Bottler: Champagne Lacourte-Godillon, 16, rue des Aillys, 51500 Ecueil / France
In the glass
Colour
Dark straw yellow with onion-skin reflections and a fine mousse.
Nose
Multi-layered: rye sourdough crust and toasted bread from the long lees ageing, along with wild raspberry, strawberry, blood orange oil, salted butter, oyster shell and wet blackboard chalk.
Palate
Powerful and red-fruited with a broad, ripe acidity; the mousse feels finely structured and subtle, like glittering stardust.
Character
Multi-layered, distinctive and complex – a Champagne that leaves the aperitif behind and belongs at the table.
Pairing
Oysters with parsley and redcurrants, quail with confit blackberries or goat’s cheese crostini with fresh raspberries.
Notes
100% Pinot Noir, hand-harvested and aged in used 300-litre casks; five and a half years in the cellar, disgorged on 16 December 2021 with just two grams as an Extra Brut. The estate has been Demeter-certified since 2020.
Tasting note
Colour & appearance
Dark straw yellow with onion-skin reflections and a fine mousse.
Nose
A wine that unfolds in layers. First, the autolytic notes from the long lees ageing: rye sourdough crust, toasted bread. Then, with air, wild raspberries and strawberries emerge, framed by the oil of fully ripe blood oranges. Salted butter, oyster shells and wet chalk lend the glass a mineral depth.
Palate
The mousse is so finely textured that it recalls stardust rather than classic effervescence. Beneath it lies a powerful, red-fruited body, carried by broadly stretched, ripe acidity. Multi-layered and complex – a Champagne that decidedly points towards the dining table.
Terroir & origin
The Chaillots plot lies in Écueil, a Premier Cru village in the Petite Montagne de Reims. Here, Pinot Noir grows on sand and tufa. The vines are on average 55 years old. Géraldine Lacourte and Richard Desvignes took over the family estate in 2008 after giving up their careers in Paris.
Grape variety & vinification
100% Pinot Noir, harvested by hand. Ageing took place in used 300-litre casks. The wine then matured in the cellar for five and a half years, was disgorged on 16 December 2021 and finished as an Extra Brut with just two grams of dosage. 12.0% ABV
Food recommendations
A companion for refined cuisine: oysters with parsley and redcurrants, quail with confit blackberries and Greek yoghurt or goat’s cheese crostini with fresh raspberries and coriander-mint pesto.
Special features
Lacourte-Godbillon has been Demeter-certified since 2020 – biodynamics remains the exception in Champagne. The oaks used for the estate’s casks grow in the forest of Écueil, just a few hundred metres from the vines.
