2013 Champagne Leclerc Briant, Château d'Avize, Blanc de Blancs, Grand Cru, Brut Zéro
Critics reviews
The mousse is so soft and plentiful that the entire thing almost melts away in your mouth. Just an excellent Champagne that has real character, more minerality than fruit, moving towards saffran and quince.
A more challenging vintage in Champagne than the 2012, but this has the charm that comes with bottle age, with a grilled almond edge, still with citrus and white flower undertones. Beautiful.
Hervé Jestin winemaker. Soft 2.3/l dosage, making this Brut Zero. No need to wait longer.
Drink 2023 - 2030
Jane Anson, Inside Bordeaux (August 2023)
The 2013 Chateau d'Avize Blanc de Blancs Brut Zero is 100% Chardonnay with zero dosage. It sings of lemon curd, spiced apples, and honeysuckle with hints of beeswax, cashews, and chalk. The elegant, refreshing, light-bodied palate delivers delicate citrus and apple layers and a chalky finish.
Drink 2023 - 2031
Lisa Perrotti-Brown, The Wine Independent (August 2023)
About this WINE
Champagne Leclerc Briant
Champagne Leclerc Briant focuses on organic and biodynamic viticulture, working in harmony with nature to produce some of the region’s most exciting wines.
Lucien Leclerc founded the estate in 1872 in the village of Cumières. In the mid-20th century, in the hands of Lucien’s great-grandson, Bertrand Leclerc, and his wife, Jacqueline Briant, the operation was moved to the beating heart of Champagne, Epernay. Here it also took a new name – Leclerc Briant. Around the same time, the house started practising biodynamic viticulture (becoming one of the first in the region to do so), eventually earning certification in the 1980s.
Since 2012, Chef du Cave Hervé Jestin, formerly of Champagne Duval-Leroy, has refined the house style here. Working with organic and biodynamic fruit, he also practises biodynamic principles in the winery. Leclerc Briant has taken on new vineyards, renovated its facilities, and has a renewed, uncompromising focus on quality.
The traditional sparkling wine method here is low dosage, vineyard-specific, and extremely interesting. The popular Abyss cuvée is aged underwater. As of the 2012 vintage, Hervé Jestin and the team are responsible for making the wine at Château d’Avize, which they bottle under the Leclerc Briant label and sell through La Place de Bordeaux.
Blanc de Blancs
In Champagne, the term Blanc de Blancs designates Champagnes made only from Chardonnay grapes. The vineyards located between Cramant and Mesnil-sur-Oger in Côte des Blancs yield the best examples of the style.
A classic Blanc de Blancs is restrained and elegant when young, yet with ageing it develops a mouth-coating brioche richness that overlays an intense expression of fruitiness. Blanc de Blancs are endowed with longer ageing potential than a typical Blanc de Noirs.
Recommended Producers: Salon, Billecart Salmon, Jacques Selosse, Dom Ruinart, Krug, Le Mesnil Grand Cru, Guy Larmandier
Chardonnay
Chardonnay is often seen as the king of white wine grapes and one of the most widely planted in the world It is suited to a wide variety of soils, though it excels in soils with a high limestone content as found in Champagne, Chablis, and the Côte D`Or.
Burgundy is Chardonnay's spiritual home and the best White Burgundies are dry, rich, honeyed wines with marvellous poise, elegance and balance. They are unquestionably the finest dry white wines in the world. Chardonnay plays a crucial role in the Champagne blend, providing structure and finesse, and is the sole grape in Blanc de Blancs.
It is quantitatively important in California and Australia, is widely planted in Chile and South Africa, and is the second most widely planted grape in New Zealand. In warm climates Chardonnay has a tendency to develop very high sugar levels during the final stages of ripening and this can occur at the expense of acidity. Late picking is a common problem and can result in blowsy and flabby wines that lack structure and definition.
Recently in the New World, we have seen a move towards more elegant, better- balanced and less oak-driven Chardonnays, and this is to be welcomed.
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Description
Château d’Avize is one of only a few châteaux in Champagne, and the only one with a Grand Cru postcode. Using their biodynamic principles, Hervé Jestin and the Leclerc Briant team have created an extraordinary, age-worthy Champagne which demands cellaring to reach its potential.
This Blanc de Blancs combines Leclerc Briant’s characterful, stimulating style; the tension of the 2013 vintage; and the power of the Avize terroir – the grandest of all the villages in the Côte des Blancs. Avize, already home to some of Champagne’s most iconic and collectable producers, has a new star.
This second release of Château d’Avize confirms the quality and position of this magnificent single-vineyard wine as one of the most exciting releases of 2023.
Davy Zyw, Senior Buyer, Berry Bros. & Rudd
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