Blanc de Blancs

The wine

Honeyed and a little toasty in the aroma, with green apple and Meyer lemon underneath — oak is audible before the first sip, and that toast is what separates this sparkler from sweetness-and-bubbles bottles. Rich, velvety bubbles carry ripe pear and mango alongside the citrus; the body runs fuller than most dealcoholized sparklers, off-dry without turning juice-soft. The close turns creamy and faintly brioche-like, the toast and honey echoing rather than a sharp citric cut. Soft bead, real mid-palate flesh, fruit and oak in the same glass: green apple and Meyer lemon keep the honeyed toast from reading as dessert, while pear and mango fill the space a thinner sparkler leaves empty. Well chilled in a flute or white-wine glass, it drinks as a structured sparkling white — creamy through the end, toasty on the entry, fruit still specific underneath. Honey and toast first, pear and mango through the middle, brioche cream on the way out — fuller than the thin sparklers beside it. Oak audible before the sip; cream on the close; Meyer lemon keeping the honeyed toast honest. Cold helps.