Cramant

Champagne Tellier's single-village Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs: 100% Chardonnay from Cramant, in the Côte des Blancs. Tellier is a young grower label - Quentin Tellier began it in 2016, his brother Alexandre joining in 2020 - built on the family's holdings around Moussy and Pierry (the historic Domaine des Conardins), just south of Épernay. The domaine works around 9 hectares across 17 plots in five villages, the bulk around Moussy and Pierry, plus about two hectares of Chardonnay farther out, including this Grand Cru parcel in Cramant in the Côte des Blancs. Farming is sustainable, drawing on organic and biodynamic methods without claiming certification (the estate's own words); fruit is hand-harvested and every plot is pressed and vinified separately.

The Cramant comes off a single lieu-dit, Les Vignes de Mardu, on shallow soils over outcropping chalk, from vines the back label puts at around 30 years old. Direct pressing keeps only the first juices; after a 12-24 hour cold settling without enzymes, the wine is fermented in barrels, demi-muids and foudres, then given eight months of elevage in wood. Partial malolactic, no fining and a light filtration, with the dosage liqueur itself vinified in barrel. This 2020 spent 40 months on lees, was disgorged in March 2025 and finished extra brut at 2 g/L, 12% ABV.

2020 was an early, warm and dry vintage in Champagne, one of a run of hot harvests, with picking beginning in late August. Cooler late-season temperatures helped keep acidity fresh, and Côte des Blancs Chardonnay was among the year's clear successes - ripe fruit that kept its tension and mineral drive.