Pauline Collin Bereche 1er Cru Ludes 2020 750mL

FRANCE : CHAMPAGNE : MONTAGNE DE REIMS

ORGANIC : Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Petit Meslier

MED-BODIED, RAINIER CHERRY, BRIOCHE, PRESERVED LEMON, CHALKY MINERAL, NEUTRAL OAK

The juice ferments spontaneously in used 450-litre barrels from Vincent Girardin's Meursault cellar — Burgundian white wine cooperage that builds texture without imposing oak flavor. After blending, the wine ages four years on laths and is disgorged to 2 g/L: Extra Brut, barely sweet, leaving nothing between the chalk and the drinker.

Pauline Collin-Bérêche launched her label in Ludes in 2016, farming the same old-vine plots her family has worked for four generations. Her great-grandfather founded the village cooperative in 1945; she makes the wine her way — single-vintage, organically farmed, bottled under her own name.

The 5% Petit Meslier is the signature: one of Champagne's ancient varieties, nearly abandoned before warmer growing seasons rehabilitated it, it supplies the lifted citrus and structural freshness that reviewers consistently single out on the finish.

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