2015 Larmandier-Bernier BB Vieilles Vignes du Levant
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Tasting notes
A medium yellow color, the 2015 Champagne Grand Cru Vieille Vigne du Levant has an expressive nose with a bit of fresh snap pea and mint. It has a fuller mouthfeel, with a perception of sweetness, and it’s pretty and rounded, with a sunny yet pure feel and notes of candied apricot (but it’s not sweet). Drink over the coming decade or two.
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Audrey Frick, jebdunnuck.com
Kristaps Karklins, Wine Advocate
More reviews and scores
The most flamboyant, muscular wine in the cellar this year is the 2015 Blanc de Blancs Vieille Vigne du Levant. Produced from two old-vine plots (one planted in 1962 and the other in the late 1930s) of east-facing vines within the Bourron du Levant lieu-dit in Cramant and matured in a combination of Stockinger vat (50%) and 228-liter and 500-liter barrels, it’s full of pastry-forward notes mingling with ripe citrus, walnut and pear. Full-bodied and enveloping, it’s the most powerful rendition since 2012. Layered and with old-vine concentration and succulent yet vibrant acidity, this is a wine of controlled richness, concluding with an expansive, mineral-laced finish informed by its chalk subsoil (under a thin layer of clay). Originally known as Vieille Vigne de Cramant, this was the first single-vineyard Champagne created by Pierre Larmandier in 1988, and it has maintained a strong record since.