Georges Laval Brut Nature Les Hautes-Chèvres 2021
Georges Laval Brut Nature Les Hautes-Chèvres 2021
Regular price
$29999
$299.99
/
96 points Vinous
Drinking Window: 2028 - 2041
The 2021 Brut Nature Les Hautes-Chèvres is magnificent. It soars from the glass with a captivating mix of deeply pitched spice, mineral and chalky notes that convey the essence of Cumières. This is the first vintage that includes all three main varieties, co-fermented as there was just one press. Sadly, yields were only 20% of normal because of frost. Laval fans will freak out over the 2021 Hautes-Chèvres. It's a must-have Champagne for those who can find one of the 1,700 bottles. Zero dosage. Disgorged: March 2025
Terroir-driven, low dosage Champagne are all the rage the last 10 years or so. Laval is at the head of the pack with a few other great like-minded grower-producers. If you know the wines from Laval, you know exactly what the deal is here. For those not indoctrinated, we are talking biodynamic, organic, very low intervention and low to no dosage wines (but he does use sulfur THANK GOD). A few years ago at La Fete du Champagne, I got to taste most of his portfolio, including the single-vineyard wines like today's and they are outstanding! Over the last 10 years, Vincent's wines have gone from little-known to superstar status among the champagne geeks and the wines have gone from strength to strength lock in step. Four generations of the Laval family have been tending vines in Champagne and they have been producing estate bottled wines since the 1970’s. Georges Laval, Vincent’s father, was the first to begin bottling wines at the domaine in 1971. Vincent officially joined the family business in 1991 after finishing his studies, and as of 1996 he has been at the helm of the estate. Georges set the standard for the quality of the wines coming from this tiny estate and Vincent really hasn’t changed much since he took the reins. The vineyards have been farmed organically since 1971, after Georges read a report from by Jacques Cousteau noting that he and his team had found residual pesticides in the ice of the Arctic, an area with essentially no crops to have been treated with said pesticides. The domaine was one of the first to make the conversion to organics, and for many years was one of only a handful of producers to farm in this manner.
