NV Larmandier-Bernier Brut Blanc de Blancs Premier Cru

Vertus (France)
 

Larmandier-Bernier has 15 hectares under vine - mostly in the premier-cru village of Vertus.  This pure chardonnay is based on 2007 with 40% reserve (still) wine from previous vintages and disgorged with a minimal dosage of four grams.  Fresh lime peel and orange blossom aromas interplay with a chalky, mineral background.  Tight and well-focused, it opens up to reveal a generous personality with a vital core of acidity to drive the finish.

Please click on the image to read the rest of our newsletter.

Click image to download full article as a pdf. For wholesale pricing (trade clients only)  please contact your representative or call the office on 1300 610 919

Click image to download full article as a pdf. For wholesale pricing (trade clients only)  please contact your representative or call the office on 1300 610 919

           

READ FULL ARTICLE HERE

 
All images courtesy www.corzanoepaterno.com

The many disappointing Chianti we have encountered has had the benefit of giving us the opportunity to benchmark the producers we already work with from the region, and this gave cause for celebration. In particular it highlighted a single wine; a lovely, artisanal, authentic example of traditional Tuscan Sangiovese that has lain, largely unheralded, within our portfolio for a number of years. This is a wine that we are guilty of letting fly under the radar. We’ve drunk plenty of it and we’ve loved every bottle, yet somehow we haven’t passed on our enthusiasm to our clients. Time to rectify this injustice.

Corzano is the quintessential artisanal Chianti Estate. Burgundian in size, it is run as a bio-diverse, organic, self sufficient farm. In the bohemian Aljoscha Goldschmidt, pictured above, we have a producer who crafts a small production from his approximately 15 ha of rocky, hillside vineyards in San Casciano Val di Pesa, roughly halfway between Florence and Siena. A brilliant viticulturist, relentless in his belief in “typicity”, Goldschmidt makes beautifully vibrant, juicy and elegant Chianti that are simply some of the best in the Colli Fiorentini.

Aljoscha (or Joshi) loves to do everything by hand, making him very unique in the Tuscan wine scene. Here, consultants with new oak and viticultural gizmos are not welcome, while stately buildings, manicured gardens and tourist trap paraphernalia are replaced by a naturally beautiful, working farm in the hills, studded with ancient buildings that have been tastefully maintained (you can rent these farmhouses, an option that we very highly recommend!) The winery has just what is required to make, pure, expressive wines – including some large format oak (a rarity in Chianti). The wines are fashioned from ripe, juicy Sangiovese with rare patience and a kind of pastoral serenity. They are complemented by some of Italy’s finest Pecorino, made from the Estate’s own Sardinian sheep. In fact, in Italy, Corzano is as well known for its cheese as it is for its wine and supplies many top Italian restaurants. On a recent visit we asked Aljoscha if we could ship some of his cheese to the Australian market. “I’m so sorry,” he said in his gentle voice. “We do not have any to sell. We do not want to grow and if we started exporting we would have to cut our allocations to our oldest clients which would not be fair.” It’s hard to argue with such integrity no matter how delicious the product. Corzana also produces one of Tuscany’s most intense small batch olive oils. In fact everything the Corzano e Paterno farm produces tastes fresh and delicious, and everyone who works at the Estate exudes both a sense of purpose and a down to earth, unpretentious, bucolic warmth which comes through in the products of this communal style farm. Visiting there and staying on the farm, you get the impression that produce is solely being created to cater for the collection of craftsmen, artists and artisans who inhabit the Corzano Estate, such is the non-commercial atmosphere. Somehow this makes the wines taste even better.

Corzano E Paterno Chianti DOCG Terre Di Corzano 2008

The 2008 Corzano e Paterno Terre di Corzano emphatically reinforces why we started shipping the wines of this producer several years ago. Lip smacking, mineral and juicy - just so thirst quenching seductive, this is a wine that is very hard to drink slowly. We remember the first time we tasted this wine, in the kitchen of one of the 500 year old farmhouses on the Corzano Estate. We had arrived late after the long drive from Piemonte and Aljoscha had handed us a bottle of this wine to have with our simple dinner. "It was a challenging year," he said, in his typically self-effacing way. "Nothing special." On the contrary the wine was so delicious that we imbibed it in an embarrassingly short time frame and had to wander down the dirt path to the main house to source another bottle! Nothing special? This was wonderful. Now it is in our warehouse and some 18 months later it has lost none of its charm. It remains a beautifully poised, complex and refined expression of Chianti. It's made up of 90% Sangiovese and 10% Canaiolo, aged in a combination of large botti casks and older barriques. Hand harvested, with 80% of the wine spending approximately 12 months maturing, it is bursting with freshly picked bramble and cherry fruit, with a lick of umami and wild thyme. The palate delivers perfumed and luscious red fruit shrouded in barely perceptible fine tannins. There's a surprising mineral note as well as some hints of wet earth and it finishes with a wonderful freshness. This would heartily recommend itself to a dish of braised wild boar, however it will go with a wide variety of meats (even roast chicken) and Italian fare. We encourage you try a bottle.