Léclapart family has been cultivating the vine for three generations in the small village of Trépail, north of Ambonnay, in the heart of the territory of Reims, the legendary Champagne Montagne. The winery is now run by David who, before continuing the work of his parents, was trained at the agrobiological school in Beaujeu and spent 2 years of training at Leclerc-Briant. In 1997, just beginning to work the family land, 2 hectares and 85 ares divided into 22 parcels, David converted them to biodynamic agriculture.
His analysis of the terroir on which his vineyards lie, exposed to the south-east and all classified at Premier Cru, led him to see how the richness of flint, and the freezing temperatures, were potentially ideal factors to produce wines of excellent acidity and great aging potential. From these considerations arises the choice not to use wines of different vintages for their Champagne, but to produce exclusively wines from single vintage, and not to resort to chaptalisation (the addition of sugar to the must before fermentation in order to increase the alcoholic content of the wine). The aim of these choices is to deliver to the passionate drinker a product capable of photographing in a faithful and pure way the characteristics of each vintage produced.
Since 2010, due to some problems with the grapes harvested from the two youngest parcels owned, David decided not to produce his Rosé from 100% Pinot Noir, as he could not make a proper maceration, and opted for a Blanc de Noir that he called L’Astre. It is a wine which carries out spontaneous alcoholic and malolactic fermentation in barriques, maturing inside them for about a year, before being blended and to referment in bottle for about 4 years. Luckily, this champagne has immediately had a great appreciation among the most demanding palates, so the experiment was repeated from year to year (except for 2014).
The bottle tasted is the last vintage produced, the 2015 (disgorgement 2019), and already from the color it is clear that, having been produced in place of the Rosé (which has definitively left the line of the House), has inherited in part the chromatic aspect, since it has an antique gold color that is definitely tending to copper. The fine perlage, never excessive (a characteristic winery signature), precedes a range of aromas that starts from the characteristic oxidized note of Sherry Oloroso combined with peach in syrup, salted caramel, orange peel and croissant, followed by yellow plum, marzipan, toasted hazelnut and Normandy butter, with final echoes of burnt bone and boisée. In the mouth the wine is rich from a tactile point of view, with the delicate creaminess of perlage, as well as from the taste, with a pleasing jeu à trois between the bitter acidity of oxidation, mineral sapidity and smoky notes, and a retro-olfactory return of sherry, orange peel and burnt bone which accompany the sip until the long closing.
Rating: 94/100
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