(price $54.99)

It isn’t that the smaller estates are always better. The attraction about Sophie and Pierre Larmandier is more about their hard work and dedication from vineyard to bottle. Working strictly low dosage and no dosage (little or no sugar added) their Champagnes are wonderful expressions of the Champagne terroir. The dosage in their Blanc de Blancs is 4 grams per litre making it vibrantly dry with creamy yeast flavors. Their Terre de Vertus is completely non-dosage with superb minerality, excellent richness and is about as dry as Champagne gets. Plowing their own fields, working their land organically and using only natural yeasts only further enhances the Larmandiers’ mystique and all epicures should experience their efforts.