The grower-producer Tarlant has been perfecting the brut nature style ever since fifth generation Benoit took over the winemaking. According to their US importer Jon-David Headrick, “Benoit believed in the quality of the raw material he had in his hands, and knew it was good enough to pull this style off.” In fact, half of their entire production is of this “no sugar” style. After tasting through their wines, I saw the common theme that held the wines together and understood why their brut zero is so well made. Even their basic brut style wine, Tradition Brut, contained less sugar than the norm at 6.2 grams per liter. It was easy to see that this house sticks to what it knows best and in turn is known for: exceptional base wines that don’t rely on a high dosage (sugar addition) to hide any flaws. In fact, it showed off the transparent terroir of the wines.

Several of their other wines jumped out at me: a 100% Pinot Meunier wine from vines over fifty-years-old (La Vigne d’Or), a 100% Chardonnay from pre-phylloroxa vines (La Vigne d’Antan), and a Rosé Zéro made from the same base as the Rosé Brut (85% Chardonnay and 15% Pinot Noir) but with no dosage. Just imagine a medium-bodied rosé undistracted by any hint of sweetness. A brilliant palate teaser.