another key to the quality). After a natural fermentation, half the wine matured in large-format, neutral oak and then spent 38 months on lees. Dosage was limited to five grams per litre and disgorgement was carried out by hand in July 2022. These winemaking standards, combined with organic viticulture, reach benchmarks that are far higher than any Grande Marque prestige cuvée we know of.

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