Benoit Dehu Champagne Extra Brut Cuvee la Rue des Noyers 2016 1.5Ltr

From his 1.7-hectare parcel in the farthest western reaches of the Marne Valley, Déhu produces four separate wines of uncanny concentration and vinosity. The grapes grown in the dense clay soils yield wines with complex aromas of pear, hazelnut, and toast that open with time, and with a lively firm texture on the palate, plenty of substance, and a solid finish of impressive persistence. This wine will generously repay aging in the cellar.

Benoît Déhu's NV Extra Brut La Rue des Noyers is a 100% Meunier from a biodynamically farmed 1.7 hectare plot in Fossoy with dark limestone soils. Fermented and aged for ten months in used 228 liter barrels but with "no malolactic, no racking, no filtering, no cold stabilization and no fining," says Benoît Déhu, when he presented me his wine at the presentation of the Origines Champagne group in Château de Pierry earlier this year. "We produce our wines like our colleagues in Burgundy." It had two different Cuvées of this wine. Their first was entirely based on the 2011 vintage and was disgorged in June 2014 with a minimal dosage of one gram per liter. It is an impressively deep, intense and full-bodied Champagne that displays ripe fruit and slightly smoky flavors on the nose; it is very pure, complex and well structured on the palate. This stunningly powerful and persistent Champagne is surely made for a long distance run. The second wine is the successor and based on vintage 2012, but disgorged with no dosage. This is a very delicate and elegant release with a superbly refined mousse.