Champagne has for generations been synonymous with celebration and prestige, but as with so many things nowadays, we’ve seen a significant veer towards commercialism and marketing. Vineyards and brands are being snapped up by corporate powerhouses and stakeholders who see the vines as plots on a graph.

To say that ‘small is beautiful’ and ‘big is bad’ is an oversimplification, we know – large Négociants and Maisons can (and do,) produce exceptional cuvées – however this is no longer exclusively their domain. There are some valiant Davids amongst these vinous Goliaths.

One of which is our beloved Larmandier-Bernier. At Dhall & Nash, we pride ourselves on respecting those who create wonders by patiently loving, toiling and knowing their small piece of earth through the generations – and this eighth generation family endeavour working 47 acres of meticulously tended organic & biodynamic vineyards embody our core values in every way.

If one had to describe Larmandier-Bernier in an absolute nutshell, they’d say it’s a family estate specialising in organically-grown grands crus.

Their natural approach to the growing extends to their winemaking and they favour a very low-interventionalist style following their comparatively late harvest.

Their wines have garnered strong praise and a bit of a cult following from fellow winemakers, critics and day-to-day drinkers (more on this later…)

But let’s crack open the nut and drill down a bit.

The Larmandier family have been involved in Champagne since the 1700’s, with the first written evidence of such being in 1756 (the same decade that the Gregorian calendar replaced the Julian calendar, so some could say they’re as old as time itself!)

Production remained small for decades, the world was less globalised than now (said as we write about this from New Zealand.) Though small, the Larmandier reputation was big. In the 1950s Jules Larmandier, followed by his son Phillipe Allyre Larmandier, became a supplier for some of Paris’ greatest restaurants (La Tour d’Argent, Taillevent, Charlot roi des coquillages, etc.).

The birth of modern Larmandier-Bernier came in the early 1970’s (which we regret to inform you was over 50 years ago, even if it feels as though it should be 30…) Phillipe Larmandier combined forces with his wife Elisabeth Bernier – an owner of vineyards in Vertus, where they built their cellar.

In 1988, one Pierre Larmandier followed in his parents’ footsteps, returning to the profession that “runs through his veins.” Whilst the decision was one born of passion, it was somewhat expedited. Phillipe, his father, died at the age of just 44. Elisabeth stayed at the helm, holding it down until Pierre, who was at university, was able to complete his studies and return home. At this time, the vineyard holdings were around 10 hectares. 

Some of Pierre’s first decisions upon coming aboard at this family estate alongside his wife, Sophie, were to move into organics. “Only the soil and the sun,” was interestingly the passing comment made by his great-great-grandfather that would come to represent his philosophy quite well.

They started dabbling in 1992, and then doubled down by moving to fully biodynamic viticulture by late 1999 after a trip to Burgundy’s Domaine Leflaive. 

“It was really there that we realized you could do something serious with biodynamics,” Pierre told Robert Camuto for The Wine Spectator. It was around this time they began to use only indigenous yeasts in the fermentation process too. They have been certified organic since 2003 and biodynamically certified since 2004.

“Pierre describes himself as an ‘organo-realist,’” explains Tyson Stelzer in the 2018-19 Champagne Guide, “Every time I visit, he whisks me off in his four-wheel drive to one of his key plots in Vertus. “We’re not too concerned about a little disease in the vineyards. Some people say grass is a disease too!” Larmandier cultivates grasses in the mid-rows during winter and ploughs until close to harvest.” 

“He considers an absence of herbicides to be the key in the vineyard. ‘Organic or not is less important than abandoning herbicides,’ he suggests. ‘Everyone says they control weeds by ploughing, but I see them spraying with herbicide!’”

Pierre’s passion for what he creates is evident and he has taken the baton from his parents and carved his own path with it. “My parents made wine that was fine and elegant, but it was just fine and elegant, without depth,” he recalls as he speaks to Camuto, “With their enologist, they were always trying to make something with less taste. And I said, ‘That’s too bad.’”

This take on organics and biodynamics was not necessarily usual for the time. Camuto reckons that Larmandier-Bernier “broke the mold” and 88 Bamboo proclaims “when it comes to Champagne, it is none other than the Larmandier-Bernier house that has ushered the practice into this hallowed region.” 

“I thought I could be five years ahead of the others in giving up on chemical farming,” Pierre observed to William Kelley, “but I never imagined that I might be fifty years ahead!”

Even today, under 10% of vineyards in Champagne are organic, (Apx 8.1%) and even fewer are biodynamic. Believe it or not, this is a marked increase from around just 1% in 2009, which really highlights just how unique this philosophy is in the region.

Despite his head-first deep-end dive into running things, Pierre found himself amongst good company. There were a number of new-generation winemakers questioning Champagne’s status quo. “We were asking a lot of questions,” Pierre recalls to Camuto, “One of them was how to express terroir.”

And express he does. 

“It’s not our objective to be consistent,” Sophie Larmandier declared at a masterclass in Sydney in early 2020, attended by Huon Hooke of the Real Review, ​​“If you want year-to-year consistency, you will find the vineyard isn’t the same every year.”

Beginning with grapes harvested at their peak maturity – picked late compared to many of the other growers. Pierre believes this allows them to concentrate on the flavours first and foremost, believing that before you can make good champagne you must first make good wine. 

“Along with an expression of minerality, his priorities are roundness and linearity achieved by harvesting grapes at optimal ripeness of around eleven degrees of potential, compared with most in Champagne who aim for around nine”, explains Tyson Stelzer, ‘It is important for us to work the soil to achieve a lower pH in the wine, allowing us to wait longer to harvest, to achieve ripeness without lacking freshness.’

This also extends to a desire for complexity and depth in the wines without over-handling. Pierre understood that as things had changed in the vineyards, so too must they change in the winery.

He found the way in which they were doing things was making the wines too acidic and difficult to drink.

“Previously, the base wines were so acidic they hurt to drink,” he said. Now, after fermentation with indigenous yeasts, the wines are matured in casks and wooden vats to enable them to breathe.

Larmandier-Bernier also bottles quite late for the second fermentation and has a very low dosage regime, which naturally encourages malolactic fermentation with the warming spring temperatures. The highest dosage used here is 4 g/litre. “We use the dosage to preserve the length,” they explain to Jamie Goode’s Wine Anorak.

Shortly after their organic certification, Pierre created “perpetual reserves” for their Latitude and Longitude base wines. “Traditionally, Champagne producers have kept reserves of single-vintage base wines to use for blending in non-vintage bottlings,” explains Camuto, “Perpetual reserves— pioneered by Selosse and inspired by the Spanish solera system of fractional aging for Sherry—age vintage after vintage together in one cask to create a reserve wine with added aged notes and complexity. In every vintage, the Larmandiers add the newest wine to the perpetual reserve while using the reserve for up to 40 percent of the blends they make that year.”

This perpetual reserve lends complexity and maturity to their wines, meaning that even though consistency isn’t the target, quality and signature is more easily expressed in the assemblages and the real voices of the vintages can shine through their millésime bottlings.

Despite enduring passion and energy, Pierre is no longer a spring chicken. The future of Larmandier-Bernier is being discussed, and it looks bright. 

Since they took the reins, Pierre and Sophie have doubled the estate vineyards to 47 acres, with production reaching about 13,000 cases annually. An exceptional starting point for the next era to run from.

“Sophie, Pierre, Arthur and Georges just want to get it right and do it well…” states their website, officially introducing Arthur & Georges to the fold. Arthur and Georges are Pierre & Sophie’s sons and are very much a part of day-to-day operations at Larmandier-Bernier. Arthur had cut his teeth marketing for Chanel for a few years, and Georges was an aeronautical engineer before they returned to the fold.

