Menu

• cheese board with marinated goat cheese 
• raw and grilled oysters
• green salad with heirloom tomatoes, fennel flowers, Purple Haze cheese

Champagne Tarlant “Zero” Brut Nature

ABV: 12%
SRP: $60; purchased at Vinovore 
Grapes: 32% Pinot Noir, 32% Chardonnay, 32% Meunier, 4% Petite Mesiler, Arbanne, Pinot Blanc
Importer: Louis Dressner

Siblings Benoît and Mélanie Tarlant are the 12th consecutive generation working the family land which is now 14 hectares certified organically farmed. Pierre Tarlant started his first vineyards in Burgundy back in 1687 then 100 years later  Louis Tarlant moved to Oeuilly to plant vineyards in Champagne. In 1911, Louis Adrien Tarlant served as mayor of the town and with colleagues, got an AOC for Champagne area in 1927. When Louis swore to never again sell a single grape to the big houses, he and his wife were among the first to produce their own cuvee “Carte Blanche.” 

For two generations, Tarlant vines have been farmed organically, achieving certification after Mélanie  joined Benoît in the family business in 2003. Benoît primarily learned the trade from his grandfather and father, and enjoys experimenting while respecting history and the land. In 1999, he began working with biodynamic principles with a philosophy he calls “herbotherapy” according to Caroline Henry’s chapter on the winery. 

Benoît and Mélanie vinify individually 63 parcels each vintage allowing them to highlight single vineyard expressions as well as precision in blending for base and reserve wines. Because of the Marne’s extremely diverse terroirs, Benoit adapts his viticultural approach parcel by parcel, using the soil, grape and micro-climate to guide him, says his importer who also reports that “grapes are gently pressed and racked by gravity to Burgundian barrels, where each parcel ferments and ages individually. Malolactic fermentation almost never occurs but is not blocked: Benoît feels that through careful pressing, attention to temperature and the correct viticultural practices, Champagne’s naturally cold climate gives them grapes with low PH and high acidity, a combo that does not incite malo. Sulfites are only added in microscopic doses at press and intermittently to casks of reserve wine. The wines are never
filtered: ‘Disgorgment is sort of like a filtration. If you’re going to take the time todo long élevages andletting the solids deposit themselves, you don’t needto filter. It requires a respect of the rhythm of the wine.””

Their production is 90% no dosage which showcases the purity of place.

Appearance: Buttercup, nicely golden, very small delicate bubbles, so small. 

Aroma: Brioche, apple, fennel, saline, limestone, chalk, chamomile, essence of the sea, 

Palate: The bubbles are so small visually, but on the palate they are all over, still small but very lively, quite persistent, zingy,  very tart lemon, green apple, tart yet rich, creme brûlée, caramel apple, 

Pairing: No surprise, this is a fabulous champagne wine and as such paired so well with food. So nice with our marinated goat cheese loving the creamy goat cheese with olive oil, the peppercorns in the marinated goat cheese shine with the wine, The salad was perfect with the wine working perfectly with the fennel pollen, the purple haze, and the rich vine ripened tomatoes. We also had a grilled oyster with the wine which was out of this world.