Base 2022. Disgorged Dec 2024. Dubbed “just impeccable, especially within its peer group” by Galloni, Laherte’s Meunier-led ‘entry-level’ Champagne comes from eight different parcels across the Coteaux Sud d’Épernay and Vallée de la Marne. The blend of 60% Meunier, 30% Chardonnay and 10% Pinot Noir represents the diversity of the Estate’s plantings. Some 40% of the blend these days is drawn from the two preceding vintages.

The juice naturally ferments in a mixture of vessels, including two 50-hectolitre Rousseau tronconique casks, old barrels, foudre and concrete. The wines were always aged on lees and see partial malolactic conversion (around 60-70% on average). Based on the 2022 vintage with 40% reserve wines, it’s taut and juicy with loads of delicious, racy, redcurrant and apple skin Meunier fruit fused with citrus and saline tang from the Chardonnay. This Extra Brut bottling is disgorged with 4 g/L dosage. As fun is it is to drink, it’s a serious and complex wine for the price.

Base 2021. Disgorged November 2023. Base 2022. Disgorged Dec 2024. Dubbed “just impeccable, especially within its peer group” by Galloni, Laherte’s Meunier-led ‘entry-level’ Champagne comes from eight different parcels across the Coteaux Sud d’Épernay and Vallée de la Marne. The blend of 60% Meunier, 30% Chardonnay and 10% Pinot Noir represents the diversity of the Estate’s plantings. Some 40% of the blend these days is drawn from the two preceding vintages.

The juice naturally ferments in a mixture of vessels, including two 50-hectolitre Rousseau tronconique casks, old barrels, foudre and concrete. The wines were always aged on lees and see partial malolactic conversion (around 60-70% on average). Based on the 2021 vintage with 40% reserve wines, it’s taut and juicy with loads of delicious, racy, redcurrant and apple skin Meunier fruit fused with citrus and saline tang from the Chardonnay. This Extra Brut bottling is disgorged with 4 g/L dosage. As fun is it is to drink, it’s a serious and complex wine for the price.

Base 2022. Disgorged December 2024. This dazzling Meunier represents superb value in a market where rosé wines are getting increasingly pricey. It’s a blend of Meunier vinified three ways. Some 60% of the volume is from fruit traditionally pressed off to make a white wine (over one-third of this component was reserve wines that had been aged in barrels). Another 30% was made as a saignée rosé. The final 10% of the blend is from a full-blown red wine.

The fruit producing the white wine is from vines with an average age of 25 years, and the vines for the red and rosé wines are more than 40 years old. The wines fermented and aged in various vessels (vat, foudre and old demi-muid barrels) before being transferred to bottle for secondary fermentation. This release is a blend of 2022 (50%) with 50% reserve wines from 2021 and 2020; it was disgorged with just 2.5 g/L dosage. It’s an exciting, pretty rosé with the ripe Meunier’s juiciness offset by brisk, mouthwatering acidity and the salty chalk expression that typifies the best wines of the Coteaux Sud d’Épernay. A must try.

Base 2021. Disgorged May 2023. Aurélien Laherte has been experimenting with a sans soufre (zero-sulphur) cuvée for several vintages. In 2018, he cracked it with two barrels of Côte des Blancs juice from two Premier Cru terroirs in Vertus and Voipreux. Laherte noted that the critical factors to the stability of vinifying in the absence of any additions were zero dosage and full malolactic conversion. His successful work with this wine has encouraged him to work without sulphites with some of the components of the blended wines.

The third release of Laherte’s Nature de Craie is drawn from a single vintage (2021) sourced from vines planted in 1960, 1965 and 1987. The word craie refers to the chalky soil of these terroirs, which lie on the lower slopes, ensuring good exposure and providing fruit ripeness with no need for additional dosage. This release was vinified in neutral oak barrels before aging on cork for 12 months. It was disgorged in April 2023 with no dosage. This is a unique and powerful Burgundian Blanc de Blancs, wonderfully pure and deeply textured, drawing together notes of iodine, wildflowers and chalk with white-peach fleshiness and smoky mineral complexity.

