Welcoming CHAMPAGNE LELARGE-PUGEOT to Alberta

The family’s 8.7 hectares of vineyards include a significant proportion of Pinot Meunier, the specialty of Vrigny in the traditionally Pinot Noir driven Montagne de Reims. Lelarge-Pugeot’s command of and privileging of this variety to the best sites is a signature of their domaine, revered flag bearers in this current Meunier renaissance. Moreover, Dominique’s vineyard’s largely face north. This was no help to his wine-farming ancestors but today the northern aspect has offered protection from the effects of global warming, maintaining a classical profile of textured acidity while rich in phenolic density.

Lelarge-Pugeot has been certified organic since 2014 and Demeter-certified biodynamic since 2017, farming 42 distinct parcels of Pinot Meunier, Pinot Noir, and Chardonnay at elevations of roughly 400 ft (4.4 hectares of Meunier, 1.5 hectares of Chardonnay, and 2.8 hectares of Pinot Noir). Lelarge-Pugeot’s wines are styled in a minimalist fashion that brings a bright freshness teeming with energy while also delivering developed tertiary toasty and nougat nuances. This family is producing bubbles as juicy and immediately rewarding as they are age worthy. Truly distinct Champagne all around, earning The Independent’s Best Overall for their top Champagnes of 2021; even King Charles III would agree.

AB CSPC/SKU # 871184

Tradition Extra Brut

Champagne 1er AOC

The family's entry-level stunner features a Meunier-dominant blend that spotlights the drive and poise of the estate’s leading lady, the underappreciated Pinot Meunier variety. This bottling is the platonic ideal of growers’ champagne, seamlessly weaving the high-toned mineral streak of Vrigny with the delicate and more savory leaning aromas of this red-dominant cépage, drawn from a total of 30 parcels within Vrigny. The current release, based on the 2017 vintage with around 30% reserve wines, sees 6 months in tank before bottling and a further 3 years on the lees in bottle. Pale golden yellow with a persistent effervescence, this creamy Champagne offers a great depth of rich, ripe apples, apricots, and a tangy orange zest notes.

• Variety: 50% Pinot Meunier, 40% Pinot Noir, 10% Chardonnay
• Fermentation: First fermentation for 10 months in French oak foudres on the fine lees. Indigenous yeast.
• Ageing: Bottled July 2018 for secondary fermentation, ageing 3 years on the lees in bottle. Disgorged November 2021. 2 g/L dosage. Only 37ppm SO2.
• Vineyard: Harvested in 2017. Estate vineyards in Vrigny 1er cru. Vines over 30 years old.
• ABV: 12.2%

AB CSPC/SKU # 871185

C’est Sucré! Sec

Champagne 1er AOC

We can't hasten the return of quality Champagne Sec fast enough. A foregone vogue for honey'd, full flavoured, indulgent aperitif Champagnes is on the ascendent again thanks to cuvées like Lelarge-Pugeot's irreverently named C'est Sucré! (for the hopeless anglophones, that means 'It's Sweet!'). Our team celebrated our Christmas dinner with this bubbly and we couldn't have chosen better. A perfect departure point for a special afternoon or a pre-dinner aperitif, this jubilant wine is perfectly balanced and unabashedly saccharine without a hint of cloying over-dosage. It's a forsaken style we're psyched to participate in reappraising and celebrating when it is done this well. Notes of panettone, baklava, spiced apple, and apricot with a hint of crème fraîche and white lily.

• Variety: 50% Pinot Meunier, 40% Pinot Noir, 10% Chardonnay
• Fermentation: First fermentation for 10 months in French oak foudres on the fine lees. Indigenous yeast.
• Ageing: Bottled July 2017 for secondary fermentation, ageing 28 months on the lees in bottle. Disgorged June 2020. 28 g/L dosage. Only 30ppm SO2.
• Vineyard: Fruit from the 2014, 2015, and 2016 harvests. Estate vineyards in Vrigny 1er cru. Vines over 25 years old.
• ABV: 12.2%

AB CSPC/SKU # 871188

Rosé Extra Brut

Champagne Vrigny 1er Cru AOC

This stunningly poised and textured Champagne has a rich and nutty palate complemented by a lime freshness. Long finish with a lovely purity of flavour.

