All wines
Bérêche & Fils
Aÿ Blanc Grand Cru
2022
4.2
Region
France › Champagne › Vallée de la Marne › Aÿ › Coteaux Champenois AOC
Type
white · still
Grapes
Chardonnay
Alcohol
12.5%
Volume
750 mL
Tasting Notes(1)
4.2
Grilled lime and canned sardines is not everyone's idea of a compliment, but here it is one. The flint-and-chalk character is almost absurd in its intensity, the oak tucked neatly in behind, and the acidity cuts deep without once turning painful. Lean, classy and multilayered, but wound so tight and so young that the kindest thing you can do is leave it alone for a few more years. Delicious either way.
About
Ay Blanc Grand Cru 2022 is one of the still wines under the Coteaux Champenois appellation - the legal label that lets growers in Champagne bottle still wine rather than send the fruit to the second fermentation. 100% Chardonnay from Bérêche's parcel in Ay, vinified and aged in oak.
Ay is a Grand Cru village, but it's overwhelmingly known for Pinot Noir; growers' Chardonnay there is rare and tends to be a curiosity rather than a flagship. Bérêche's Coteaux Champenois range has been growing in the last few vintages alongside the still red Ormes Rouge "Les Montees" - a quiet expansion of what the domaine puts out.