Base 2020. Disgorged September 2022. Petit Meslier has formed an integral part of Aurélien Laherte’s Les 7 cuvée for almost 20 vintages. One of Champagne’s heirloom varieties, Meslier is a historic cross between Gouais Blanc and Savagnin. Although this low-yielding variety has been largely forgotten in Champagne, the Laherte family has remained attached to the grape’s personality and ability to retain acidity, even in warmer vintages. Between 2018 and 2023, Laherte established a mid-slope vineyard on Chavot’s clay/limestone soils, using mass-selection cuttings from the domaine’s oldest Meslier vines.

This wine marks the third release of this exciting project. The grapes are pressed in Laherte’s antique Coquard press, and the juice ferments naturally in old barrel. The wine ages for six months on lees in barrel and then a further 18 months sur lattes. This bottling is based on the 2020 vintage with 40% reserve wines and was disgorged by hand with just 2 g/L dosage (extra brut). The result is an intense and supple yet impeccably fresh Champagne crammed with juicy peach and burnt orange fruit woven through with Meslier’s Alpine meadow complexity. This is a deliciously daring, not to mention hugely promising, wine from Aurélien Laherte.

Base 2019. Disgorged November 2022. Aurélien Laherte is a passionate champion of Champagne’s heirloom grape varieties. His Les 7 parcel (which includes all seven of Champagne’s permitted grapes) was planted in 2003, and things have snowballed since. As a result of this planting, Laherte has developed a strong passion for the potential of Petit Meslier, and in 2013, he planted a small parcel in Chavot using mass-selection cuttings. Between 2018 and 2023, he planted a further 1.7 hectares of Meslier, which will eventually cover 10% of the estate’s plantings.

Aurélien Laherte is showcasing some of the most exciting winemaking in Champagne today, and this is a good example. Based on the 2019 vintage, this experimental skin contact/rosé is a 50/50 blend of Pinot Noir and Petit Meslier from two plots in Chavot on clay-silt soils. Following a 12-hour maceration, the grapes naturally fermented in a single, neutral barrel. The wine aged on lees in bottle for 30 months before disgorgement in November 2022, with no dosage. We would love to see what the establishment suits in Épernay and Reims would make of this. This is not strait-laced Champagne for the faint of heart, but a wild roller-coaster ride from the beating heart of the grower movement. Only 669 bottles were made.

Disgorged November 2022. 100% old-vine Pinot Meunier. Les Vignes d’Autrefois (‘vines of another time’) is made from a single four-tonne press of grapes from old vines planted between 1947 and 1964. These grow in several chalky terroirs in Chavot and Mancy. The sites in Chavot (La Potote and Les Rouges Maisons) sit on deep clay and silt soils, with a presence of flint and small stones. In Mancy are Les Hautes Norgeailles and Les Bas Putroux, where the vines are rooted in clay soils over chalk.

Viticulture for these sites is entirely biodynamic. As well as referencing the age of the vines, the name also refers to the fact that these vines are all massal selections (i.e. non-clonal). There is even a soupçon of ungrafted vine material scattered throughout these vineyards. Aurélien uses old Burgundy barrels for aging (including some sourced from Montille and Leroux), and there was no malolactic conversion. The wine aged for seven months in barrel, followed by 30 months on lees in bottle.

The very low dosage of 3 g/L allows the iodine minerality of these chalky terroirs to sing. This is emblematic of the quality at Laherte today and reflects the fruit’s tension and low-yield intensity. It offers a wonderful balance between penetrating, spicy, fleshy red fruit and salty, racy deliciousness—one of the great Meunier bottlings of Champagne.

Disgorged November 2022. Les Longues Voyes translates as ‘the long way’, referring not only to the 25 kilometres that you need to travel from the Laherte estate to arrive at the vineyard but also to the wine’s extended aging: 18 months in barrel and a further 18-20 months in bottle.
The fruit is sourced from a single hectare of biodynamic vines in Chamery, Montagne de Reims, owned by a good friend of Aurélien Laherte’s. The 35-year-old vines are rooted in clay and silt over a limestone base. The wine was made from a single four-tonne press of grapes, which fermented naturally and matured in old Clos des Epeneaux and Leroux barrels. There was no malolactic conversion, and the dosage was 4 g/L.
So, the estate now has two vintage Blanc de Noirs released at the same time: Les Vignes d’Autrefois from Meunier and Les Longues Voyes from Pinot Noir. The first comes from a chalky subsoil and the second from limestone, and it is fascinating to compare the different structures that result. Fans of Pinot Noir on limestone should move to the front of the queue.