““I told them ‘Do what you want in life,’ but I showed them the trade,” Pierre says to Camuto, “I said, ‘The life of a vigneron is short. You have maybe 30 vintages in your prime, and 30 years go fast.’”

Under quite different circumstances to how he came to the helm, Pierre enjoys experimenting, teaching and learning alongside his boys. Currently they’re fermenting some base wines in stoneware amphorae (which we look forward to hearing about).

In 2024, the Larmandiers also announced that they’re launching a new expansion project of their barrel room and cellar. This will prolong the maturation both in barrel and in bottle, always digging into the chalk to enjoy ideal temperature and humidity conditions.

The Larmandier-Bernier estate is located on the terroirs of the Côte des Blancs, at the very heart of the Champagne vineyards where Chalk is king.

(We’ve got a great read on how soil types affect the vineyards and consequently the wines here, if you wish to go down the dirt rabbit hole.)

Geek talk: Limestone soils are naturally alkaline with high pH levels that can reflect sunlight to promote photosynthesis. These soils tend to be neutral shades of white, grey, or beige, and have ancient origins. After water receded from now-dry Jurassic seabeds over 200 million years ago, an array of fossilised shells, coral and other debris accumulated to form calcified sediments. Those remains give limestone its distinctive chemical makeup, called calcium carbonate.

Larmandier-Bernier’s holdings:

• Grands crus: Cramant, Avize, Oger
• Premier cru: Vertus
• Acres: 47 acres
• Chalk type: Outcropping Campanian chalk
• Grapes: More than 90% of Chardonnay
• Average Age: 35 year old vines

We can harp on about this benchmark Blanc de Blancs producer until the cows come home but consensus is key. Our voice is but one of many singing these praises, and here’s a small selection from the experts and critics… 

It’s no secret that our beloved Aotearoa New Zealand punches above its weight on the world stage of wine, and a huge part of that is thanks to the Sauvignon Blanc coming out of Marlborough.

We have a thousand praises for the bright, zesty style brimming with green perfumes and tropical lashings of flavour (We could do with a glass right now actually, come to think of it…) but we must remind ourselves not to get tunnel vision when it comes to this remarkable wine region, as easy as it is.

A recent addition to the Dhall & Nash Whānau that is reinforcing this for us and exciting us no end is Zephyr – a family estate producing expressive and organic single-vineyard wines across the board. We can’t wait for you to meet them, but first, let’s set the scene…

Marlborough sits at the top of New Zealand’s South Island and is home to just over 50,000 people. Its biggest city is Blenheim, which around 30,000 of the Marlborough residents call home.

Aside from making phenomenal wine, the Marlborough region is known for its breathtaking scenery and coasts – from secluded bays and islands in the Sounds to the open coast south of Cape Campbell, Marlborough boasts about 1,800km of coastline.

Combine this with being named the official sunniest region in New Zealand and it means a lot of people want to experience a slice of the good life… 

For a region of just over 50,000 (even fewer in 2010 when the data was reported,) those numbers are staggering and clearly indicative of the region’s appeal. 

As touched on above, Marlborough is officially New Zealand’s sunniest region. In 2024, NIWA reported that they clocked up 2,769 hours of sunshine, and overall enjoy an oceanic climate with warm, dry summers and cool winters. Snow rarely settles lower than the mountain-tops, but that doesn’t stop the brisk morning air from holding some bite! 

The strong coastal influence and long sunshine hours mean that while the days during the growing season are warm, they often benefit from a cool sea breeze in the evening. 

Hailed as one of New Zealand’s most sunny and dry regions, Maori referred to the Wairau Valley as ‘Kei puta te Wairau’ – ‘The place with the hole in the cloud’.

While the district itself extends into the Sounds and all their peninsulas, bays and islands, most of the wineries are centred around Blenheim and another town called Seddon. Here, there are free-draining alluvial gravels perfect for viticulture. Many are between the Richmond Mountain Ranges to the north and the Wither Hills to the south, which protect it from extreme weather conditions.

Okay, we know why we’re all here (wine!), so let’s delve in. 

Marlborough is New Zealand’s largest wine region, churning out a staggering 75% of the country’s overall wine production in 2020, 70% of NZ’s vineyard area and 85% of its wine exports. 

Across Marlborough’s 30,444 hectares, over 26,000 of those are planted to Sauvignon Blanc, so there’s no denying the winegrowers know what does well! 

The first official records of viticulture in Marlborough are from 1873, when one David Herd planted a small vineyard of Brown Muscat in Fairhall. Sadly, in 1931 his son pulled up the last of the vines, and no others were recorded in the region for the next forty years. 

In 1972, Marlborough County Council Livestock Instructor, S.G.C. Newdick, in fact wrote “Vineyards: in regard to these, as there is a glut on the market of grapes there does not appear to be any likelihood of vineyards starting up in Marlborough in the foreseeable future.” Oh, how wrong this proved to be!

In 1973, exactly 100 years on from the first plantings and one year after the prediction of minimal vineyard success, Montana started planting vineyards in Marlborough, marking the start of commercial winegrowing.

Marlborough Wine explains, “At the celebration ceremony, Frank Yukich, the man behind the plan to buy land and plant grapes here made the statement that “Wines from here will become world famous.” At the time, no one took him seriously but the prophetic words would go on to be remembered as this variety took Marlborough’s name to the world.”

It was in 1977, not even 50 years ago, that the Marlborough Grape Growers Association was established (which would go on to become Marlborough Winegrowers Association) and by the 1980’s the region’s plantings were increasing – much to the frustration of the government who were offering landowners $5,000 for every acre of vines they tore out, but some determined vintners persevered and started looking to Sauvignon Blanc. 

In 1985, just 12 years after the first plantings were made, Marlborough was launched onto the world stage. A Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc made by David Hohnen & Kevin Judd was – to everyone’s shock – voted the best Sauvignon Blanc in the world by Wine magazine. 

In his 2018 book Red & White, Oz Clarke credits this first vintage with nothing less than a varietal revolution:

Even Queen Elizabeth II visited after that, paying a visit to Brancott Vineyard in February of 1989!

The area under vine in Marlborough expanded rapidly – a five-fold increase in just 15 years in fact! In 2003, there were 4,516 hectares of vineyards, and in 2018 there were 23,102 hectares. Today, that’s increased again, with 30,444 hectares reported in 2024.

We know the title of this blog is literally “So Much More Than Just Savvy” but you can’t talk about what else Marlborough does well without talking about its flagship. 

After Cloudy Bay’s resounding success on the world stage with their Sauvignon Blanc 1985 being dubbed the best in the world, vintners took notice. Sauvignon Blanc had already been growing in popularity through the 80’s but this result cinched it! And from there, there’s been nowhere to go but up.

Plantings have increased exponentially and one, Sauvignon Blanc is our pin in the world wine map. Jamie Goode explains in Meninger’s International that  “The success of Sauvignon is due to its unique flavour profile. The typical Marlborough character is one of green notes well integrated with citrus brightness and exotic tropical high notes, all kept laser sharp by high acidity. 

New Zealand wine scientists have discovered that the region makes wines with very high levels of two groups of impact compounds, methoxypyrazines and thiols. Methoxypyrazines are responsible for green flavours: green pepper, tomato leaf, grassiness while thiols are responsible for passionfruit, grapefruit and tropical fruit aromatics. So good Marlborough Sauvignon is about greenness allied to thiol aromatic interest. This is what sets it apart.”

