2017 Champagne Christophe Baron Le Dessus Du Bois Marie Brut Nature | Crouttes-Sur-Marne Champagne, France 1.5L MAGNUM

With Pinot Meunier fruit harvested from old vines, tiny yields and a minimalist approach in the cellar, Champagne Christophe Baron creates wines of great depth, high complexity and intense minerality. The style is vinous, dry and gastronomic. No dosage is added, which allows the terroir to shine through.
Each parcel is vinified individually, and the wine crafting is as naturally non-interventionist as possible. Both the alcoholic and malolactic fermentations are carried out with indigenous yeast, in a mix of demi-muids and barrels. The wines are neither fined or filtered, are disgorged with no dosage and are bottled only in magnums.
This dedication to purity and craft yields serious Champagnes that are highly singular and energetic. The wines offer a remarkable combination of power, structure and transparency, and a creamy finish adds further complexity.
As a result the Champagnes created are intensely soil-expressive and strikingly original in personality, with vibrant balance and intensity. 1431 magnums produced. Disgorged 2021. | Christophe Baron

...unwinding in the glass with scents of crisp orchard fruit, tangerine oil, honeycomb, yellow plums and freshly baked bread. Full-bodied, vinous and textural, it's rich and incisive, with a tightly coiled core of concentrated fruit and a long, saline and delicately exotic finish. | 95+ points, William Kelley for The Wine Advocate

...bright, focused and incredibly energetic. Soaring mineral and saline notes cut through a core of orchard fruit, citrus, white flowers, mint, crushed rocks and spice. The Dessus Du Bois is just fabulous. All it needs is time, but all the elements are there for it to be tremendous in a few years' time. Actually, it already is. Floral and mineral notes reappear on the finish, adding notable lift. Yields were less affected here, which explains the wine's freshness. | 96 points, Antonio Galloni for Vinous

Just as richly hued, the 2017 Le Dessus Du Bois Marie exudes class with baking spice dusted French bread, toasted hazelnuts and brandy soaked pear tones on the nose. Rich and powerful on the mouth, with a soft and inviting mousse, this displays outstanding length and tension, with wet gravel undercurrents. Tightly wound, with serious aging potential, give this at least 30 minutes to unwind prior to consuming. | 95 points, Owen Bargreen for owenbargreen.com

Champagne always tastes better in magnum. | Ernest Hemingway