🍾 Bruno Paillard Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru

Bruno Paillard Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru is a non-vintage white Champagne in the Extra Brut style from the house Bruno Paillard in Reims (Marne).

According to the house, only the first pressing is used; the grapes come from Grand Cru villages; the reserve wines form a system going back to 1985; an old method gives a gentler bottle fermentation than usual; the wine aged 4 years on the lees; after disgorgement the bottles rest in the cellars for at least 10 months; the dosage is 5 g/l.

The house Bruno Paillard was founded in Reims in January 1981 by Bruno Paillard; since 1985 the disgorgement date has been printed on the back label, and all the house's Champagnes are Extra Brut.

The boundaries of the Champagne area were set by a law of 6 May 1919: parts of the Marne, Aube, Aisne, Haute-Marne and Seine-et-Marne departments. The designation’s specification allows seven grape varieties, dominated by Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier; grapes are picked as whole bunches, that is by hand, and the yield is limited to 10,400 kg per hectare.

According to the Comité Champagne, Champagne is served chilled to 8–10 °C, and bottles are kept in the dark at a steady 10–15 °C, without vibration. An opened bottle is best closed with a sparkling-wine stopper and kept cold.

It is sold under the protected designation of origin Champagne: the bubbles come only from a second fermentation in the bottle, and the wine is aged for at least 15 months before sale (36 for vintage). Extra Brut on the label is an EU sugar term: 0 to 6 g of sugar per litre.

Why it matters to you. According to the house, it comes in: a 0.75 l bottle and a 1.5 l magnum. No year on the label means it is not a vintage wine: the house may blend wines from different harvests. Blanc de blancs on the label means a wine made only from white grapes. The WHO reminds: there is no safe level of alcohol.