Tarlant 2002 Brut Zero "L'Etincelante"

(Arrives 12/23) 57% Chardonnay/29% Pinot Noir/14% Pinot Meunier. Most vintages, the Tarlants make a unique, usually multi-parcel wine as a snapshot of that particular vintage's personality. The name "Etincelante" evokes the “shimmering” nature of the sunny 2002 harvest, "a dream harvest" per Benoìt Tarlant. From six parcels across four villages on a mix of chalk, flint and limestone soils with vines averaging 40 years old. The vines are organically farmed and harvested by hand and the clusters very slowly and gently pressed. The juice ferments spontaneously with native yeasts in Burgundy barrels; the wine does not go through malolactic fermentation. L'Etincelante was bottled in 2003,disgorged in 2022  and received zero dosage. "The 2002 Brut Nature L’Étincelante is one of the most restrained 2002 Champagnes readers will come across. And it is absolutely exquisite. Delicate scents of apricot, chamomile, pear, baked apple tart, brioche and yellow flowers all lift from the glass. Medium in body and super-refined, the 2002 has so much to recommend it. This is a tremendous showing from Benoit Tarlant."  Vinous, May 2018