Champagne Pierre Peters

The loquacious and extremely likeable Rodolphe Péters of Champagne Pierre Péters is one of the most highly respected growers in Le Mesnil-sur-Oger, where 12 of his 17 hectares are located. The style of Le Mesnil Champagnes focuses on mineral power and capacity to age. Péters is the master of this art; taming the steely acidity of the wines, but in no way diminishing their inherent power and potential to develop.

From four parcels in four villages, Pierre Peters’ Extra Brut is far from foursquare, stretching its modest two grams of residual sugar into a symphony of stone fruit and flowers. The wine is incredibly complex; the putative austerity of an Extra Brut all but forgotten in this maze of flavours, where one is just as likely to fall upon liquorice and cinnamon as the more usual descriptors of plums and other orchard fruit.

The Cuvée de Réserve goes from strength to strength and is now one of the most sought-after of our non-vintage Champagnes, no mean achievement for a Grower Champagne and indicative, perhaps, of the long overdue re-appraisal of the hierarchy in this region, where the hegemony of the Grandes Marques has held sway for so long.

This perhaps explains the inherent complexity on the palate, with its notes of hazelnut, acacia and apricot garlanding the more usual descriptors of citron pressé, sweet spice and crushed rock. The dosage is seven grams per litre and the finish is powerful, with a twist of salinity to confirm the fact that the majority of the fruit is sourced from the great village of Le Mesnil-sur-Oger, the balancing 30 percent coming from equally prestigious Grand Cru sites in Oger, Chouilly and Cramant