Bérêche & Fils Brut Réserve L:19.07/2022

Bérêche & Fils Brut Réserve is among my favourite NV Champagne wines of this year. And boy, what a value. A wonderful mix of Jerez, shells, chalk, baked apple, honey and lemongrass. Vinous, intense and complex. Long and flavourful aftertaste with notes of Jerez, honey and lemon tart. Just a pleasure to drink. I love to let it warm and breathe a bit.

Brut Reserve is the house's NV anchor - the wine the brothers use to express the breadth of the domaine in a single bottle. Roughly equal thirds Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Pinot Meunier, drawn from the patchwork of plots across Ludes, Ormes, Mareuil-le-Port and Trepail. About 70% of the blend is base-vintage fruit; the remaining ~30% comes from the perpetual reserve Reflet d'Antan, which Jean-Pierre Berêche started in 1985 and has grown ever since (it's the same reserve that feeds the cuvee of the same name when it's released on its own - see Reflet d'Antan (2016)).

This bottling: lot L:19.07/2022, base vintage 2019, disgorged July 2022, around two-and-a-half to three years on lees, finished as Brut. Bottled under cork (no crown cap on the prise de mousse), hand-disgorged, no filtration.

It was not a good idea to place it after the Benoît Lahaye Grand Cru Millesime 2017, but even in its shadow, Brut Réserve NV delivered well. Complex and mineral bouquet of shells, chalk, baked apple with honey, lemon and Jerez. Still young on the palate with piercing acidity, but already delicious.

Among the best NV Champagne available on the Ukrainian market. A wonderful mix of shells, chalk, baked apple, cider, honey and lemongrass. Vinous, intense and complex. Long and flavourful aftertaste with notes of Jerez, honey and lemon tart.

Brut Réserve L:19.07/2022

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