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Disgorged May 2022. Larmandier-Bernier tends just 1.2 hectares of old-vine Pinot Noir in Vertus, grown on the southern side of the village where the soil is a little richer, with a higher clay content. These vines are best known as the source for the domaine’s pioneering Rosé de Saignée. Over the years, Pierre Larmandier has also made a little still wine from these vines—in the past, Vertus Rouge was as famous as the red wines of Bouzy—but, until now, never a Blanc de Noirs. It’s made the same way as the domaine’s Terre de Vertus, with the base wine naturally fermented and raised in a mixture of large cask and vat for 11 months on lees and bottled in July 2016. After almost six years in bottle, it was disgorged in May 2022 with zero dosage to preserve the natural richness of the Pinot Noir.
Reverberating with the generosity of the old vines, the result is wonderfully complex and vinous Blanc de Noirs. A scintillating cocktail of red apple, sour berry compote and rushing minerals introduces a powerfully structured palate balanced by a rigid spine of freshness and tense, holding grip. It won’t join the core range for now, but given the success of the first release, it will be made in the sweet-spot years for the domaine’s Pinot Noir vines (the subsequent release will be from the 2019 vintage).