Disgorged November 2022. After the Brut Nature, this stunning Champagne is Aurélien Laherte’s second Blanc de Blancs bottling. Les Grandes Crayères showcases Laherte’s two most chalky, mineral soils in Coteaux Sud d’Épernay (crayères means chalk). These parcels of 40-plus-year-old mass-selection vines are situated on a west-facing hillside composed of Campanian chalk under 20cm of topsoil.

The base wine was fermented with indigenous yeasts in old barrels (aged 3 to 10 years) and didn’t go through malolactic conversion, emphasising the wine’s chiselled qualities. It then spent 30 months on lees in bottle and rested a further nine months after disgorgement before release. The dosage was less than 4 g/L, and it was disgorged by hand.

Disgorged December 2021. This wine offers what Laherte calls the “quintessence of the Chavot terroir”. It is always a selection of Laherte’s five best barrels from each of his two finest Chavot plots: old-vine Chardonnay from Les Chemins d’Épernay (planted in 1957 on clay with chalky subsoils, with around one-third of the fruit the rare Chardonnay-Muscaté); and Pinot Noir from Les Rouges Maisons (planted in the late ‘80s on deep soil rich in clay, flint and schist). The wines were vinified separately and raised in old Burgundy barrels (with some portions fermented in second-hand DRC Le Montrachet barrels). The dosage was 4 g/L.

There is genuine depth and texture from the old vines and the clay of Les Chemins d’Épernay, but this opulence is vibrantly balanced by crystalline freshness and a long, classy finish. A superb and unique Champagne that clearly speaks of its terroir. If you love great white Burgundy, then this has a similar set of textural and mineral qualities.

Disgorged December 2021. Aurélien’s premium rosé is 100% old-vine Meunier from a biodynamically managed vineyard named Les Baudiers in Chavot, Coteaux Sud d’Épernay. That’s not a typo, by the way; the first vintage of this wine bore a misprint on the label and the name Les Beaudiers has been used ever since. The vines were planted in 1953, 1958 and 1965. The vineyard lies on the lower slopes of Chavot, where the bedrock is hard limestone with topsoil made up of silex and clay. The occasional vine of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Fromenteau can be found in the vineyard as well. It’s a powerful terroir that can ripen Meunier to full maturity—so much so that Aurélien’s father used to make a red wine from this area.

The fruit was destemmed and left to macerate for 14-16 hours on skins, followed by natural fermentation in old oak barrels and maturation on lees (in the same barrels) for a minimum of 12 months, with no malolactic conversion. After being aged in bottle on lees for four years, the wine was disgorged by hand with around 2-3 g/L. Aurélien seeks a vinous and textured Rosé de Saignée from this potent terroir, but also one with delicacy and lift.

Solera May 2021. Disgorged November 2024. This is one of the most distinctive wines made in Champagne—a super-complex, fleshy and savoury (peppery, nutty) wine that is as delicious as it is fascinating. Les 7 is a single-parcel field blend from a plot in Chavot, planted by Thierry Laherte in 2003 to make use of the heirloom vines of Fromenteau, Arbanne and Petit Meslier already growing within the family’s oldest vineyard plots. The addition of Chardonnay and Pinots Noir, Meunier and Blanc have made a unique co-planting of Champagne’s seven permitted grape varieties.

The varieties were harvested and pressed together, and all fermentations were spontaneous. The wine was produced using a perpetual (or continuous) reserve stretching back to 2005. Each year, the blend is roughly 60% of the new-vintage wine (2021 for this bottling) with 40% of the reserve—so this release spans the harvests of 2005 to 2021. If you’re interested in Champagnes with genuine personality, this is a wine not to be missed.

Base 2023. Disgorged March 2025. Pinot Noir and Meunier. This gorgeous new(ish) Blanc de Noirs sits in the range alongside Laherte’s dazzling Blanc de Blancs Brut Nature. It’s a blend of 50% Pinot Noir from Le Breuil in the Marne Valley and 50% Pinot Meunier from the Coteaux Sud d’Épernay (Chavot and Moussy). The vins clairs fermented naturally and aged in barrel and foudre. The wine completed malolactic fermentation and was bottled without dosage to “respect fruit intensity and mineral freshness.”

This is a stunning release that combines the supple fruit of Pinot Meunier, the vinosity of Pinot Noir and the salinity of the chalky soils. It’s a beautifully vibrant and deep colour. The nose is flush with fresh summer fruit, red flowers and chalky minerals, which are mirrored on the harmonious and balanced palate. Nervy tension, tensile energy and live-wire freshness close out a very pure, mouth-watering wine.

