"La Vigne d'Or" Brut Nature

Tarlant
France
Champagne
2006

100% Pinot Meunier. From a parcel in Oeuilly called "Pierre de Bellevue", planted in 1947 by the Tarlants' paternal grandfather Georges on Sparnacian clay-limestone soils. The vines are organically farmed and harvested by hand and the clusters very slowly and gently pressed. The juice ferments spontaneously with native yeasts in Burgundy barrels; the wine does not go through malolactic fermentation. The 2006 was bottled in 2007, disgorged in 2022 and received zero dosage.

(*Note that the Tarlants make a subtle distinction between their terroir wines and vintage wines. The terroir wines--Vigne d'Antan, Vigne d'Or, and Vigne Royale--feature those names on the front label, while the vintage is tucked on the back in tiny type. The unique vintage-forward bottlings (current example: L'Etincelante 2002)feature the vintage in large type on the front with the whimsical name in much smaller type below it.)

95 points
"A golden yellow hue, the 2006 Champagne Blanc De Meuniers La Vigne D’Or is ample and lush with aromas of toasted almond croissant, fresh nectarine, and white strawberry. Full-bodied, with a rounded mousse, it is fleshy and ripe through the palate and doesn’t feel as if it’s lacking for dosage. It has a pillowy mousse and a bit of pithy bitter orange citrus on the long finish. Juicy and ample, it’s very attractive now and will drink well over the coming ten or more years. Disgorged June 2022."
Audrey Frick,
Jeb Dunnuck
November 2023
92 points
"The 2006 Tarlant “La Vigne d’Or” Extra Brut Millésime is a beautiful example of fully mature pinot meunier-based Champagne. I went back and forth with this wine a bit when I first tasted it, as I loved all of its constituent components, but the wine seemed just a touch short on the backend to me. However, as I revisited the wine with a second glass a few hours later, this issue seemed to have vanished and the wine showed a fine finish! Perhaps I just did not concentrate on the wine enough with that first glass? In any case, my initial concerns disappeared and the wine proved to be a lovely drink, offering up a very complex bouquet of baked peaches and apples, hazelnuts, fresh-baked bread, dried flowers, a lovely base of soil tones and plenty of upper register smokiness. On the palate the wine is pure, full-bodied and nicely mature in profile, with a lovely core of fruit, fine soil signature, elegant mousse and a long, crisp and beautifully complex finish. Like all of Benoît Tarlant’s wines, the vins clairs here did not go through malolactic fermentation and the wine is non-dosé. It was aged fully sixteen years sur lattes prior to being disgorged in October of 2023! 2025-2045. "
John Gilman,
View From The Cellar
May 2025

SKU/Code: 
DB6171-06
Product Line: 
Wine
Sparkling
Varietal: 
Pinot Meunier
Farming Type: 
Organic