Tarlant L’Aerienne ’04

Country: France

Region: Champagne

Color/Style: Sparkling

Grapes: 70% Chardonnay, 30% Pinot Noir

SO2: During winemaking

Soil Composition: Flint, Limestone, Clay

Farming: Organic (certified)

Fining/Filtration: Unfined/Unfiltered

Fun facts: This 2004 bottling comes from four different lieu-dits: Les Forgeottes in Celles-lès-Condé and L’Enclume, Les Marguiniers and Pierre de Bellevue in Oeuilly. They were each vinified individually (as are all the parcels at Tarlant) and these four plots were chosen in a blind tasting to be blended and released as a “snapshot” of the vintage.

The grapes were harvested between September 27th and October 10th, 2004. “There was beautiful flowering this vintage with a sunny spring, a cool Summer and a very hot Semptember.” The wine’s name loosely translates to “the ethereal one” due to very natural, free flow of the growing season.

Winemaking: Whole-clusters are gently direct pressed. 20 to 25mg per liter of sulfur is added at press. The wines fermented spontaneously in Burgundian barrels and did not go through malolactic fermentation. After aging six months on their lees, the barrels were blended and bottled without dosage on May 4th, 2005. The bottles aged sur lattes for 12 years and 11 months before being disgorged on March 26th, 2018.