2006 Louis Roederer Brut Nature Champagne

Philippe Stark and Jean-Baptiste L̩caillon collaborated on the concept and philosophy behind this wine, a blend of three parcels on what L̩caillon calls a ‰ÛÏsingle coteau‰۝ in the deep, cold clay soils of Cumi̬res. He harvested all the grapes together, at the optimal moment for pinot noir, when the meunier was a bit overripe and the chardonnay less than perfectly ripe, crushing and co-fermenting them (half the lot in large oak vats, half in stainless steel), eventually bottling the wine with low pressure (4.5 kilos of pressure rather than the typical six). It‰۪s a wine that needs decanting, gaining depth and roundness as it opens from extremely dry cider apple and barely ripe nectarine to red fruit flavors, roses and vanilla bean. The texture is what L̩caillon believes ties this wine to Roederer‰۪s style; here, that texture seems to me to fall somewhere between the cottony abrasion of chalk and a mouthwatering, cloud-like mist.