We’ve represented two wineries in Marlborough for some time now, both of which produce cracking Sauvignon Blanc of course, but they produce other wines too. Folium Vineyard is organic and dry-farmed in the Brancott Valley and Whyte Estate, also in the Brancott Valley with Theo Giesen at the helm. 

But today, we’re thrilled to announce we’re adding to our Marlborough offerings with a producer making world-class single-vineyard wines across a broad range of varieties and styles.

Everyone, please meet…

Single vineyard wines that express the ethereal, aromatic and structural flair of the Dillons Point Sub-Region of Marlborough.

The Glover family were early to plant grapes on their farm in Marlborough’s Dillon’s Point sub-region in 1988. Nineteen years later, led by eldest son Ben, the family launched Zephyr, a range of single vineyard wines from the farm. 

The name Zephyr means ‘a gentle breeze’. Inspired by the prevailing wind that moderates their vineyards, it is the perfect fit for the Glover family. Never still, always on the go, always innovating and planning their next move on the farm, in the wines and with the family.

Today, rows of Chardonnay, Gewurztraminer, Riesling, Pinot Gris, Pinot Noir and Sauvignon Blanc have thrived in the fertile loam soils that provide Zephyr wines with lively aromatics, great depth of flavour and excellent structural longevity.

Zephyr wines are made in Ben’s trademark expressive style, elegant with personality. Ben has spent more than two decades making wine for some of New Zealand’s top brands, earning a reputation as one of the most talented and respected winemakers in the business.

The Opawa River runs along the southern boundary of the family vineyard and is the “lifeblood of the property.” 

It is this river, over the centuries, which has flooded and deposited fertile silt loam onto the vineyard sites. Its waters are home to abundant plant, bird and fish life.

The soils are fertile, the aspect is north facing and the sub-region is described as ‘early country’, sheltered from the harsh southerly weather patterns, sitting in the lee of the Wither Hills to the south east of the Wairau Valley floor.

The vineyard is only three kilometres from the high tide mark and the vineyard is approximately 10 metres above sea level. 

The soil structure is Kaiapoi silt loam. It has a fertile soil profile, which borders the Opawa river. As you move north, away from the river, the soils become more clay loam in structure.

‘Robbers Dog’ wines are a side project by the Glovers, and pays homage to the saying “Off like a robbers dog” a phrase oft’ said by their “old man” when they had to scurry, act fast and leave the scene of something unbecoming.

They’re a dastardly dirty pairing of two natural wines from the wrong side of the tracks. Organic, low fi, natural expressions of the Glovers’ aromatic varieties; Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc and Gewurztraminer.

We’ve written a number of blogs about our Bouzy Champagne producer, André Clouet, and each reads rather the same – gushing praise, riveting tales and critic scores aplenty.

But each blog has focussed incredibly heavily on an individual cuvée at a time, so we thought it’s time to make the ultimate ‘umbrella’ blog for this wondermaker. The Clouet ‘hub’ if you will.

First, if you wish to read the deep dives we’ve published in the past we highly encourage you to, the links are below;

We first brought on Champagne André Clouet in 2017, and we were astounded at the way it managed to capture the hearts and the palates of both our staff and customers immediately.

At the time, we had only brought on their NV Grandé Reserve Brut. It wasn’t one of the ‘big’ Champagne names but it was one that carried with it a lot of respect, with a detectable electric undercurrent of intrigue reserved for only the most ‘boutique’ and ‘in-the-know’ producers.

We soon added their No.5 Brut Rosé and their V6 Experience cuvées to the line up, who have in time also garnered a passionate group of fans here in NZ.

Then in 2024, we opted to bring in a small allocation of NV Chalky Blanc de Blancs and sold out by word of mouth before we’d had a chance to properly launch it. “Loud and clear…” we thought, and we’re now on our 4th order of this clearly phenomenal cuvée.

Shortly after Chalky’s success, we added the 2005 Dream Vintage, 2015 Millesime Empire and the NV ‘Un Jour de 1911’ to our stable, rounding out the offering to a seriously respectable 7 phenomenal champagnes.

• Tyson Stelzer, 94 Points: “Release after release, year after year, I have always marvelled at the lemon blossom freshness that Clouet manages to capture in pinot noir from two of Champagne’s most powerful terroirs. Here it is again, in a captivating interplay of fleshy mirabelle plums, white peaches, crunchy golden delicious apples, and even a hint of pepper. Wild honey and mixed spice join the maelstrom along the way, gliding obediently into a well defined finish of soft minerality and integrated dosage.”
• Lobenberg Wine Guide, 93 Points: “Strong and lush, very creamy, mild acidity, great perlage, very intense and expressive. You could easily decant it. No branded champagne can achieve this extremely good substance in terms of quality. Fantastically creamy apple note, nuts and pear in the aftertaste, infinitely charming and everybody’s darling. Unique in the price range.”
• Decanter, 92 Points: “Incredible value for a blanc de noirs (100% Pinot Noir) grower Champagne from the grand cru vineyards of Bouzy. It shows gorgeous aromas of stone fruit, citrus and strawberry, with complex brioche nuances, remarkable balance, ongoing elegance and a rich, refined, persistent finish.”
• Wine Spectator, 90 Points: “Whole-grain bread, malt and candied berry aromas and flavors highlight this intense yet creamy Champagne, which picks up a floral accent as it cruises to a long, mouthwatering finish.”

Honestly, this entry level NV cuvée is way better than any champagne in this tier has any right to be, but that’s what you get when you veer from the path less travelled and look at some of these genius growers.

The Grande Réserve boasts a super eye-catching deep blue label with gold leaf filigree designs that hark back to the Clouet family’s roots as printers for the French monarchy in centuries past, and the drop inside is just as fine. In Clouet’s own words:

• Tyson Stelzer, 94 Points: “Boasting a full ruby hue, No5 is notably deeper than No3 in both appearance and flavour. As flamboyant and exuberant as its maker himself, it brims with wild strawberries, raspberries and morello cherries, encapsulating that wonderful talent of great pinot to build and rise triumphantly on the finish. For all of its generosity, it never deviates from the control and precision of the house, focused by bright acidity and the omnipresent chalk minerality that underscores this legendary village. A great expression of the freshness, mineral airiness and presence of Bouzy pinot noir.”
• Bob Campbell, 95 Points: “Bold, full-flavoured rosé Champagne with pronounced fruit and floral flavours including red rose petal, pot-pourri, and baguette crust. Delicious wine in quite a mellow style with restrained acidity. Seriously good Champagne.”
• Cameron Douglas, 93 Points: “Floral, fresh and distinctive with a mix of light red berry fruit aromas, balanced and even autolysis and moderate complexity. Quite delicious on the palate with a red cherry, red apple and fine red strawberry core, baked goods and a whisper of spice.”

A story the family loves to tell is that of André Clouet’s memorable interaction with Marie Antoinette.

In 1770, the future Queen of France visited the vineyards in Bouzy and a dinner in her honour was organised in a castle not far from the village. Andre Clouet was in attendance and decided to entertain the guests at the Queen’s table by adding a few drops of red wine from their vineyards to the white wine. Known as “Bouzy Rouge,” this Vin des Sacres, was the red wine served to celebrate the crowning of the French Kings.

On that night, it’s said the ladies’ eyes began to sparkle with amazement as the white wine became pink!

The men raised a toast to the Queen and André Clouet proclaimed: “This is how we perfect Pinot Noir in Champagne! Now the Burgundians will just have to deal with it!”

A few years later, a cousin placed an order for some of this ‘pink wine’, but sparkling this time, for her “crazy English friends!”

