Laherte Frères Petit Meslier & Pinot Extra Brut Champagne

The NV Extra-Brut Petit Meslier (2020 base), disgorged in December 2023 with two grams per liter dosage, includes 40% reserve wines from 2019 and 2018. It hails from a 0.3-hectare, east-facing site of young vines planted in 2014 in Chavot-Courcourt, where marl overlays chalk. Offering scents of jasmine, green pear and brioche, it is medium-bodied, with a crisp core of fruit, racy acidity and a long, saline finish. Though it underwent malolactic fermentation, the variety's inherently high acidity and low pH remain assertively evident, lending the wine an incisive, tightly wound character. (KK)