Base 2021. Disgorged July 2024. This mineral-charged Champagne is 100% Chardonnay from the family's chalkiest soils in Chavot and Épernay. These vineyards are biodynamically farmed, and the soil is rich in chalk and chalky clay (marl), with pockets of flint and schist. The chalkiness drives the wine’s striking, racy and intensely saline minerality—that energy, freshness and zingy, citric line—while the clay balances fruit weight and texture. The recent addition of Chardonnay from the Côte des Blancs premier crus of Vertus and Voipreux has only lifted the remarkable quality. Built on perfectly ripe fruit, this bottling is based on the low-yielding 2021 vintage, with 50% reserve wines from the two previous years. As the name suggests, it’s bottled without dosage.

Aged for just over two years in bottle following primary fermentation in barrique, foudre and tronconique cask, like all Laherte’s Champagnes, this cuvée is disgorged by hand. More than ever, it’s stunning value for those who love purity and minerality in their Blanc de Blancs. Now released with an additional seven months in bottle, the new disgorgement is a wonderfully sculpted Champagne, sizzling with tension and penetrating focus.

Base 2019. Disgorged October 2022. This mineral-charged Champagne is 100% Chardonnay from the family's chalkiest soils in Chavot and Épernay. These vineyards are biodynamically farmed, and the soil is rich in chalk and chalky clay (marl), with pockets of flint and schist. The chalkiness drives the wine’s striking, racy and intensely saline minerality—that energy, freshness and zingy, citric line—while the clay balances fruit weight and texture. The recent addition of Chardonnay from the Côte des Blancs premier crus of Vertus and Voipreux has only lifted the remarkable quality. Built on perfectly ripe fruit, this bottling is based on the low-yielding 2019 vintage, with 40% reserve wines from the two previous years. As the name suggests, it’s bottled without dosage.

Aged for just over two years in bottle following primary fermentation in barrique, foudre and tronconique cask, like all Laherte’s Champagnes, this cuvée is disgorged by hand. More than ever, it’s stunning value for those who love purity and minerality in their Blanc de Blancs. Now released with an additional seven months in bottle, the new disgorgement is a wonderfully sculpted Champagne, sizzling with tension and penetrating focus.

Base 2020. Disgorged March 2021. This mineral-charged Champagne is 100% Chardonnay from the family's chalkiest soils in Chavot and Épernay. These vineyards are biodynamically farmed, and the soil is rich in chalk and chalky clay (marl), with pockets of flint and schist. The chalkiness drives the wine’s striking, racy and intensely saline minerality—that energy, freshness and zingy, citric line—while the clay balances fruit weight and texture. The recent addition of Chardonnay from the Côte des Blancs premier crus of Vertus and Voipreux has only lifted the remarkable quality. Built on perfectly ripe fruit, this bottling is based on the low-yielding 2020 vintage, with 40% reserve wines from the two previous years. As the name suggests, it’s bottled without dosage.

Aged for just over two years in bottle following primary fermentation in barrique, foudre and tronconique cask, like all Laherte’s Champagnes, this cuvée is disgorged by hand. More than ever, it’s stunning value for those who love purity and minerality in their Blanc de Blancs. Now released with an additional seven months in bottle, the new disgorgement is a wonderfully sculpted Champagne, sizzling with tension and penetrating focus.

Base 2019. Disgorged November 2022. This exceptionally fine Blanc de Noirs is drawn from the prized lieu-dit of Les Rouges Maisons, sited on the mid-slope of the Chavot hill. The Pinot Noir vines here were planted in 1983 on a deep soil rich in clay, flint and schist. The wine was made from a single four-tonne press of grapes, which fermented naturally and matured in old Clos des Epeneaux and Leroux barrels.

Aged for 18 months sur lattes (in bottle on lees), Les Rouges Maisons is a pure vintage wine, 2019 in this case, and bottled with just 2 g/L dosage. The acidity is firmer here than the Meunier Blanc de Noirs (Vignes d'Autrefois), with a chewy austerity typical of Pinot Noir grown in limestone in Champagne. Fine and poised on the palate with impressive balance, racy freshness and fine chalk-infused bitters that drive a long, sapid finish—it's an outstanding Blanc de Noirs.