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"A good Champagne follows the rules of production. A great one is made by breaking them." Pierre Larmandier did not merely say this – he lives by it. Since 1999, Larmandier-Bernier has been farming biodynamically, long before it became fashionable in Champagne. Together with his wife Sophie and their sons Arthur and Georges, he tends 16 hectares on the Côte des Blancs, spread across Premier and Grand Crus from Vertus to Avize. The Champagnes? Purist, with almost no dosage, and a minerality that recalls wet chalk. For those seeking Chardonnay in its purest form, this is the place.
More about Larmandier-Bernier
A Fresh Start in Vertus
In 1982 Pierre's father died suddenly, aged just 44. Pierre was only 18. His mother Elisabeth kept the estate running while Pierre studied economics, and he joined the business in 1988. What followed was not more of the same but a radical change of course. As early as 1992 he banished herbicides from the vineyards, and in 1999 he converted fully to biodynamics. That made Larmandier-Bernier one of the first biodynamic estates in Champagne, at a time when many of the neighbours were still shaking their heads in disbelief.
Chalk, Chardonnay and Purism
The 16 hectares are spread over 17 parcels along the Côte des Blancs: Vertus (Premier Cru) plus the Grand Crus of Cramant, Chouilly, Oger and Avize. The vineyards are 85 per cent Chardonnay and 15 per cent Pinot Noir. The soil? Pure chalk, which gives the wines their vibrant minerality. Pierre is convinced that great Champagne is made in the vineyard, not in the cellar, and his interventions are correspondingly minimal: spontaneous fermentation with natural yeasts, no filtration, no fining. Terre de Vertus shows perfectly what that means in the glass, with pure chalk and no distracting sweetness.
Stockinger Casks and Doing Without Dosage
For ageing, Pierre uses large wooden casks from the Austrian Stockinger cooperage, renowned for the precision of its work. The wood gives the wine structure without dominating it. His approach to dosage is even more radical: a maximum of 4 grams of sugar per litre, and usually none at all. His Champagnes bear names such as Longitude and Latitude, coordinates that point to their origin. The top of the range is Vieille Vigne du Levant, made from old Grand Cru vines.
Three Generations, One Goal
Pierre's son Arthur has worked at the estate since 2017, and his brother Georges joined him in 2021, so the handover to the next generation has begun. The philosophy remains the same: Champagnes that let the terroir speak, without compromise. Even the bottles go out without foil capsules, a small detail that shows how consistently everything is thought through here. Just a few kilometres away, in Avize, De Sousa also works biodynamically, making purist Blanc de Blancs Grand Crus – two houses that share the same conviction that the terroir speaks for itself.