🍾 Lanson Le Réserve Extra Brut

Lanson Le Réserve Extra Brut is a non-vintage white Champagne in the Extra Brut style from the house Lanson in Reims.

According to the house, it is a blend led by Pinot Noir (50 %) with Chardonnay (35 %) and Meunier (15 %) from a selection of 80 crus, some of them Grands and Premiers Crus; it has at least 40 % reserve wines, is aged for at least 5 years in the cellars, the dosage is 5 g/l, and 75 % of the wines go through no malolactic fermentation.

The house Lanson is based in Reims; it was founded in 1760.

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, a 1.5 l magnum and a 3 l jeroboam. No year on the label means it is not a vintage wine: the house may blend wines from different harvests. The WHO reminds: there is no safe level of alcohol.