93 points Vinous Media
Drinking window: 2024 - 2032
The 2020 Extra Brut Blanc de Blancs Les Grandes Crayères 1er Cru is terrific. Bright and finely cut, the 2020 possesses notable energy to play off its understated, mid-weight personality. A kiss of French oak rounds out the contours nicely. Lemon confit, marzipan, dried flowers and spice emerge over time. Although I tend to avoid such comparisons, the Crayères bears a striking resemblance to the Chardonnays of another region in France. Dosage is 2 grams per liter. Disgorged: November 2023.

The Laherte family, now in its seventh generation under Aurélien Laherte, has built a reputation for producing some of Champagne’s most terroir-driven wines. Les Grandes Crayères comes from a single lieu-dit in Chavot, south of Épernay, planted exclusively to Chardonnay in 1983. The site sits on deep, chalky subsoils with a thin layer of clay and sand on top, giving the wine both tension and depth—an ideal expression of the Côteaux Sud d’Épernay’s limestone-rich terroir.