SKU:
"extremely lightly dosed to allow full expression in all its purity and finesse"
Tasting notes:This is a touch more full bodied than the Latitude, even though it is also 100% Chardonnay. There are some more evolved notes yet this remains very elegant and long. Chiselled but with softer edges. Now labelled as 'Longitude.' All the fruit here comes from the village of Vertus, as well as the grands crus of Avize, Cramant, Chouilly and Oger, Longitude reflects the character and finesse of these chalky soils. Interestingly, the disgorgement date can be found lasered into the glass of each bottle.
« Longitude » means length and the very pure, straight style, from those great Côte des Blancs terroirs with practically outcropping chalk.
94 / 100 Vinous
The NV Extra Brut Blanc de Blancs Longitude 1er Cru sizzles with tension and energy. Chalk and limestone soils in the villages of Vertus, Cramant and Oger give birth to a Champagne endowed with so much vibrancy. Citrus, yellow flowers, spice and baked apple tart add aromatic nuance, but it is the wine's pure drive and texture that stand out most. This is a fabulous showing. The current release is based on 2016, with 40% wines from a perpetual reserve that dates back to 2004. Dosage is 4 grams per liter. Disgorged: October, 2019.
93 / 100 Parker
The latest rendition of the Larmandiers' NV Longitude Blanc de Blancs Premier Cru Extra Brut is predictably superb, offering up scents of waxy lemon rind, crisp yellow apple, dried white flowers and fresh hazelnut, followed by a medium to full-bodied, vinous but precise palate that's pure, delicately textural and captivatingly weightless despite its undeniable intensity and concentration, concluding with a complex, mouthwateringly saline finish. It's hard to think of a better value in Champagne. William Kelley
95 / 100 Decanter
Lovely, classy, green gold in colour, shouting Chardonnay straight away. There are minerals, chalk, a hint of spices, and fine, fine tension in the mouth. It is moreish, complete, a fine, long wine. Michael Edwards
Pierre and Sophie Larmandier and their sons Arthur and now Georges too (joined September 2021) are determined to make wines as true as possible to their origins in their different vineyards. These are split into around fifty separate parcels spread across the Côte des Blancs in the grand cru villages of Cramant, Chouilly, Oger and Avize, and the premier cru of Vertus.
All but three of the parcels (representing 0.5 hectares) are farmed using non-officially certified biodynamic methods. Wines are made only from their own 15 hectares of vines, which are on average 33 years old. All of their Champagnes are the purest expressions of Chardonnay.
Working only with natural yeasts the influence of 'terroir' is all important to the style of his wines, so much so that he uses a minimum 'dosage' (if at all) so as not to mask the wines natural characteristics.
Pierre has recently changed the 'Tradition' cuvée, re-launching it as 'Latitude', and it is now also a Blanc de Blancs, with its origins in the vineyards south of Vertus. The old 'Blanc de Blancs cuvée, which is known henceforth as 'Longitude', comes exclusively from vineyards on the Cote de Blancs itself and is classified Premier Cru'.
The Pinot Noir is now reserved exclusively for Pierre's distinctive dark rosé and for the Vertus Rouge Coteaux Champenois.
Awarded the Robert Parker Green emblem in July 2021.
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