Champagne Laurent Lequart Tasting

Any Champagne tasting is a delight for sure, though when you are presented with four medal winning outstanding labels it makes things that little bit more special. A few years back I took a trip by myself to the Champagne region purely to discover some unknown to me smaller growers of the region, one of those that I discovered was Laurent Lequart.

The Champagne region is a unique wine location in the northern area of France, made up of some 34,300 hectares of vineyards with approximately 5,000 different makers to choose from. For many of us, we are familiar with the big brand names that we see every day within supermarkets to bars such as Moët & Chandon and Veuve Clicquot, but there are countless producers from those with only a couple of thousand annual production to well over 100,000 or millions…

Producers of smaller amounts of Champagne each year are typically known as ‘growers’ with their wines being known as ‘grower labels’. These labels for many Champagne lovers are an exciting topic to explore, avoiding the bigger names thus at times bigger prices, the lesser known names can be cheaper and, might I say, better quality for your £’s.

 

Champagne Laurent Lequart: A grower (family) producer house with 11 hectares of vineyards located in the village of Passy Grigny that lays in the heart of the Marne Valley. A producer using local cooperative operations to collect and press its grapes (Dom Caudron cooperative which is a very modern and sleek operation serving varied labels in the immediate region) and then Mr Laurent Lequart (winemaker) adds his own unique style of producing a selection of 10 labels under their brand.

Champagne Laurent Lequart Vineyards:

Following their successful results from the 2020 Glass of Bubbly Awards we decided to taste through four of their cuvées along with pairing next to some hunting themed / hunters lunch nibbles:

Trophy Winner (Vintage): Champagne Laurent Lequart – Millésime 2010 “I’ll have to edge this up half a star since my last tasting. Golden ripe fruits, honey, walnut, butter croissant on the nose. Flavours are to match the nose. Warm golden zesty yellow fruits, golden honey, walnut, peach, shortbread. A++++”

Gold Medal (Winter Warmer): Champagne Laurent Lequart – Blanche Andésyne Rosé “Dry red fruits, nutty, pastry on the nose. Dry style initially, burst of red fruits with a zesty close in the palate.”

Silver Medal (Spring Fling): Champagne Laurent Lequart – Prestige Extra Brut “Soft pastry, lemon cake, dried apricot, peach on the nose. Clear, clean and crisp. Citrus initially toning down to peach and pastry. Great for fatty food pairings.”

Silver Medal (Zesty & Zingy): Champagne Laurent Lequart – Blanc de Meunier “Again, for me, a citrus and walnut nose. Clean, clear, alive with punchy citrus, minerals, dry pastry flavours. Most elegant in style.“