Champagne AR Lenoble
Premier Cru Blanc de Noirs 2013
Bisseuil

Reviews

• 89

  100

  The Wine Advocte

  A spare, faintly dank and decidedly sour – though, for all that, not uninteresting – non-dose blend tasted alongside could scarcely have contrasted more vividly with Lenoble’s NV Brut Intense Disg. 2/2013, which is as immediately affable a wine as I tasted from the Malassagnes on this occasion. This largely tank-raised blend of 30% Meunier grown in Damery with 40% Chardonnay and 30% Pinot from Chouilly and Bisseuil respectively is rather Ruwer Riesling-like in its evocations of smoke-tinged fresh lime and red currant suffused with distinct stoniness as well as saliva-inducing salinity. Polished in feel and infectiously juicy, it finishes with mouthwatering, stimulating tartness and tang. I suspect this will be best enjoyed in its bracingly bright, juicy present state, though a hint of piquant nuttiness in the finish is apt to grow with time in bottle and for some tasters enhance the wine’s appeal.