Bérêche & Fils Brut Réserve L:20BSA-12/22

This 'basic' Champagne is a personal favourite, consistently delivering quality that never disappoints. It offers a delightful mix of apples, a touch of Jerez, red currant, pear candy, chalk, honey, and a tart filled with Nordic berries. The palate is beautiful and quite intense, featuring a neat mousse and a long, flavourful aftertaste. It's a delight to enjoy.

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:20BSA-12/22, base vintage 2020, disgorged December 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.

Bérêche & Fils Brut Réserve consistently pleases with its relative complexity and approachability. The nose reveals an alluring mix of Jerez, chalk, sun-kissed yellow apples, drizzles of honey, and zesty lemon. On the palate, its intensity shines through, offering a vinous and sophisticated profile with good structure and intense mousse. Charming and consistent delight.

I can totally understand people starting their day with a bottle of this beauty. Jerez, shells, chalk, baked apple, honey and lemon tart. Intense, vinous and sophisticated. The aftertaste is long and flavourful.

Brut Réserve L:20BSA-12/22

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