Antonio Galloni, VINOUS 92 : The 2021 Brut Nature Blanc de Sable is soft, understated and creamy. This is an especially finessed style of Chardonnay with no hard edges. Intensely floral aromatics meld into a core of citrus fruit. All the elements are so nicely balanced. There's so much to like. All that is missing is a bit of depth in the mid-palate. No dosage. Disgorg...Show More >
Antonio Galloni, VINOUS 92 : The 2021 Brut Nature Blanc de Sable is soft, understated and creamy. This is an especially finessed style of Chardonnay with no hard edges. Intensely floral aromatics meld into a core of citrus fruit. All the elements are so nicely balanced. There's so much to like. All that is missing is a bit of depth in the mid-palate. No dosage. Disgorged: April 2024.
Vinous 94: The 2018 Brut Nature Blanc de Sable, 100% Chardonnay from Cheney, is the most impressive of the five Champagnes I tasted from Vincent Cuillier. The Blanc de Sable straddles the line between Champagne and Coteaux Champenois. It has a beautiful, striking duality that works so well here. A kiss of French oak adds complexity. Like all the Champagnes here, the Blanc de Sable was bottled with no dosage, but the lack of sugar is not at all evident.
Winemaker Notes
A third cuvee, Blanc de Sable, was added as of the 2018 vintage. It is 100% Chardonnay also from Mont Agé on sandy soils with fossils, and is aged in a combination of 228 and 500-liter barrels and bottled without fining and filtration. It sees 36 months of aging sur lattes before disgorgement without sugar/dosage. The terroirs of Mont Agé and Les Voyets are somewhat atypical for the region in that they contain a uniquely high percentage of sand which produces Champagnes marked by real finesse. As Cuillier points out, there is about 1 meter of sand over a bedrock of compacted rock and sand strewn with fossils, the combination of which gives fruitiness coupled with freshness and minerality. All in all, it is a perfect terroir for producing his style of Champagnes which are wonderfully textured, nuanced, and complex and develop beautifully in the glass with some aeration.
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