Tarlant Champagne Brut Nature “Argilite” 2016 750ml

Aged in amphora, the 2016 Champagne Argilité Brut Nature has a bright pale yellow hue and is springtime in a glass, with meringue, lemon sorbet, and a fresh floral perfume. Medium-bodied, the palate is more tense, focused, and precise, but refreshing. While it has more structure and a firm backbone, the mousse is airy and elegant, lifting it and floating along the seamless finish. A blend of Chardonnay and Meunier, coming from a single, south-exposed, very steep, rocky hillside with limestone, it will drink at its best 2027-2050.

Firm and well-cut, with a minerally underpinning of chalk and smoke notes, this offers flavors of toasted raisin bread, spiced orange peel, smoked almond, lemon oil and crystallized honey. Rich and distinctive, this is more savory than fruit-forward, with the fine, plush mousse carrying a salty tang on the lasting finish. Chardonnay and Meunier. Disgorged June 2023. Drink now through 2040. 150 cases made, 30 cases imported.

A new wine in this range, the 2016 Brut Nature Argilité is 100% Chardonnay from the Notre Dame lieu-dit in Celles-les-Conde, vinified and aged in amphora. Soaring floral overtones meld into lemon peel, chalk, mint, sage and white pepper. Beautifully chiseled and energetic, the Argilité is incredibly distinctive. I especially admire the energy here. Aging in amphora gives this wine a very distinctive textural feel vis-à-vis the other Champagnes in the range. Disgorged: October 6, 2025.

50% Chardonnay/50% Meunier. The Tarlants began experimenting with Georgian qvevri in the 2011 vintage, inspired by their first trip to Georgia and a deep dive into the ancient and local winemaking traditions of the country. They imported, with no small degree of difficulty, a few of these traditional, pure-clay (no sand), beeswax-lined vessels in various sizes and buried them next to their winery. Six vintages in, the experimentation and exploration are ongoing and successful. "Argilité", a sort of spontaneous mash-up of argile (clay) and mineralité, became the wine's nickname around the winery and stuck. The Tarlants think of it whimsically as meaning "clay-ity" (the main impact of the time in clay being on the texture of the wine). Note that "Argilité" is the only word on the label in the western alphabet; the rest is strikingly written in the Georgian language. As for the making of the wine: the grapes are gently pressed and the juice moved by gravity into the underground qvevri. It undergoes a spontaneous fermentation with native yeasts and 10 months of aging on the lees with no malolactic fermentation. The wine is bottled wihout fining and aged sur lattes. The current lot of Argilité was disgorged in 2023 (one soon to follow was done in 2025). The Tarlants have landed on a particular parcel for this wine, planted by the family in 1987 in the lieu-dit of Notre Dame in Celliers-lès-Condés (Vallée de la Marne). It features mainly Chardonnay and Meunier on Lutetian limestone soils, facing south on a slope overlooking the confluence of two small rivers.