Champagne Mouzon-Leroux L’Atavique Tradition Brut Nature NV

Champagne Mouzon-Leroux L’Atavique Tradition Brut Nature NV

Mouzon-Leroux
$55.00

Grape: Pinot Noir, Chardonnay
Vintage: NV
Type: Sparkling

Crafted by Sébastien Mouzon, this expressive grower Champagne is a snapshot of the biodynamically farmed Grand Cru village of Verzy in the northern Montagne de Reims. The blend consists of sixty percent pinot noir and forty percent chardonnay, combining a single base harvest with forty-five percent older reserve wines. The base components undergo a spontaneous native fermentation, mostly in old neutral French oak barrels, before spending more than three years resting on the lees.

It pours a pale straw-gold color with a fine, energetic stream of bubbles. The nose opens with aromas of tart red berries, Meyer lemon zest, wet stone, and a hint of warm brioche. It is vinous and full of driving, chiseled power, completely avoiding simple fruit sweetness. Crunchy flavors of green apple and white cherry wrap around a chalky, tactile texture. A razor-sharp, saline acidity commands mid-palate, carrying the wine into an expansive finish.

Champagne Mouzon-Leroux is a grower estate in the Grand Cru village of Verzy, led by ninth-generation vigneron Sébastien Mouzon. Since taking over in 2008, Sébastien has converted the family's vineyards to organic and biodynamic farming while embracing agroforestry, aromatic plants, animals and homemade herbal preparations to strengthen the life of the soil. Pinot Noir and Chardonnay lead the plantings, joined by Champagne's rarer historic varieties. The wines are fermented with native yeasts and shaped with a light hand, combining Verzy's chalky tension with depth, savory character and a distinctly living sense of place.