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Champagne Laherte Frères

Into the Stratosphere: “Some of the most compelling wines in all of Champagne.” [Galloni]
Champagne Laherte Frères

“For readers who want to explore the cutting edge of grower Champagne, I can think of few estates that match Laherte for the breadth and quality of the wines.” Antonio Galloni, Vinous

 

Some of the best things happen slowly. Aurélien Laherte is not an overnight success; he took over from his father Thierry and his uncle Christian in 2005 when barely in his twenties. Since that time, through a combination of cutting-edge farming and fearless winemaking, he has now hit a level that compares with the best grower wines in Champagne.

 

One of the most vocal barometers of great grower Champagne, Antonio Galloni recently remarked that Laherte is crafting “some of the most compelling wines in all of Champagne.” Perhaps even more telling, Jérôme Prévost—a grower who knows a thing or two about Meunier—recently told us pretty much the same thing. Even the slow-moving establishment has smelled the coffee: Laherte was recently honoured with a second star in the Guide de la Revue du Vin de France, “for the precision, complexity, and emotion that its cuvées evoke.”

 

By reaching this rare level, Laherte’s intensely focused wines have, rather brilliantly, expanded the limits of what many thought possible in the Coteaux Sud d’Épernay. This exciting terroir sits at the crossroads of the Côte des Blancs and Vallée de la Marne and is home to over 60% of Laherte’s vines. And Laherte is as talented and ambitious in the cellar as he is in the vineyard, working with natural yeast, neutral oak, and ever longer lees aging and more reserve wines to craft some of Champagne’s most distinctive and delicious wines.

 

If you haven’t tasted these wines for a while, please get in touch with your rep to arrange a tasting—they will be happy to oblige!

The Wines

Champagne Laherte Frères Ultradition NV (Base 22. Disg. Mar 2025)

Champagne Laherte Frères Ultradition NV (Base 22. Disg. Mar 2025)

Dubbed “just impeccable, especially within its peer group” by Galloni, Laherte’s Meunier-led ‘entry-level’ Champagne is 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. Regardless of vessel, the wines are always aged on lees, and there is partial malolactic conversion (around 60-70% on average). Based on the 2021 vintage with 40% reserve wines from 2020 and 2019, this bottling was disgorged with a dosage of 4.5 g/L (extra brut).

“The NV Extra Brut Ultradition is a very pretty, gracious wine consisting of a blend of 60% Pinot Meunier, 30% Chardonnay and 10% Pinot Noir from eight vineyard sources. Perfumed floral and spice notes give the Ultradition lovely brightness to match its mid-weight, notably vinous personality. Orchard fruit, chamomile, dried herbs, mint and crushed rocks are all wonderfully expressive, if a bit light. This is an especially nuanced edition.”
90 points, Antonio Galloni, Vinous
Champagne Laherte Frères Ultradition NV (Base 22. Disg. Mar 2025)
Champagne Laherte Frères Ultradition NV (Base 21 Disg. Nov 2023) (1500ml)

Champagne Laherte Frères Ultradition NV (Base 21 Disg. Nov 2023) (1500ml)

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.

“The NV Extra Brut Ultradition is a very pretty, gracious wine consisting of a blend of 60% Pinot Meunier, 30% Chardonnay and 10% Pinot Noir from eight vineyard sources. Perfumed floral and spice notes give the Ultradition lovely brightness to match its mid-weight, notably vinous personality. Orchard fruit, chamomile, dried herbs, mint and crushed rocks are all wonderfully expressive, if a bit light. This is an especially nuanced edition.”
90 points, Antonio Galloni, Vinous
Champagne Laherte Frères Ultradition NV (Base 21 Disg. Nov 2023) (1500ml)
Champagne Laherte Frères Blanc de Blancs Brut Nature NV (Base 22. Disg. Oct 2024)

Champagne Laherte Frères Blanc de Blancs Brut Nature NV (Base 22. Disg. Oct 2024)

Disgorged October 2024. This mineral-charged Champagne is 100% Chardonnay from the family's chalkiest soils in Chavot and Épernay. The 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 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 have only lifted the remarkable quality. Built on perfectly ripe fruit, this bottling is based on the great 2022 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.

Champagne Laherte Frères Blanc de Blancs Brut Nature NV (Base 22. Disg. Oct 2024)
Champagne Laherte Frères Blanc de Blancs Brut Nature NV (Base 22 Disg. Oct 2025) (1500ml)

Champagne Laherte Frères Blanc de Blancs Brut Nature NV (Base 22 Disg. Oct 2025) (1500ml)

Disgorged October 2025. This mineral-charged Champagne is 100% Chardonnay from the family's chalkiest soils in Chavot and Épernay. The 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 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 great 2022 vintage, with 40% reserve wines from the two previous years. As the name suggests, it’s bottled without dosage. Now released with an additional seven months in bottle, more than ever, it’s stunning value for those who love purity and minerality in their Blanc de Blancs.

