Champagne Barnaut | Blanc de Noirs Grand Cru - NV

Consistent with its blanc de noirs label, this displays hints of strawberry and raspberry on the attractively layered and moderately yeasty nose. There is good verve to the firmly effervescent, clean and slightly citrusy flavors that possess fine complexity if limited refinement on the very dry and crisp finish.

Producer Information

Edmond Barnaut was one of the first pioneers in Champagne to create his own brand outside of the controlling centers of power of Epernay and Reims. In 1874 he set up shop in Bouzy, where he owned vines and where he married Appoline Godmé-Barancourt (now there’s a name!), heiress to additional vineyards in the village. Cellars were dug as deep as 15 meters underground, and the first cuvée made of two-thirds Pinot Noir and one-third Chardonnay was launched. And it’s still made today, under the Grande Réserve label, with its reserve wine coming from a perpetual cuvée begun by Edmond himself and maintained through five generations of Barnaut descendants. The one big change happened in the late 1950s into the early 1960s, and that was the transition from aging the perpetual cuvée in small barrels to steel tanks. In that era, barrels were kept as long as possible and cleaning them was much more difficult than it is today, resulting in barrels coated in layers of tartaric crystals that effectively did away with any difference between barrels and tanks except in size. Philippe Secondé (above, with Alsace’s Mélanie Pfister of DOMAINE PFISTER) is the current descendant and arguably one of the more important ones. He took over in 1985 and soon made a name for himself with his vinous Blanc de Noirs and his strikingly flavorful rosé. He significantly increased the domain’s vineyards, modernized its cellar, expanded production, and moved its viticulture footing to the quasi-organic lutte raisonnée structure (very light surface plowing rather than spraying herbicide, using only organic composts, and minimalizing fungicide applications, to the extent that in 2019 the domain received both High Environmental Value–HVE–and Sustainable Viticulture in Champagne–VDC–certifications, whose agencies will review the practices at Barnaut every eighteen months henceforth). Today Champagne Barnaut farms 11.27 hectares (28 acres) divided among 32 parcels in the grand cru vineyards of Bouzy, Ambonnay and Louvois. The latter two communes are adjacent to Bouzy and Barnaut’s holdings in them represent 5% of the domain’s grand cru totals. In addition, the domain farms 4.6 hectares (11 acres) in the Marne Valley and sells those grapes to the cooperative that makes the Nicolas Feuillatte brand, while saving some Chardonnay to make a Blanc de Blancs. The average age of Barnaut’s vines is 44 years old, with the oldest parcel (just under half an acre of Pinot Noir) surpassing the 100-year threshold.

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