La Matinale Brut Nature

2003
Tarlant
France
Champagne

45% Pinot Noir/28% Chardonnay/27% Pinot Meunier. Hand-harvested very early in the morning (hence the “Matinale” moniker) in this very warm vintage, from multiple estate parcels with vines averaging forty-five years old on chalky soils. The fruit was gently pressed and the juice fermented with natural yeasts in temperature-controlled stainless steel vats. The wine was aged in barrel with no malolactic fermentation before being bottled in May 2004. Aged sur lattes for ten years before being hand-riddled, disgorged in July 2014 and finished with no dosage.

It is worth noting that the Tarlants distinguish between terroir wines and vintage wines. This can be a little tricky to discern at first. The terroir wines ( La Vigne d'Antan, La Vigne d'Or, La Vigne Royale, BAM!) are often vintage-specific, but the vintage is not the emphasis, as evidenced by the fact that the vintage only appears in very small type on the back label. On the other hand, the vintage-focused bottling, of which there is only one per vintage, features the year in large print on the front label, with its name appearing as essentially a subtitle below the vintage; in 2003, the vintage-focused wine was the Matinale. 

93 points
"The 2003 Brut Nature La Matinale is gorgeous. Apricot pit, peach, smoke, honey, wild flowers and mint are all super-expressive. The 2003 is rich, voluptuous and powerful, with magnificent purity and compelling overall balance. This is one of several 2003s where Tarlant simply nailed it. La Matinale, named after the morning harvest that takes place only between 6-11am, is 45% Pinot Noir, 28% Chardonnay and 27% Pinot Meunier. Disgorged January 2014."
Antonio Galloni,
Vinousmedia.com
, July 2015
92 points
"The 2003 la Matinale from Champagne Tarlant continues to drink beautifully and at age fourteen is now fully into its apogee of peak maturity. The wine’s cépages is forty-five percent pinot noir, twenty-seven percent pinot meunier and twenty-eight percent chardonnay, with Benoit Tarlant deciding to block the malolactic fermentation in this vintage to keep a good spine of acidity for the wine to age upon. The bouquet offers up a fine constellation of white peach, apple, impressive minerality, wheat toast, gentle nuttiness and a smoky topnote. On the palate the wine is crisp, full-bodied and refined, with very good focus and balance, impressive mid-palate depth, elegant mousse, sound framing acids and a long, complex and nicely mature finish. The 2003 Tarlant la Matinale is now firmly into its plateau of maturity and is drinking with plenty of style and grace. 2017-2030. 92."
John Gilman,
View From the Cellar
, May-June 2017
93 points
"The latest disgorgement of the Pinot Noir-driven 2003 Millésime Prestige La Matinale is from March 2018. Tasted in April 2018, this is pure, fresh and concentrated on the very complex and elegant nose. Although it is still young, this "version" reveals great finesse and elegance on the palate and comes along as an intense and firmly structured vintage Champagne with tension and mineral expression. Due to a loss of 80% of the Chardonnay in 2003 because of frost, the blending is just 28% Chardonnay with 45% Pinot Noir and 27% Pinot Meunier."
Stephan Reinhardt,
Wine Advocate
, 238/August 2018

SKU/Code: 
DB6173-03
Product Line: 
Wine
Sparkling
Sparkling White
Varietal: 
Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier
Farming Type: 
Organic