• Wine Advocate, 93 Points: “Aged for six years on the second lees, the yellow-golden NV Brut The V6 Experience is a Bouzy Pinot Noir that displays great purity and intensity but also reduction on the mineral-scented nose. This is deep and complex, but it needs all our patience and perhaps even a decanter or at least a big glass and lots of aeration. The palate is rich and powerful, firmly structured, very tight and still astringent on the finish, but there is so much finesse paired with power, concentration and fruit, which give the V6 a promising future. The wine just starts a bit slowly (like a rocket, which is pictured on the label), but it will most probably go very steep in a couple of years. I have[n’t] ever had this cuvée before, so I can only guess, though. (Tasted 2021)”
• Tyson Stelzer, 92 Points: “Jean-Francois describes pinot noir as entering a phase he dubs ‘The Whirlwind’ in its sixth year of maturation. The rest of his inspiration is impossible to put into words, but clicking on ‘Cuvée Design Specification’ on his website will put you on the right trajectory. For the exuberance of Bouzy Pinot Noir and not inconsiderable age, the freshness packed into this cuvée is something to behold. Grapefruit tang meets crunchy red apple fruit, contrasting the generosity and spice of the village and the tension of zero dosage. Get on board.”
• Vinum Magazine, 18/20 Points: “What a champagne! A single-varietal Pinot Noir, “V6” stands for six years of aging on the lees. The golden yellow color alone promises much. Expansive, baroque, ripe aromas with candied fruits, apricot pastries, dates, and caramel. Gripping on the palate, it’s superbly present, with delicate fruitiness and wonderfully juicy acidity.”

The V6 experience is one close to Jean-Francois Clouet’s heart and is possibly one of the most underrated champagnes in our portfolio, as it showcases the brilliance of pinot noir and expert winemaking.

Being based in Bouzy, Jean-Francois is a pinot guy. He works wonders with all varietals, but pinot is where he shines and what his family have been growing for generations. This intimate knowledge gives him incredible insight and has allowed him to really hone in on the quirks and patterns in pinot winemaking. Something he’s noticed is how pinot reaches a really special stage of maturation at around 6 years…

“Pinot Noir does not mature directly, in linear fashion. Upon reaching its 6th year, it passes into a phase known as “The Whirlwind”,” Clouet explains. “Propelled by an unseen force it reaches outward, taking on another dimension. The wine becomes charged with energy and vibrations. It glows… and becomes transcendent! Deep, bright, effervescent… Taking off and on approach to Celestial Harmony. As you taste it, prepare yourself to be launched like a rocket ship toward a mysterious, resplendent Star-shine, emanating from the Pinot Noir Galaxy.

3.2.1…. Blast off!”

• Lobenberg Wine Guide, 96 Points: “What does 200 million years of manifest minerality taste like? Jean-Francois Clouet put the answer in this bottle. A completely new wine in Clouet’s portfolio, bottled in a special white-coated bottle with a matching box in a chalk cliff design… As the name suggests, Chalky tastes like the salty-chalky purism of the chalk soils of Champagne, but it wouldn’t be a Clouet if it didn’t also exude a wonderful, melting charm and seductive appeal. 200 million years of minerality poured into the bottle as liquid chalk, what a smooth, delicious mineral hammer!”
• Sally Hillman: “Taking to the Chardonnay vines with the precision of a Renaissance sculptor, Jean-François Clouet carves a brand-new, pure and flawless Blanc de Blancs cuvée from Champagne’s deep, chalky bedrock.”
• Falstaff Magazine, 93 Points: “Medium golden yellow. Quite classic on the nose with citrus notes, exotic fruit nuances of mango and passion fruit. Elegant on the palate with a fine mousse, a noticeable impression of sweetness and a certain minerality. Complex even in the long aftertaste with smoky nuances.”

‘Chalky’ draws reference to the very soils which made Champagne famous.

“No matter what I do, chalky soil is stuck to the soles of my shoes. It’s been a part of me since I was a child!”
– Jean-François Clouet

Chalky is a particularly noteworthy addition to the Clouet lineup in that it’s a deviation from their cornerstone varietal, Pinot Noir. The Chalky Blanc de Blancs was aged an astonishing 72 months on lees – or six years. The base wines of this initial NV release come from the “late-ripening, almost brutally brilliant year” (Lobenburg) 2013. Disgorgement was in 2021, with a dosage of 6g. The resulting wine is creamy, mineral and – you guessed it – chalky.

• James Suckling, 93 Points: “If you like mature champagnes then this has a lot of depth and offers a lot of pleasure. Tons of nutty character (also a touch of peanut) and plenty of toasty notes, the dried-fruit aromas very much in the background. Long and intense finish that’s properly dry. 100% chardonnay. Drink now.”
• Lobenberg, 95-96+ Points): “The 2005 vintage gave the Chardonnay wines exceptional quality. Fresh, noble and with a long finish. They develop aromas of white flowers, citrus fruits and mineral notes. Enjoyable early and yet long-lasting.”
• Tyson Stelzer, 90 Points: “Jean-François prefers his 2005 Dream Collection to 2008. Both accurately articulate the mood of their contrasting seasons, the 2005 is already a golden yellow hue and brimming with luscious golden delicious apple and pineapple fruit, true to this warm vintage. It’s a spicy and rich style and it relies on this generosity in order to carry the dry phenolic grip and coffee and cocoa notes of the season.”

Everyone knows vintage Champagne has a little something extra to offer – we’ve blogged about it pretty extensively before, which we’ll touch on here but like all his cuvées, André Clouet adds extra to that extra.

In their own words; “The Dream Vintage collection is a masterful gourmet retrospective dedicated to the great vintages of Champagne. This collection is crafted with a base of Chardonnay, known for its elegance and finesse. The equipment is reminiscent of the great Cadillac classics: Fiesta Red, Chrystal Green, Ebony Black, and other colors that make big dreams come true.”

• Lobenberg, 94 Points (2023): “Powerful, direct and intense. Terrific fabric like the 2012 one, but just as durable. Vital acidity and high concentration from low yields, with fine tannins in the intensive, long finish, which shows a lot of pressure and arrives youthfully agile, of exceptional class. Possesses an explosive potential with a creamy intense body. The small amount of Chardonnay also gives it some delicacy. He can certainly remain at the extremely high level for over 20 years of permanent change towards maturity.”

The ‘Millésimé Empire’ celebrates and captures Napoleon’s ‘Chasseurs à Cheval’ (‘mounted hunters’) – courageous and daring! “The Millésimé Empire is a cavalry charge of flavors, where the finesse of Chardonnay cuts like a blade, and the strength of Pinot Noir echoes the power of a noble mount. Long live the emperor!”

• Robert Parker’s The Wine Advocate, 96 Points (2021): “The NV Un jour de 1911… is another 100% Bouzy Pinot Noir with an ancient label design. The shining golden-colored cuvée combines ripeness, complexity and finesse with intensity and elegance on both the nose and palate. It’s a powerful and rich yet very fine and balanced Champagne with great freshness and complex length. It is juicy and intense but also highly delicate, and its mineral tension and persistent finish make it a first-class wine for elaborate dishes. A great Champagne, with a label that doesn’t give any more detailed information regarding vintages or disgorgement date, but we know it’s always a 50/50 blend of three vintages (including one great millésime at least 10 years old) and reserve wines from a solera system… You shouldn’t drink it too early, as it would be a waste of its talents. Drink 2021 – 2033.
• Falstaff, 95 Points (2020): “Rich, bright golden yellow. Intense bouquet, brioche notes, ripe stone fruit, dried apple and a little nougat. Complex, full-bodied with exotic hints of ripe pineapple on the palate. Very finely tuned mousse, salty underlay, with fresh acid structure. A creamy honey touch on the finish, full-bodied with noteworthy length. Very good ageing potential. Great.”
• James Suckling, 95 Points (2021): “A rich and expansive champagne with tons of mature aromas of dried fruit (apricots!) and candied orange. Teeters on the edge of decadence, but has enough vitality to stay on the right side of that line. Plenty of textural complexity on the palate and a long, chalky finish that keeps giving and giving. Spot-on balance. Drink or hold.”

