Sadi Malot Terre d'Origine 1Er Cru BDB

A grower Champagne from Villers-Marmery Premier Cru in the Montagne de Reims, made from 100% Chardonnay grown on chalky-limestone soils. The base blend is topped up with a share of Sadi Malot's own solera reserve, a perpetual blend the family has been feeding since 1982, then bottled without fining. Pale with green reflections and a fine, steady mousse, it opens on wet chalk, oyster shell and fresh bread before moving into orange and clementine fruit jelly, honey and acacia flowers, with a smooth, lemony attack and a rich, long finish.

Villers-Marmery is an odd spot for Chardonnay. The Montagne de Reims is Pinot Noir country. This village sits on a vein of limestone that would look more at home in the Côte des Blancs. The family's white grapes grow on it. Most of the fruit comes from the younger plots in the village. A little comes from Verzy, one of the two Grand Cru villages where the Malots grow Pinot Noir.

The base wine ferments in steel and goes through full malolactic, which rounds off the acidity. The share of solera in the blend has run as high as 45 percent. After blending the wine rests on lees for at least eighteen months. The dosage is kept low and shifts a little between disgorgements.

Pour it cold with oysters, or keep it for a roast chicken.