All wines
Franck Pascal
Harmonie
2017
4.1
Region
France › Champagne › Vallée de la Marne › Champagne AOC
Type
white · traditional · sparkling · extra-brut
Grapes
Pinot Meunier, Pinot Noir
Alcohol
12%
Volume
750 mL
Disgorged
2025-02-03
On lees
~84 months (~7 years)
Tasting Notes(1)
4.1
Pascal's late-disgorged vintage Blanc de Noirs in his savory register - not fruit-forward Champagne, the kind that wears its seven years on lees on its sleeve. Toasted almonds, brioche, baked apple, a leesy whisper of depth that suggests the long wait paid off. The 72% Pinot Noir gives structure; Meunier softens the edges. Acidity bright and threaded through rather than knife-edge. Bone dry from the 2 g/L dosage, but the long lees ageing does the work that dosage usually does elsewhere. A 2017 that came through Pascal's rigorous biodynamic selection - properly built without trying to impress.
About
Franck Pascal's vintage Blanc de Noirs Extra-Brut. Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier from the right bank of the Vallée de la Marne, vines around 45 years old on clay with flint, millstone, and hard limestone fragments.
Composition (per the back label): 72% Pinot Noir, 28% Meunier - a notable shift from the cuvée's usual ~50/50 split, almost certainly a vintage-driven choice given how 2017's harvest played out (Meunier was the variety that struggled most under the late-summer botrytis pressure, so the higher Pinot Noir share likely reflects which fruit came in clean).
Hand-harvested, indigenous yeasts only, no fining, no filtration. Primary fermentation in enamelled vat (Franck Pascal generally avoids cask work for the Champagne side of the lineup). House convention for Harmonie sits around 48 months on lees, with some releases stretching toward 6 years; this 2017 was disgorged 3 February 2025, putting it at roughly 6.5-7 years on lees - on the upper end of the cuvée's range. Dosage 2 g/L, 12% ABV.
2017 in Champagne was a tough year: a mid-April frost (one of the worst frost events of the decade), then a hot dry May (the warmest since 1947 in parts of the region), then heavy late-July rain and humidity that triggered widespread botrytis pressure. Small crop, mixed quality - Chardonnay generally outperformed the dark grapes. A vintage where biodynamic / hand-sorted growers with rigorous selection had a real advantage.