All wines
Boris· @Dominika P
Bérêche & Fils
Une
2014
4.2
Region
France › Champagne › Champagne AOC
Type
white · traditional · sparkling · extra-brut
Grapes
Chardonnay, Pinot Noir
Alcohol
12.5%
Volume
750 mL
Disgorged
2023-11
On lees
~96 months (~8 years)
Tasting Notes(1)
4.2
It opens on onion, of all things, before settling into peaches, Mirabelle plums and baked apples edged with shortbread and orange peel. An oxidative streak runs through everything - subtle, moreish, turning sherried by the finish - with mint and spice flickering at the margins. The palate is rich and full, green apple and lemon zest up front, crushed rock and a creamy texture underneath, and the salty finish goes on and on. Twelve years in, though, it's a bit too tired to be everything it once promised.
About
Une Champagne 2014 is the top of the Bérêche range and the debut of the idea - an assemblage of the house's favourite barrels from its best 1er and Grand Cru parcels, the back label spelling the components out in code: CRAN - BRD - MAY - AMB - AY - CRM - AVZ, that is Le Cran and Les Beaux Regards in Ludes, then Mailly, Ambonnay, Ay, Cramant and Avize. Where the house's vintage bottlings argue for single places, Une argues for the blend - "pinacle du geste de l'assemblage", as the label puts it. Pinot Noir and Chardonnay in roughly equal parts per the one trade listing that gives figures; the label itself states no percentages.
Vinified in wood and aged under cork for around eight years on lees - some three of them sur pointe - before disgorgement, reported as November 2023, finished Extra Brut at about 3 g/l. The lees time, disgorgement and dosage all trace to a single trade listing; the label states only the essentials. This is not a Grand Cru bottling - the Ludes components are Premier Cru, and the label makes no such claim.
