NV Pehu-Simonet “Face Nord” Extra Brut, Champagne, France

ABOUT THIS WINE

A Blend of 80% Pinot Noir and 20% Chardonnay all from Verzenay grand cru, one of the very best sites for Pinot Noir in Champagne. 80% of the wine is form 2016 while 20% is reserve wine from 2014 and 2015 adding depth and power. Aged fully in stainless steel and does see some malo adding a creamy texture. This wines sees 42 months on lees (longer than the minimum for vintage champagne)! Disgorgement date is December 2020. Expect a fresh, bright, structured champagne with beautiful texture and long complex finish.

ABOUT THIS PRODUCER

David Pehu, the fourth generation to lead this estate produces wines that are quite different from Lallement’s in every way except basic essential flavor. Verzenay is, after all, Verzenay. But David’s wines are rather more glossy and fleshy, and correspondingly less sleek and filigreed. He has 7.5 hectares of which 6 are Grand Cru. The balance is Chardonnay in premier cru Villers-Marmery, but Pehu wants to bottle only Grand Cru Champagne and so this Chardonnay is sold off. His vineyards are a remarkably ecumenical group: Verzy, Verzenay, Mailly, Sillery and Le Mesnil-sur-Oger!

The terrain of Verzy is made up of belemnite chalk and two varieties of micraster chalk, made up of a variety of Cretaceous echinoids. Verzy’s parcels form an extension of the famous vineyards at Verzenay on the northern slopes of Montagne de Reims. The best exposed slopes are those at an altitude from 150 to 200 meters (492 to 565 ft.). Oddly enough, Verzy was formerly a chardonnay village. It is today famous for its peppery, virile Pinot wines. With those of Verzenay, the pinot noir grapes here form the base for the finest Champagne vintages. A stony and gunpowder edge can be detected in the aftertaste, just as at Verzenay.