“The NV (2022) Brut Nature Blanc de Blancs is soft, open-knit and creamy, all qualities that make it a terrific choice for drinking now and over the next few years. Even with no dosage, the Blanc de Blancs is quite soft. Dried citrus peel, tangerine oil, mint and chamomile linger on the long, refined finish. Bottled with no dosage. Multiple disgorgements throughout the year.”
90 points, Antonio Galloni, Vinous
Champagne Laherte Frères Blanc de Blancs Brut Nature NV (Base 22 Disg. Oct 2025) (1500ml)
Champagne Laherte Frères Blanc de Blancs Brut Nature NV (Base 21 Disg. Jun 2025) (3000ml)

Champagne Laherte Frères Blanc de Blancs Brut Nature NV (Base 21 Disg. Jun 2025) (3000ml)

Base 2021. Disgorged June 2025. 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.

“The NV Brut Nature Blanc de Blancs is bright and finely sculpted right out of the gate. The blend of 50% 2021 and 50% 2020/2019 comes across as a bit austere, but that’s not surprising given the base 2021 vintage. Crushed rocks, mint, citrus, white flowers and sage all take shape. As always, the Brut Nature Blanc de Blancs is a Champagne of great character. It's a terrific value, too.”
91 points, Antonio Galloni, Vinous
Champagne Laherte Frères Blanc de Blancs Brut Nature NV (Base 21 Disg. Jun 2025) (3000ml)
Champagne Laherte Frères Rosé de Meunier NV (Base 22. Disg. Jun 2025)

Champagne Laherte Frères Rosé de Meunier NV (Base 22. Disg. Jun 2025)

Meunier. Disgorged June 2025. 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 a pretty rosé with the ripe Meunier’s juiciness offset by mouthwatering acidity and the salty chalk expression that typifies the best wines of the Coteaux Sud d’Épernay.

Champagne Laherte Frères Rosé de Meunier NV (Base 22. Disg. Jun 2025)
Champagne Laherte Frères Blanc de Noirs Brut Nature NV (Base 23 Disg. Apr 2025)

Champagne Laherte Frères Blanc de Noirs Brut Nature NV (Base 23 Disg. Apr 2025)

Base 2023. Disgorged April 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, balanced palate. Nervy tension, tensile energy and live-wire freshness close out a very pure, long and mouth-watering wine.

Champagne Laherte Frères Blanc de Noirs Brut Nature NV (Base 23 Disg. Apr 2025)
Champagne Laherte Frères 1er Cru Nature de Craie NV (Base 21 Disg. May 2023)

Champagne Laherte Frères 1er Cru Nature de Craie NV (Base 21 Disg. May 2023)

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 May 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.

“Laherte’s NV (2021) Brut Blanc de Blancs Nature de Craie emerges from parcels planted in 1960, 1965 and 1987 in Vertus and Voipreux, both in the southern reaches of the Côte des Blancs. Old vines and no dosage yield a rich, vinous Champagne of real textural depth and intensity, with the mousse very much in the background. This really needs a lot of air to blossom. Even so, it remains a pretty powerful Blanc de Blancs. It’s a fine effort in a very challenging year. Now, with some time post-disgorgement, this is ready to go.”
91 points, Antonio Galloni, Vinous
Champagne Laherte Frères 1er Cru Nature de Craie NV (Base 21 Disg. May 2023)
Champagne Laherte Frères Les Grandes Crayères 2019 (Disg. Nov 2022)

Champagne Laherte Frères Les Grandes Crayères 2019 (Disg. Nov 2022)

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.

“The 2019 Extra Brut Blanc de Blancs Les Grandes Crayères 1er Cru is gorgeous. Bright, focused and vibrant, the 2019 is sourced from two chalky plots in Chavot and sizzles with tension. All the elements are so nicely balanced. I would cellar this for at least a year or two, as it is pretty tightly wound. Dosage is 2.5 grams per liter. Disgorged: November 2022.”
93 points, Antonio Galloni, Vinous
Champagne Laherte Frères Les Grandes Crayères 2019 (Disg. Nov 2022)

“Aurélien Laherte continues to turn out some of the most compelling wines in all of Champagne. [Laherte’s] approach that achieves a striking mix of textural richness and energy in Champagnes that bristle with varietal, site and vintage character. As good as the top wines are, I often find just as much pleasure in the entry-level offerings for their quality and value.” Antonio Galloni, Vinous

“These are chiseled, characterful wines, founded on thoughtful farming, and they represent fine values in the world of grower Champagne. They will appeal to those with a high tolerance for acidity and appreciate a laser-sharp, incisive style.” Kristaps Karklins, The Wine Advocate

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