Only the top 10% of their Grand Cru classified grapes (which are some of the best Pinot Noir grapes in all of Champagne) are used for this wine, and it shows!In Clouet’s words, this wine is a “Champagne fairytale’…

“Once upon a time, a few precious bottles were hidden away in a small cellar for more than 80 years. By a stroke of luck they were found and became the inspiration for a champagne tribute to the Golden Age we like to call “Un jour de 1911”. (Translation: “One day in 1911”).

We were overcome with sentimental nostalgia when we recovered those bottles, saving them from oblivion. Memories of old Aunt Jenny came flooding back. She had always spoken about them with a sparkle in her eye, remembering their presence at every resplendent celebration and happy occasion during those dazzling early years of the 1900s.

Carefully packed with straw, protected in their wooden cases, each bottle was beautifully dressed with a gold foil collar, painstakingly applied by hand and shapely suggestive of a woman’s plunging neckline. Belle Époque graphic design on the labels transported us back to the Golden Age of France, a time of prosperity, optimism and creative freedom when the arts began to flourish.”

The Clouet family history in Bouzy dates back to the 1400’s. Before their vinous adventures, the Clouet ancestors were the appointed printers for the French monarchs.

Over the next 200 years and through several generations, the family slowly accumulated vineyards in Bouzy before finally, in 1741 they first started to make Champagne. Cellars were dug into the chalky soils and the family set down their roots officially in the town they’d spent several centuries in under the watchful eye of one André Clouet.

“During Creation, when God grew weary of sculpting the mountings, razing the deserts and firing up the volcanoes, he treated himself to a few moments of pleasure. He designed a little earthly paradise called Bouzy.”

André Clouet’s descendants took over his estate, ensuring that it remained in the family. The property had aged but has now been modernised, and the team working to perpetuate the House of André Clouet is inspired above all by the desire to preserve the personality of its champagnes.

“Jean-François is deeply rooted in the heritage of his village,” explains Tyson Stelzer in his book, The Champagne Guide 2020-2021 Edition VI, “He still possesses his family’s request for a deed for the purchase of land in Champagne by their ancestors in 1689 and a letter from the 1820’s requesting an order of Rosé to be sent to Paris.”

A story the family loves to tell is that of André Clouet’s memorable interaction with Marie Antoinette. In 1770, the future Queen of France visited the vineyards in Bouzy and a dinner in her honour was organised in a castle not far from the village. Andre Clouet was in attendance and decided to entertain the guests at the Queen’s table by adding a few drops of red wine from their vineyards to the white wine. Known as “Bouzy Rouge,” this Vin des Sacres, was the red wine served to celebrate the crowning of the French Kings.

On that night, it’s said the ladies’ eyes began to sparkle with amazement as the white wine became pink!

The men raised a toast to the Queen and André Clouet proclaimed: “This is how we perfect Pinot Noir in Champagne! Now the Burgundians will just have to deal with it!”

A few years later, a cousin placed an order for some of this ‘pink wine’, but sparkling this time, for her “crazy English friends!”

Jean-François is the larger-than-life current generation of the Clouet line and is at the helm of this family Estate. Growing up amongst the vines, the vineyards are in his blood. He’s been described as many things – a wizard, a wonder, a ringmaster… and all of these may be true but there’s no doubt his legacy will also recognise him as a phenomenal vigneron.

A fun story he enjoys telling pertains to the tanks and barrels that age the wines;

“When I was a little boy, I loved walking around the wine-making cellar. In my imagination, the enormous wine tanks transformed and became champions, guardians, protectors of the wine…

My Heroes! Creaking, wheezing, groaning, squealing, sweating… sometimes they even seemed to be laughing! I watched the noisy show, as some were gushing from their nozzles, while others were being filled up. I grew up learning to play with my heroes who live in the wine-cellars.

Each has its own name and personality to share and their attributes come alive in the wines:

Superman, Zeus, and Thor lend their power to the Cuvée Grande Reserve.

Laser, D’artagnan and Zorro transmit their intensity, tension and minerality to the Brut Silver.

Sophie Marceau, Heather Locklear and Michelle Pheiffer flirt beautifully with the Rosé.

Rocky comes out swinging to make a Dream Vintage!

As I blend to create champagne, I work to find the perfect balance of characteristics that come from all my remarkable, dauntless heroes: the Stainless Steel Giants.”

You can choose to take our word for it when it comes to Clouet’s brilliance, but if you don’t then you must listen to Tyson Stelzer.

Already quoted a few times in this piece, he is a multi-award winning wine writer, television host and producer and international speaker. Tyson has been named The International Wine & Spirit Communicator of the Year, The Australian Wine Communicator of the Year and The International Champagne Writer of the Year. He is the author and publisher of seventeen wine books, contributor to many wine magazines, a frequent judge and chair at Australian wine shows and a presenter at wine events in 12 countries. All this to say: he knows his wine and is great at articulating the magic where mere mortals fall short!

“Jean-François is a courageous visionary and an ebullient creative with the nous to bring his dreams to completion and the humility to gather round him the talent to make it happen.”

In 2017, Tyson published an article titled “Is this the most underrated champagne grower of all?” which is a poetic and beautiful summation of this Champagne House, which we’ve detailed below, or that you can read here.

“It’s always puzzled me that the remarkable, terroir-expressive champagnes of André Clouet never seem to come up among the rockstar growers of Champagne. And yet on the basis of his current cuvées, I have again anointed this little grower in the grand cru village of Bouzy among the top six growers in Champagne. This of course places him among the top sparkling growers on earth. My scores rank him equal to Dom Pérignon, Louis Roederer and Taittinger. And that’s mighty company!

For those in the know, the rare cuvées of André Clouet are immensely sought-after. You can’t buy these champagnes year-round in Australia, because they quickly sell out as soon as a shipment lands. Cru Bar in Brisbane recently told me of a pallet arriving and selling before the staff even had time to unpack it into the store.

I am always intrigued that something of the personality of the maker is translated into the character of all great wines. In this, the wines of Jean-François Clouet capture a profound and intriguing juxtaposition.

The man and his cuvées are deeply rooted into the multilayered and convoluted history of Champagne, arguably more than any other. He is the privileged custodian of eight hectares of estate vines in the best middle slopes of Bouzy and Ambonnay, the epicentre of pinot noir in Champagne. His family heritage in Bouzy extends back to 1492 and they have been making their own champagnes here since the early 1700s.

Every time I introduce new friends to Jean-François, he doesn’t first show us through his winery or cellars, doesn’t walk us through rows of vines, or even pour his champagnes. He takes us to the top of the vineyards, on the edge of the forest overlooking Bouzy, and recounts the remarkable sweep of history that has played out in view of this place over two millennia, and the role his own family has played in the stories: Attila the Hun, the Battle of the Catalaunian Fields, the birth of the monarchy, the crusades, the Templars, Marie Antoinette. ‘To understand Champagne you need to understand its political history,’ he says.

