NV Laborde Brut Champagne 'Tandem'

75% Pinot Noir, 25% Chardonnay from the Monts de Berru, due east of Reims, an ancient outcropping of chalk that has supported vines since at least the 6th century. It rises above the plain five miles from the Montagne de Reims. Native yeast fermentation. Vinified parcel by parcel and blended with as much as 45% of reserve wine. Eight months of élevage in tank followed by two years of aging in bottle on lees before disgorgement. 7 g/L dosage. 250 six packs made. After a stint as assistant cellar master at Bollinger and then rising to winemaker in charge of Veuve Clicquot’s Côte des Blancs holdings, Delphine Laborde fulfilled her dream by taking over 12 acres of her family’s vines in Nogent l’Abbesse in 2017.  Tons of fresh, fragrant strawberry, red apple and cherry from the Pinot alongside pear and apple from the Chard. Fresh, long and delicious.

92+ pts–John Gilman, View from the Cellar, September-October 2024. "The new release of Delphine Laborde’s Tandem bottling is again from the base year of 2020 and this is a second disgorgement on her wine that I reported on last year. It is made from a cépages of seventy-five percent old vine pinot noir from the Mont Berru and twenty-five percent chardonnay from her vineyards in Nogent l’Abbesse. It was disgorged in October of 2023 and finished with a dosage of six grams per liter. The wine delivers a beautifully refined bouquet of white peach, apple, raw almond, bread dough, beautiful chalky soil tones and a topnote of white flowers. On the palate the wine is pure, zesty and full-bodied, with lovely depth of fruit at the core, superb soil signature, very refined mousse and a long, complex, seamlessly balanced and supremely elegant, long finish. This is still a young wine, but so perfectly balanced that it is already very easy to drink! That said, it will be even better if tucked away in the cellar for a few more years. 2024-2050."