Producer: Champagne Tarlant
Wine: Réserve Brut
Vintage: NV
Country: France
Appellation: Champagne, Vallée de la Marne
Wine Type: Champagne
Varietal: Chardonnay 33%, Pinot Noir 33%, Pinot Meunier 33%
Grade: B+
Designation: Must Drink
Price: $27

Champagne Tarlant is a small family grower and producer in Oeuilly near Epernay. It’s not one of the grande marques and negociants that every bubble drinker knows, the Moët & Chandon, Cliquot, Laurent-Perrier and the like. It’s not a cooperative that pools resources to produce and market their champagne, one like Feuillatte. The Tarlant family has been growing grapes since 1687 and making Champagne since 1911. Unfortunately, as they were getting their Champagne venture started, the Great War, AKA: WWI, devastated their (and other Champagne houses) chalky land and vineyards for several years. But that turns out to be just a bump in the road for the Tarlants. They rebounded from the minor disruption and today the family house is a Récolitant-manipulant (RM) grower-producer making excellent Champagne from their own estate. They market direct to the US, bypassing the wholesalers and other channels and eliminating a few price layers. What this means is you may get more interesting Champagne at a better price. Sound good? Yessireejacques! Their Réserve Brut is a non-vintage blend of three harvests from 1999 to 2000. In the glass there are a bevy of tight bubbles streaming to the surface. The blend of Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier, and Chardonnay elicits snappy fruit flavors of apples and pears. It’s a medium-bodied Brut that is wonderfully biscuity, toasty, creamy, and elegant. This bottle of bubbles is a party in search of a celebration. Bon.

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