It’s a history that lives on in his champagnes, both in spectacularly classical labels designed by his great grandfather in 1911 (harking back to the family’s printer heritage, making books for the king since 1491), and in a traditional approach in the vineyards and the cellar. ‘I like the idea of the work of human hands in pruning, performing the same actions as my grandfather and even the Romans, who planted vines here 2000 years ago.’

Such deep heritage makes for a striking contrast to the flamboyant personality of Jean-François, dubbed by one of my recent guests as ‘a combination of winemaker and circus ringmaster.’

He is daringly creative, with a distinctly modern twist to his approach. It is his goal that some day none of his champagnes will have any dosage at all, an ideal that he rightly describes as revolutionary.

His are rich and concentrated expressions of pinot noir, wines of deep complexity, multifaceted interest and engaging character, yet with remarkable restraint and sense of control. Tasting after tasting confirm my impression that this small and relatively unknown grower ranks high among Champagne’s finest practitioners of pinot noir — and represents one of the best value of all.

And yet for all of his success, this extroverted young chef de cave doesn’t take himself too seriously. ‘Champagne is always for flirting!’ he grins.

Visits with Jean-François are always recounted as a highlight by my little tour groups in Champagne, and it has long been my dream to introduce my knowledgeable and entertaining friend in Australia.”

New Zealand winemakers are pretty special people. For the most part, they’re your classic number-8 wire folks that know their land and their wines like the back of their hand. Many rock swannies and redbands as they work amongst the picturesque vineyards producing wines of world-class calibre.

Tony Prichard is one of these kiwi winemakers – rooted in the Hawke’s Bay, he and his wife Kaye have set up De La Terre, where they produce small volumes of high quality wines with the emphasis on elegance, texture and balance.

We’ve covered De La Terre before if you fancy reading more about the big picture, so today we want to knuckle down into the nitty gritty of some of their most popular wines – their Chardonnays. 

De La Terre makes a range of Chardonnays alongside their other interesting bottlings, and who better to explain than Tony himself?

Tony always sends us such in-depth and compelling descriptions of his Chardonnays that it feels a crime to gatekeep them, so without further ado, here it is from the man himself in all its glory.

‘Mark I’ Chardonnay is a very important wine for us. It used to be just de la terre Chardonnay or de la terre Estate Chardonnay – our entry-level Chardonnay.

Unlike all our other Chardonnays, it never really had a definitive style or personality – it basically fell out of the bottom after I had blended all the higher priced Chardonnays. In 2024, Kaye and I decided to put more focus on this wine – give it a distinct personality and a name.

The style we decided upon was specifically targeted at the type of Chardonnay drinker who is out at the local pub or everyday restaurant and wants a nice bottle of Chardonnay that doesn’t break the bank. Basically, the type of drinker who would normally go for the likes of “Fat & Sassy” Chardonnay or similar.

However, the key to this is providing something at this price point that this type of drinker is likely to appreciate and understand.

We aren’t aiming at a sophisticated, long-ageing, elegant Chardonnay here – simply one with an easily-recognisable flavour and aroma profile with non-aggressive acidity and a bit of mid-palate weight. Also, we wanted to develop a style that we can replicate reliably from one vintage to another – the aim being that the customer gets to see the wine as consistently reliable.

With all that said, the style I have gone for is basically a rich mocha character (from fine toasted French oak) off-set with markedly tropical notes alongside the oak. I’ve intentionally tried to keep the acidity reasonably low so the wine is seen as ‘approachable’.

Note: There are 2 things I would now have done differently to the 2024 Mark I – I would have; 

1. (i) dropped the acidity a touch further and 
2. (ii) created a bit more mid-palate ‘fat.’

Both these things I have addressed in the 2025 wine – but retained the same overall flavour profile. I have one more trick up my sleeve that I may use on the final blend of the 2025 Mark I – but I’ll keep that to myself for now.

The wine is a blend of oaked and unoaked components (barrel fermented and tank fermented). It is also a blend of Chardonnay clones and areas (Havelock North and Ngatarawa Triangle). Different pressing regimes are also a critical part of this type of Chardonnay – as was the use of different yeast to drive the savoury versus tropical notes in the aroma and flavour. 

I would have to say that I am completely comfortable with the initial 2 vintages of this wine. I feel that we managed to hit the style brief fairly accurately – now it’s just a matter of fine-tuning and taking into account any vintage variations that nature may throw at us.

These days, we have quit our Hill Country Estate vineyard and have chosen to focus on Chardonnay (including Methode) and Syrah (also Tannat for the foreseeable future). As such, we see Mark I as an extremely important part of our overall portfolio.

BTW, Kaye came up with the name ‘Mark I’. As stated above, we felt we wanted to give this wine a proper name to accompany the new style. ‘Mark I’ refers to a neighbour who helped out in the cellar in 2024 – he’s an ex-army Colonel and he loves Chardonnay. He was integral in discussing and developing the ‘pub-style’ of the wine with Kaye and myself. ‘Mark I’ may also be seen as ‘classy’ by some as it is sometimes associated with racing cars etc.

Another fun fact – if the trade are enjoying the 2024 Mark I Chardonnay, tell them to wait until the 2024 Barrique Ferment Chardonnay hits the market – it’s a bloody ripper!!

I’ve actually used a few of the techniques I developed for Mark I to fine-tune the Barrique Ferment…”

“The stylistic signature for our Barrique Ferment Chardonnay is basically a textural ‘food-style’ wine with emphasis on mouthfeel and layers of aroma/flavour. 

While it is fermented totally in 225 litre barrique oak barrels, the wine is not intended to be an ‘oaky’ style as such. Instead, we are chasing the slight rusticity and ‘noise’ you achieve when fermenting in (mainly) seasoned oak barrels rather than the more varietal and fruit-driven characters you get with cooler fermentation of the same juice in stainless steel tanks.

Our intention is to play off the fruit characters of ripe/clean Chardonnay against the savoury notes from a range of winemaking techniques.

As with all our Chardonnays, the fruit is hand picked and whole bunch pressed to ensure maximum control of the juice structure and extraction. The grapes are picked at a specific maturity/ripeness/flavour profile to suit the wine style.

Typically, we ferment in approximately 20 – 25% new and the balance in 3 or 4-year old barrels – mainly French oak but about 25-30% Hungarian as well. The fermentation in mainly older barrels is critical to this style. The characters are markedly different from fermenting in stainless steel, new barrels or even one or two-year old barrels. Most of the overt oak character has been ‘tea-bagged’ out and what you are left with is a porous (to air) and relatively small fermentation vessel with some ‘legacy’ from the previous vintages of use.

To enhance the ‘noise’ in this wine, I ferment very cloudy juice that still contains a reasonably high level of fruit particles – allowing only minimal settling prior to filling the barrels. After yeast fermentation (same yeast every vintage), a portion of the barrels are allowed to undergo malo lactic fermentation to assist with acid balance and mouthfeel.

The wine spends its entire life on full lees (sediment) with regular battonage (lees stirring). This is yet another critical step in defining the style of our Barrique Ferment Chardonnay. Following fermentation and subsequent death of the yeast, the yeast cells break down and release their contents into the wine – creating further layers of savoury and texture.

The wine is bottled, hand-labelled and individually hand-numbered at de la terre.

• A complex and textural food style Chardonnay
• Completely barrel-fermented but not intended to be an oaky wine
• Key winemaking techniques to create the ‘rustic’ layers
  • Cloudy juice fermentation
  • mainly older barriques
  • Prolonged time on full yeast lees

We recommend serving this wine at room temperature – and not chilling.”

“For pretty much all our wines, I start off by writing down a phrase or a few key words to define what I want to see in the glass – i.e. define the style goal for the wine. This gives me a tight focus on how the grapes are handled in the vineyard and what winemaking techniques I use to steer the wine towards this style goal.

