"Cuvée Louis Tarlant" Brut Nature

2004
Tarlant
France
Champagne

50%Chardonnay/50% Pinot Noir. Created by the Tarlants' parents back in 1982, the prestige cuvée Louis is named for Benoît’s and Melanie’s great-great-great grandfather. Louis was the first to bottle Tarlant estate wine (in 1928) and the one who planted this 0.9 hectare of selection massale Pinot Noir and Chardonnay (in 1946-48). The lieu-dit is named Les Crayons in reference to its particularly chalky make-up and is a flat site near the Marne in the Tarlant home village of Oeuilly that yields a "river wine", as the Tarlants refer to it, of fuller body and richer character. 

The fruit was hand-harvested and gently pressed; the juice was fermented with natural yeasts in Burgundy barrel; and the wine was aged in barrel with no malolactic fermentation until bottling in 2005. Aged sur lattes until disgorgement with zero dosage in early 2021. Unusually, the 2004 is a vintage wine, the first time since 1996, and is now labeled "Cuvée Louis Tarlant".

96 points
"What a grand champagne this is! Stunning depth of savory character, married to concentrated candied-citrus and dried-apricot notes, plus a slew of delicate spicy notes. Very long, driving finish. Still has so much life in it! A single-vineyard wine from the Les Crayons site of Oeuilly that’s a blend of 50% chardonnay and 50% pinot noir ,wild-fermented in wooden casks without malolactic. Drink or hold."
James Suckling,
James Suckling
December 2021
95 points
"A blend of equal parts Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, the 2004 Cuvee Louis Tarlant is fabulous. Hints of orange peel, tangerine oil, mint, cinnamon, chamomile and dried flowers all grace the 2004. There is a gorgeous sense of transparency to the 2004, a Champagne that is at once vibrant, but also mellowed by the passage of time"
Antonio Galloni,
Vinous Media
May 2022
94+ points
"As I have said before, I love how the Tarlant family is willing to age their non-dosé bottlings for an extended period sur latte prior to disgorgement, which allows for the acids in the wines to relax prior to their being released into the market. Case in point, the 2004 Cuvée Louis Tarlant was disgorged in February of 2021, after more than fifteen and a half years aging on its fine lees! The wine is composed from its customary fifty-fifty blend of chardonnay and pinot noir from the family’s more than seventy year-old vines in the lieu à dit of les Crayons in the village of Oeuilly. The vins clairs are barrel-fermented and aged in cask for an extended period prior to bottling up for secondary fermentation. The 2004 Cuvée Louis Tarlant delivers a superb aromatic constellation of apple, white peach, warm bread, a complex base of soil tones, hazelnut, a touch of buttery oak and plenty of upper register smokiness. On the palate the wine is bright, full-bodied, focused and rock solid at the core, with beautiful soil signature, refined mousse and a long, complex and impeccably balanced finish. This is outstanding Champagne! 2022-2050."
John Gilman,
View from the Cellar

SKU/Code: 
DB2954-04
Product Line: 
Wine
Sparkling
Sparkling White
Varietal: 
Chardonnay, Pinot Noir
Farming Type: 
Organic