• Variety: 100% Pinot Noir
• Fermentation: First fermentation for six months in stainless steel with indigenous yeast. Color comes from the domaine's Coteaux Champenois Rouge blended in to the tune of 7% of the total cépage.
• Ageing: Bottled in April 2014 for secondary fermentation, ageing 7 years on the lees in bottle. Disgorged March 2021. 2 g/L dosage. Only 27ppm SO2.
• Vineyard: Harvested in 2013. Estate vineyards in Vrigny 1er cru. Vines over 30 years old.
• ABV: 12.0%

AB CSPC/SKU # 871186

Blanc de Blancs Extra Brut

Champagne Vrigny 1er Cru AOC

Stunning and unique. An initial crisp acidity gives way to generous floral, ripe pear, peach, earthy burnt caramel, and myriad citrus notes, complemented by a subtle twist of orange peel oils and sultana raisin complexity. This is the finesse and power dyad we always hope for from a Blanc de Blancs, replete with that long, lingering, bruised apple finish. Drink now or forget a case in the cellar to revisit every year or two—this wine can and will develop further.

• Varietal/Blend: 100% Chardonnay
• Fermentation: First fermentation for six months in stainless steel with indigenous yeast.
• Ageing: Bottled in April 2015 for secondary fermentation, ageing 5 years on the lees in bottle. Disgorged May 2021. 2 g/L dosage. Only 27ppm SO2.
• Vineyard & Vine Age: Fruit from 2014 harvest. Estate vineyards in Vrigny 1er cru. Vines over 30 years old.
• ABV: 12.2%

AB CSPC/SKU # 871187

Les Charmes de Vrigny Extra Brut

Champagne Vrigny 1er Cru AOC

The charm and restrained intensity of the Lelarge-Pugeot family captured in a single cuvée. Les Charmes is a grown-up version of the entry-level Tradition, one that has matured with eight years' ageing in bottle, adoring itself with the depth and nuance of time while maintaining its lithe and playful levity and freshness. Elegant notes of green apple join with citrus and fresh baked bread. The bucolic charms of this precious premier cru and its beloved Meunier are on full display in the wine's pastoral palate of wild flowers and herbs and grasses, showing petrichor and orchard fruit as it turns the corner from freshness into tertiary complexity.

• Varietal/Blend: 50% Pinot Meunier, 30% Pinot Noir, 20% Chardonnay
  
• Fermentation: First fermentation for six months in stainless steel with indigenous yeast.
  
• Ageing: Bottled in April 2011 for secondary fermentation, ageing 8 years on the lees in bottle. Disgorged May 2021. 2 g/L dosage. Only 20ppm SO2.
  
• Vineyard & Vine Age: Harvested in 2010. Additional wine from Solera. Estate vineyards in Vrigny 1er cru. Vines over 40 years old.
  
• ABV: 12.2%

AB CSPC/SKU # 871189

Nature Brut Nature

Champagne Vrigny 1er Cru AOC

Very light golden colour with refined effervescence. In the nose: beautiful baker’s yeast, pear, plum, pineapple juice, peach, sweet malt tones, saffron and light minerality. No Sulphur, No Dosage. Free of any manipulation and additions, this laser-focused and supremely chiselled wine bursts with a high-tension spark of acidity that vibrates from start to finish. And the portion of the fruit vinified in smaller barrels lends even more breadth and texture to this wine. A mouth-watering delight.

• Varietal/Blend: 50% Pinot Noir, 50% Chardonnay
  
• Fermentation: First fermentation for twelve months with indigenous yeast, 50% in stainless steel tank and 50% in oak.
  
• Ageing: Bottled in July 2017 for secondary fermentation, ageing 4 years on the lees in bottle. Disgorged June 2021. 0 g/L dosage. No sulphites added (naturally occurring 5ppm SO2 in final product).
  
• Vineyard & Vine Age: Harvested in 2016. Estate vineyards in Vrigny 1er cru. Vines over 45 years old.
• ABV: 12.5%

AB CSPC/SKU # 871190

Les Meuniers De Clémence Extra Brut

Champagne Vrigny 1er Cru AOC

This beautifully balanced wine has dryness compensated by the intense fruitiness, the crisp mineral texture with a creamy mousse character. It is ripe, full of both apple fruits and lime.