For the Reserve Chardonnay, I modified this concept slightly by using a mental picture of sitting down and drinking this wine with a rich/creamy pasta dish like a Carbonara. 

I refer to the Reserve as an ‘old-world’ style of Chardonnay – quite different to the flinty, mineral, lower-oak ‘new-world’ Chardonnays that now have a (deserved) strong presence in the market. Because Carbonara is a rich and robust pasta dish, the wine needed to be full, ripe and creamy-textured. 

The grape/juice concentration needs to be strong so we tightly control the grape yield in the vineyard to ensure each berry has a strong innate fruit concentration (typically less than ~1.5 kg/vine). Furthermore, it needs to have a ripe, stonefruit flavour profile so we always harvest grapes at the riper end of the maturity spectrum (typically around 24 Brix) – at this stage, the grapes are the colour of ripe hay – golden yellow with occasional bronze-coloured sun spots. 

As with all our wines, the fruit is always hand-picked – and at the point of picking, we take a further opportunity to select only the grapes we want for this style. Typically I place markers in the vineyard rows the day before picking so the pickers take only the fruit I want for this style (we take the de-selected fruit for our range of other Chardonnays.)

From the time the grapes are picked, the fruit profile of the wine is largely set. From then on, pretty much all my winemaking effort goes into steering the texture, mouthfeel and balance of the wine towards the rich/creamy style target.

The grapes are pressed very gently, but because we want a rich stonefruit palate, I take a slightly higher press cut than say for my ‘new-world’ style Chardonnay which we call EVB.

Why press slightly higher for this style? – because a lot of the flavour lies in the Chardonnay skins – so it’s a fine balance between getting the flavour profile you want versus over-pressing and extracting coarse/astringent characters. Because this is wine designed to work with strong/rich food, it needs to be powerful to compete. A slightly higher press achieves this.

Furthermore, because we are targeting an inherently stonefruit flavour spectrum , I intentionally allow some passive oxidation of the juice in the press tray. Why – because even a small level of juice oxidation is sufficient to destroy the flavourless varietal thiol precursor flavour compounds in the juice (varietal thiols are the flavourless juice chemicals that famously drive the tropical flavour/aroma of Sauvignon Blanc and are also present in Chardonnay grapes). 

By removing the tropical characters, it exposes the more stonefruit-like flavours of the Chardonnay and allows these to dominate.

The juice receives only a very coarse racking before filling into barrels. Why a coarse racking? This is a largely textural and complexity thing. By leaving a lot of the grape solids in the juice for fermentation, you create a richer and more creamy texture and also develop some slightly more complex flavours than you would otherwise achieve when fermenting the same juice which is much less cloudy.

A signature technique for this wine is to ferment it completely in French barriques – 50% of which are new and the remaining 50% in a mixture of 1 or 2-year-old barrels.

I use the same yeast every year for the Reserve Chardonnay for consistency and after fermentation, the wine spends the whole time on its yeast lees with a significant amount of battonage (lees-stirring). Only the (50%) new barrels undergo a malo-lactic fermentation. I use a malo bacteria that is known for producing only a small amount of the butter flavour – diacetyl. 

Furthermore, I use winemaking techniques to ensure that the diacetyl produced by malo is largely consumed into (non-buttery) compounds as it ages in barrels. Why? – I use malo principally to help the texture and acid balance of the wine – the last thing I want to see in the wine is an overt ‘buttery’ note dominating the aroma and palate.

The technique of battonage is probably one of the keys to this Reserve Chardonnay. As the yeast dies, their crust/shell splits open and the inner yeast components become part of the wine. Battonage increases the breakdown and release of these compounds from the yeast. These compounds hugely improve the (creamy) texture as well as imparting slightly ‘nutty’/complex characters. Even more importantly, I believe battonage technique harmonises the three main aroma and flavour elements of this style of Chardonnay – fruit, oak and microbiological (yeast/malo).

My intention here is for anyone drinking this wine not to see it as a fruity Chardonnay, an ‘oaky’ Chardonnay or an overtly complex yeast-driven Chardonnay – and certainly not a ‘buttery’ Chardonnay – instead the aim is for a harmony or ‘bringing-together’ of the fruit, oak and yeast notes.

Because this is largely a textural Chardonnay and is designed to drink with rich food, it is better to serve it at room temperature.

Clean, ripe hand-picked grapes, gentle pressing and fastidious attention to oxygen management post fermentation mean this wine will comfortably age for 10 years or so from vintage. Over time, the stonefruit characters will increase, as will the texture and creaminess.”

It’s rare as!

“Hen’s Teeth sits at the top of our Chardonnay range.

The Name

The vineyard where the grapes come from (287) was once an old chicken farm – there was talk of the vineyard being named ‘Chook flat’ – thankfully ‘287’ won out!

This wine will only be made in exceptional vintages and only in relatively small quantities – hence the ‘scarcity’ reference associated with ‘Hen’s Teeth’.

Stylistic Aim

A ‘New-World’ Chardonnay, richer and riper in its fruit profile than EVB but not as broad and fat as our Reserve. The wine is all about the grapes and expressing the terroir of vineyard 287. A range of aromas and flavours from ripe grapefruit through white nectarine and white peach with obvious tertiary characters from wild yeast and toasty French barriques. Although 100% barrel fermented in French barriques, we have intentionally kept the new oak level down at 20%. While drinking well in its youth, this wine will reward careful cellaring for at least 10-12 years.

• 100% clone 548 (small-berry clone).
• Grape source – vineyard 287 in Havelock North
• 2024 was an extremely good vintage!
• Very low crop yield/vine (~1.2-1.5 kg/vine) giving strong concentration
• Harvested at 23 Brix to drive the flavour more in the stone fruit spectrum whilst retaining crisp/fresh acidity and a touch of grapefruit/thiol.
• 100% wild yeast cultured from vineyard 287 using the ‘Pied de Cuve’ technique
• 100% malo but managed to deliver low/no buttery characters
• Barrel fermented in 100% French barriques but only 20% new oak
• Designed for very long ageing (10-12 years easily) and strongly rewards time in the bottle
• Works with a wide range of white meat and fish dishes.

‘EVB’ is simply the initials of a good friend of ours who helped me lay the mud-bricks when I originally built de la terre winery. We actually named the very first Chardonnay produced by de la terre as ‘EVB Chardonnay’ as a thank you to him. We simply decided to carry the name on here.

Stylistic Aim

A ‘New-World’ Chardonnay aiming for powerful concentration with a definitive acid tension in the palate attack. A tighter, more citrus/mineral-based aroma and flavour profile than the ‘riper/fatter’ Chardonnays in our range.

Tight, linear, ‘flinty’, mineral with complexity/savoriness from the wild yeast fermentation. Lots of interwoven layers unburdened from overt new oak dominance. Here, I basically went about making the kind of Chardonnay I prefer to drink myself.

• 100% Mendoza (small-berry clone).
• Grape source – Vineyard 287 in Havelock North
• 2024 was an extremely good vintage!
• Very low crop yield/vine (~1.2-1.5 kg/vine) giving strong concentration
• Picked early (~20.5 Brix) for intentionally higher acidity and high Thiol concentration (grapefruit/citrus rather than broad stonefruit)
• 100% wild yeast cultured from vineyard 287 using ‘Pied de Cuve’ technique
• 100% malo but managed to deliver low/no buttery characters
• Barrel fermented in 100% French barriques but only 15% new oak
• Designed for very long ageing (10-12 years easily) and strongly rewards time in the bottle
• Works with a wide range of cuisine – especially salt-rich dishes

I refer to this as ‘Viognier for Chardonnay lovers.’

