Blanc de Blancs Brut

The wine

The bead is the first argument, and it is a coarse one. Medium lemon-yellow, a little haze, large bubbles that rise hard. It looks lively. It does not look like a fine-mousse brut.

Green apple and lemon zest come up clean and fresh, then stop. The nose is moderate, not mute, and not deep. Orchard and zest. No toast. No second layer.

Then the sip is easier than the look promised. Apple and lemon lead. Off-dry, with enough acid to keep the sweetness from sitting. Light-to-medium, and the carbonation is crisp enough to lift the middle. The flavors do not develop much after that. They hold, then they are done.

The sugar is the other argument. Brut is the word on the bottle. The sip is off-dry. Acid is moderate, not bright, and it is enough. The two meet in the middle. That is the balance: not dry, not heavy, and not a lot else happening once the fruit is named.

The close is clean. Nothing bitter, nothing yeasty, nothing that would make you think of lees. Pleasant. Simple.

It reads as sparkling wine: orchard fruit, citrus, a real bead. It does not read as a dry, structured brut. The mousse is vigorous rather than fine. Eighty-one for a glass you would pour again — refreshing, balanced, and not much more complicated than that. You would pour it cold, as an aperitif. You would not pour it for a long, dry close.