• Varietal/Blend: 100% Pinot Meunier
  
• Fermentation: First fermentation for six months in stainless steel with indigenous yeast.
  
• Ageing: Bottled in April 2015 for secondary fermentation, ageing 6 years on the lees in bottle. Disgorged March 2021. 2 g/L dosage. Only 13ppm SO2.
  
• Vineyard & Vine Age: Harvested in 2014. Estate vineyards in Vrigny 1er cru. Vines over 40 years old.
• ABV: 12.5%
  

AB CSPC/SKU # 871191

Saignée De Meunier Rosé Brut Nature

Champagne Vrigny 1er Cru AOC

The 2014 vintage marked Lelarge-Pugeot's first ever foray into an entirely Pinot Meunier-driven, saignée method, rosé bubbler, and wow is she a killer! Derived from the very early pressings of Meunier grapes, with the freely running juice 'bled' from the tanks after only a day of maceration, the wine is dominated by an overarchingly savory and masculine feel, uninhibited by any addition of dosage, and hemmed together with a soft touch of chalky tannin. Reeling with cool and leafy red berries, cherry 'Sweet Tarts' and strawberry yoghurt, this is a sparkling wine of substance and structure making it a versatile companion on any dinner table.

• Varietal/Blend: 100% Pinot Meunier
• Fermentation: First fermentation for six months in French oak barrels with indigenous yeast (32 hours skin contact).
  
• Ageing: Bottled in April 2015 for secondary fermentation, ageing 6 years on the lees in bottle. Disgorged March 2021. 0 g/L dosage.
  
• Vineyard & Vine Age: Harvested in 2014. Estate vineyards in Vrigny 1er cru. Vines over 50 years old.
• ABV: 12.5%

AB CSPC/SKU # 871192

Millésime Extra Brut

Champagne Vrigny 1er Cru AOC

2008 was such a precious, generous vintage in Champagne, translated here in equal measures of Meunier, Chardonnay, and Pinot Noir. This trinity is so tautly balanced, showing the rounded edges and nuanced intensity its acquired over a decade and a half ageing. The Millésime 2008 reveals bewitching raisinated, almost port-like oxidative notes jewel-set in a soaring structure of bright citrus. Fans of old, tertiary, rich Champagnes will adore the molasses like minerality and curviture of this wine, lingering with a precious sherry-like nuttiness.

• Varietal/Blend: 33% Meunier, 33% Pinot Noir, 34% Chardonnay
  
• Fermentation: First fermentation for six months in stainless steel with indigenous yeast.
  
• Ageing: Bottled in April 2009 for secondary fermentation, ageing over 9 years on the lees in bottle. Disgorged November 2018. 2 g/L dosage. Only 25ppm SO2.
  
• Vineyard & Vine Age: Harvested in 2008. Estate vineyards in Vrigny 1er cru. Vines over 50 years old.
  
• ABV: 12.0%
  

AB CSPC/SKU # 871193

Quintessence Extra Brut

Champagne Vrigny 1er Cru AOC

2008 was a remarkable vintage for Champagne and the wines that have been gradually released from that year have proven this more and more with age. Drinking now and worthy of further ageing, Lelarge-Pugeot's Quintessence gives further proof of the kindness of nature in that particularly profound lap around around the sun. While the world melted down in a financial collapse, the grapes of Vrigny ripened perfectly, giving intense wines that grow more intoxicating with every year of age. The wine greets with a golden hue and lovely perlage. The nose is finely tuned with fresh scents of pear, apple, and apricot, buttressed by notes of fresh almonds and hazelnuts. On the palate, round and robust with sanded edges and an effortless balance, cool and elegant, with a delicious citrusy finish.

• Varietal/Blend: 70% Chardonnay, 20% Pinot Noir, 10% Meunier
  
• Fermentation: First fermentation for six months in French oak foudres and stainless steel. Indigenous yeast.
  
• Ageing: Bottled in April 2009 for secondary fermentation, ageing 10 years on the lees in bottle. Disgorged November 2018. 2 g/L dosage. Only 26ppm SO2.
  
• Vineyard & Vine Age: Harvested in 2008. Estate vineyards in Vrigny 1er cru. Vines over 50 years old.
• ABV: 12.0%