Stylistic Aim

It is (intentionally) barely recognizable as Viognier. A style principally designed to work with food. A long, linear structure and complexity-driven aroma/flavour profile as distinct from the normal Viogniers which are typically fruity with quite a broad/’fat’ mid-palate.

• Fruit from our Hill Country Estate vineyard up on Te Mata Peak in Havelock North
• Very low-yielding vines situated on a very steep terrace. We intentionally keep the vines under stress to ensure low yield/vine and a ‘distorted’ Viognier flavour profile
• Whole-bunch pressed very gently to produce a tight/linear juice structure with real length. Here, I basically use the same pressing regime as for a Methode.
• Very cloudy Juice goes straight to French barriques for fermentation – barrels have typically had 6 or 7 previous ferments through them.
• I am not looking oakiness from these barrels – rather the ‘noise’ and rusticity you get fermenting in this older oak compared to a stainless steel tank (or new French barrels).
• Fermented with a Burgundy-isolate Chardonnay yeast.
• No malo.
• After fermentation, the wine spends its whole time (total ~ 11 months) on full lees to encourage further complexity and improved palate texture.

“Alongside Hen’s Teeth and EVB Chardonnays, I rate Reserve Viognier as one of de la terre’s top white wines.”

Luxurious, liquid gold in a bottle is always a rare treat. We all know that top-flight botrytized Bordeaux, in its head-spinning, ambrosial grandeur, is the vinous equivalent of riding in a Rolls Royce (with a chauffeur of course) and … it’s usually priced accordingly. 

But not so of our latest Dhall & Nash offering – Chateau d’Arche. This rich, hedonistic, and outrageously complex nectar is here for the taking (in limited quantities), and happily for us all, it is approachably priced compared to similarly pedigreed Sauternes.

This fine estate has had a circuitous history to arrive at its celebrated status today. Chateau d’Arche is one of the older estates in the Sauternes appellation. In 1611, Etienne d’Arche 8th century generation, Knight and Lord of Arche, formed the branch of the family that settled in the Bordeaux region. A Doctor Regent of the University of Bordeaux and lawyer at the Parliament of Guyenne, he was the pioneer of the family to become passionate about the wine profession by buying an estate.

Over the years, like many Bordeaux wine producers, the estate has been divided and sold off at different times to a wide array of owners.

The French Revolution brought about a dissection of the property as it was seized, with several different families taking sections of the estate. At one point, it was known as Chateau d’Arche-Lafaurie-Peyraguey, due to the fact it shared owners with Chateau Lafaurie-Peyraguey.

In the 1855 Bordeaux Wine Official Classification, Château d’Arche was classified as a Second Cru Classé in the Sauternes appellation, an esteemed recognition for its outstanding sweet wines. 

Located 40km south of Bordeaux, on the upper parts of the village of Sauternes, Château d’Arche is built on the summit of hills which overlook its prestigious neighbours, notably Châteaux d’Yquem and Guiraud. 

This exceptional location, along with its varied soils, favours wines with very specific taste qualities: strength from the gravel soils, aromas from the clays and elegance from the alluvium. It is this unique terroir and aspect which imparts richness and complexity to the wines.

The Estate spans 56.5 hectares of vines across Sauternes and Bordeaux, at least 30 hectares of it surround the Chateau itself. Sitting close to the Ciron river, at a point in which the Garonne river intersects, creates a perfect microclimate with end of summer fog making optimal humidity for the Chateau d’Arche vines to develop Botrytis Cinerea – the Noble Rot – which dries the grapes to concentrate the sugars and noble flavours within. 

The average vine age is 45 years, with some that are closer to 100 years old. The vineyard is planted to a vine density of 6,600 vines per hectare which is higher than required for the appellation. Oenologist Matthieu Arroyo and his team have started a programme of rejuvenating the average age of vines and maintaining a select few hundred-year-old vines to ensure the unique intensity and structure from these grapes is enhanced by the fruit forward qualities of the younger vines.

With a brand new winery built purely for an eco-friendly and sustainable future, Chateau d’Arche continues to develop their relationship with the climate and earth while furthering the quality of wines. This growth and development are done through building spaces such as a thermo-regulated vat-room made to measure allowing plot-by-plot vinification, with micro-polished steel vats to facilitate cleaning and avoid the use of detergents. Also including an underground barrel storage (Chai) of 300 barrels provides a thermal advantage and allows the filling by gravity.

The winemaking process at Château d’Arche involves carefully hand harvesting the ripest grapes affected by noble rot, which are picked in multiple passes through the vineyard, according to vintage conditions, often 4-8 times. While the production of Sauternes is limited to a maximum of 3333 bottles per hectare, which is one of the lowest productions in the world, the requirement of Château d’Arche leads it to produce around 2000 bottles on average per hectare. This represents only 1 to 3 glasses of wine per vine! 

In addition, it has been found that Sauternes has health benefits, notably thanks to the polyphenol “resveratrol” synthesized in botrytised grapes resulting from a reaction of the vine against an infection due to the fungus Botrytis Cinerea. An ancient elixir indeed!

The entire crop is barrel-fermented with selected yeasts and aged in one third new French oak barrels for 12 to 18 months, before bottling. There is also a special cuvée of 3,000 bottles called d’Arche-Fafaurie, which is not produced every year; this comes from two hectares of very old vines and is aged for 24 months in 100 per cent new oak. It is interesting to note that Chateau d’Arche is one of the few, if not the only 1855 Classified Growth to use a synthetic cork.

All these laborious and meticulous processes contribute to the development of the truly distinct rich flavours and exceptional quality of Château d’Arche’s sweet wines.

The Wine Insider has some excellent suggestions whereby Chateau d’Arche Sauternes can be enjoyed in its youth. In fact, it is delicious and quite a treat drunk young. Even on release! However, like all great wines, Chateau d’Arche is much better with age. The wine does not reach full maturity until it’s at least 10+ years of age, or even longer in the best vintages. That is when the magic happens! 

That may be a tad unrealistic for many wine drinkers. But we have a solution – enter Chateau d’Arche La Perle’!   A perfect Sauternes from younger vines designed to be drunk on the “fresh side”. Voilà! So, put its big brother in the cellar to treasure for later and La Perle’ can be enjoyed on any other happy occasion that calls for this vivacious nectar!

Of course, a fine Chateau d’Arche Sauternes is sweet, but there is so much, incredible, racy acidity, the wine always feels fresh, and never cloying, which makes it quite fun to enjoy young. With all Sauternes, the temperature is more important than decanting.

Chateau d’Arche is best served at 14 degrees Celsius. The cool, almost cellar temperature gives the wine more freshness and lift. The wine will naturally warm in the glass, while it develops more aromatic complexities and fleshes out.

Chateau d’Arche can be served with seafood dishes, especially shellfish, crayfish, crab, and oysters on the half shell. Traditionally Foie gras is the most perfect pairing with its natural sweet, salty and savoury characteristics, however, here in NZ a well-made Duck or chicken liver parfait will send your palate skyrocketing. 

Chateau d’Arche can also be paired with roasted chicken, veal, and pork dishes that are either lightly spicy or prepared with a touch of sweetness. Spicy Asian cuisine, raw fish, like sushi or sashimi, and cheeses, both hard and soft also make great pairings with this sublime wine. 

Whether savoured as an opulent sweet wine or an elegant aperitif, the Chateau d’Arche wines are a triumph of balance and refinement. Uncork a symphony – a symphony that’s ready to seduce your palate. Bon Appetit!