Dosnon Brut Champagne Récolte Noire NV

92 points John Gilman (View From the Cellar): "This is one of Davy Dosnon’s wines produced entirely from estate grown fruit (and which is differentiated by the different label from the above). It is comprised entirely of pinot noir and was barrel-fermented in three year-old casks sourced in Puligny-Montrachet. The wine is given two years aging sur latte, which makes this release from the base year of 2018, as it was disgorged in February of 2021. It was finished with a dosage of five grams per liter and includes thirty percent reserve wines in the cuvée. This is a step up from Monsieur Dosnon’s wines made from purchased grapes, as it offers up a refined bouquet of white peach, fresh-baked bread, a touch of hazelnut, a complex base of limestone minerality and a smoky topnote. On the palate the wine is bright, elegant and full-bodied, with lovely mid-palate depth, elegant mousse, bright acids and excellent focus and grip on the long, well-balanced and complex finish. Most impressive. 2022-2050. (Mar/Apr 2022)"

Importer notes: "Récolte Noire is made entirely from Pinot Noir with a minimum of two years aging in the bottle and with a dosage around 5g/L. While most growers would put a Blanc de Noirs at the end of a tasting of their Champagnes, Davy puts it near the start as Pinot on Kimmeridgian soils is delicate, filigreed, and mineral. The Récolte Noire certainly has all those characteristics and a toastiness and elegance of fruit that resembles fresh raspberry or strawberry. Davy states that the refined fruitiness in his wines is from fermenting the base wine in used Puligny-Montrachet barrels, which makes sense as he learned his trade in Burgundy."