🍾 Larmandier-Bernier

Larmandier-Bernier is a family Champagne house in Vertus on the Côte des Blancs. According to the house, the Larmandier and Bernier families have worked the vine since 1765, and in 1971 Philippe Larmandier and his wife Elisabeth Bernier, who owned vineyards in Vertus, founded Champagne Larmandier-Bernier and built their cellar in Vertus. In 1988 their son Pierre Larmandier and his wife Sophie joined the estate; their son Arthur joined them in 2017 and Georges in 2021.

According to the house, its 19 ha of vines, 35 years old on average, include the premier cru village of Vertus and the grand cru villages of Cramant, Avize and Oger; more than 90 % of the vines are Chardonnay. Pierre Larmandier ended herbicide use in 1992 and the whole estate has been farmed biodynamically since 1999; the wines ferment with native yeasts and the whole harvest is aged in barrels and foudres. The house’s single-vineyard range began in 1988 with Vieille Vigne de Cramant, followed by Terre de Vertus (1995), Rosé de Saignée (1999) and Les Chemins d’Avize (2009).

Champagne is a wine with a protected designation of origin (PDO). According to the Comité Champagne, the wine ferments a second time in the bottle and matures on the lees for at least 15 months, and for vintage cuvées at least three years. Larmandier-Bernier is a brand; Champagne is the name of a place. The WHO reminds that there is no safe amount of alcohol that does not affect health.