J.L. Vergnon Rose Rosemotion Grand Cru Extra Brut MV (disgorged June 2019)

90% Chardonnay, 10% Pinot Noir. In the heart of the Grand cru village of Le Mesnil-sur-Oger, Didier Vergnon and his son Clément are the 4th and 5th generations to lead, J.L. Vergnon, this small 5 hectare estate. Originally founded in 1950, it was in the 1980s that Jean-Louis Vergnon first began producing estate-bottled wine from some choice sites in the Côte des Blancs, including multiple parcels in and next to the legendary Les Chétillons. Over the last 20 years the family has pushed the farming to practice organic, harvesting only balanced and ripe grapes, to produce authentic and pure Champagne. The result is that Vergnon has eliminated chaptalization and malolactic fermentation, uses a low or zero dosage depending on the wine and is harvesting some of the finest chardonnay in the region. Their Rosémotion is almost all grand cru Chardonnay from the Cote des Blancs with the Pinot coming from Mailly with the average age of vines being 45 years old. There are also 20% reserve wines which give the wine more depth and complexity. This is one of our favorite rosé champagnes and it's easy to see why when farming and winemaking are this good. Noted Champagne critic, Peter Liem, even wrote of Vergnon, “This is one of the top estates in the Côte des Blancs today.” That's all we need to drink this up.