Legrand-Latour Champagne - Ypresien - Brut Nature Blanc de Noir
Regular price $87.00
Patrice Legrand and Anne Latour inherited Patrice’s family’s vineyards in the Vallée de la Marne. In addition, Patrice developed a serious passion for paleontology, to the point where he assembled the seashell fossils that he found in the vineyards to create La Cave aux Coquillages, a little museum, in his family’s wine-aging tunnels. Patrice and Anne’s son Thibaud Legrand inherited his father’s métier of vigneron as well as his paleontological passion. He converted the vineyards to certified organic farming (and is on his way to biodynamic certification) and began bottling the wines based on the geologic time of the soil types in their vineyards.
Yprésien (or Ypresian in English) is the oldest of the four stages of the Eocene, 56 to 48 million years ago, when a tropical sea teeming with sea creatures covered what is now Champagne (hence the seashell fossils). The current wine 'Yprésien' is based on the 2018 vintage and is 70% pinot meunier and 30% pinot noir (not chardonnay, as the back label incorrectly says). Fermentation is indigenous. The wine was aged in neutral barrels for 11 months and then almost two years under cork before disgorgement in July 2021. It is both deeply vinous and intensely chalky at the same time, with subtle floral notes. It’s by intent less vigorously bubbly than most Champagnes, which makes it an excellent gastronomic wine. Drink it with oysters, or make it part of the main meal, perhaps with mushroom risotto.