Lilbert-Fils Champagne Blanc de Blancs NV

After a string of wines from Bordeaux and the Loire Valley in my Weekend Wine slot in recent weeks, from mostly familiar names including Léoville-Barton, Gloria, La Grave à Pomerol, Domaine Beauséjour (the one in Chinon, not the one in St Emilion), Olga Raffault and Pascal Pibaleau (well, I did say mostly familiar), I decided this week it was time I stepped outside my comfort zone for something a little different.

You might have noticed that recent Weekend Wine excursions beyond the Loire Valley and Bordeaux have often taken me to Champagne, with wines such as the Franck Bonville Unisson, the not particularly blanc Gonet-Medeville Blanc de Noirs and Thiénot’s 2015 Immersion. And so here we are again this week, back in Champagne.

Some years ago I decided to focus more on Loire Valley sparkling wines than Champagne, and I recall approaching the wines – Saumur, Vouvray, Crémant de Loire and so on – with a Champagne mindset, one which reflected many years of tasting, drinking and even visiting Champagne. These days I have turned full circle; I now approach Champagne as a neophyte, my tasting history dominated by Ligérian bulles, crémants and pét nats. So now I approach Champagne with a Loire Valley mindset; it has certainly altered my perception of the wines, not least the prices and relative value for money. Many wines with Champagne on the label are sold at twice the asking price of good Vouvray and Crémant de Loire, without necessarily offering twice the pleasure.

Anyway, the latest bottle to step into the Winedoctor spotlight is the non-vintage Blanc de Blancs from Lilbert-Fils.

While perhaps not a household name, Lilbert-Fils is a well regarded grower based – as the label clearly states – in Cramant, one of the Champagne region’s most famed villages on the Côte des Blancs. The Lilbert family can trace their presence here back as far as 1746, and some parts of the Lilbert subterranean caves where they store their many bottles of wine were excavated as long ago as 1712.

At the very dawn of the 20th century it was Alphonse Lilbert who was in charge, the business passing to son Jules and grandson André, the latter rechristening it Lilbert-Fils. Today it is Bertrand Lilbert who runs the domaine, which has just 3.5 hectares of vineyards, divided between 15 parcels all located in the grand cru villages of Cramant, Chouilly and Oiry. The plantings are Chardonnay and Chardonnay alone, with some old vines, the average age across the vineyard coming in at about 40 years. The approach to harvest and vinification is old-school, with hand-picking, straightforward vinification in stainless steel, a decent amount of time sur lattes after the second fermentation and a low dosage, producing a rather chiselled house style, with a floral vivacity and chalky mineral notes being the hallmarks of the domaine’s wines.

From this rather bijou vineyard comes a small portfolio of wines under the Lilbert-Fils label, the most commonly encountered being the Champagne under the spotlight here, the straight non-vintage Blanc de Blancs. In this particular case it is a blend of 50% wine from the 2019 vintage with 50% reserve wines, as indicated on the label above all from grand cru vineyards. After the second fermentation in bottle it was aged sur lattes until disgorgement in Autumn 2022, and the dosage was minimal, producing an Extra Brut style with just 3 g/l of sugar.

In the glass the Lilbert-Fils Blanc de Blancs presents a pale, straw-coloured hue with just a tinge of onion skin. Aromatically it seems to typify the domaine’s house style, the nose all chalk and nettles, oyster shell and preserved lemon peel, pure and very blanc de blancs in style. This intense, eye-popping freshness is carried through onto the palate which continues with the fresh, bitter, nettle-infused character, moving through some herbaceous suggestions of peppery rocket and mustard leaf, all supported by a bright and incisive mousse partnered by a sappy mouth-watering acidity. It finishes long and bitter, with a deliciously saline, crushed chalk energy to it. This is a youthful and quite uncompromising Champagne which, for my palate, would be best left to slumber for another five to ten years in the cellar before broaching again. The alcohol is 12% on the label. 91/100 (10/8/26)

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