"BAM!" Brut Nature (2012 base)

France
Champagne
NV

27% Pinot Blanc/27% Arbanne/46% Petit Meslier. "BAM!" is an acronym of these three relatively rare, low-yielding Champagne varieties. The vines were planted in 2003 on sandy, silica-rich limestone soils in the lieu-dit of Four à Chaux-Sablé in Oeuilly and are certified-organic like the rest of Tarlant's sites. This blanc des blancs is around half 2012 and half reserve wines back to 2008. The fruit is harvested by hand, gently pressed and co-fermented with natural yeasts in barrel; the wine does not go through malo. Bottled in 2013 and disgorged in 2022. Zero dosage. 900 bottles produced.

94 points
"The current release of the Tarlant family’s “BAM” non-vintage Blanc de Blancs is from the exquisite base year of 2012, with the wine finished with around fifty percent reserve wines from the dedicated solera created for this bottling several years ago. The vins clairs are barre-lfermented and do not go through malo, with the wine having spent more than ten years aging sur lattes and this release was disgorged in June of 2023 and is, of course, non-dosé. It is made from a cépages of twenty-seven percent each of pinot blanc and arbanne, coupled with forty-six percent petit meslier. The wine’s aromatic constellation is outstanding, offering up a bright and complex 185 blend of apple, peach, raw almond, chalky soil tones, bread dough, just a touch of buttery oak and a lovely topnote of white flowers. On the palate the wine is crisp, full-bodied and elegant, with a superb core of fruit, fine mineral undertow and grip, a superb spine of integrated acidity, elegant mousse and a long, complex and impeccably balanced finish. As I have mentioned several times in the past, I would have more of an affinity for non-dosé bottlings if more vignerons aged their wines ten years on their fine lees before releasing them, so that the acids do not require buffering with dosage. This is excellent! 2025-2050+. "
John Gilman,
View From The Cellar
May 2025

SKU/Code: 
DB6172-12
Product Line: 
Wine
Sparkling
Varietal: 
Pinot Blanc
Farming Type: 
Organic