Champagne Lilbert-Fils

Bertrand Lilbert and his father Georges – who’s in his eighties but still helping his kid out –make only Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs from 100% Chardonnay. The Lilbert family have been winegrowers since 1746 and they own approximately 3.5ha split across various parcels in the Grand Cru Villages of Oiry (10% of their total plantation), Chouilly (30%), and Cramant (60%). Annual production for Bertrand is minuscule - a mere 25,000 bottles per vintage at best. About 80% of this tiny production is their non-vintage cuvée, with the balance a rare vintage champagne (from Cramant only) and a tiny amount of Perle, which is a highly sought after low pressure style champagne historically made by the family.

All of Bertrand's wines are made in stainless steel vats and all undergo malolactic fermentation. The bottles are riddled by hand in a deep, hand-dug tuffeau cellar, and the wine is disgorged by hand (à la volée) without freezing. The house style emphasizes fine mousse and fragrant aromas of lime, yellow orchard fruits, and hay. These are beautiful expressions of intensely mineral, chalky Chardonnay, with gorgeously rich Cramant fruit wrapped in elegance and nuance. As Peter Liem observes in his book Champagne, Lilbert’s vintage wine is “an expressive, age-worthy champagne, and one of the best examples of pure Cramant being made today.”