Vincent Lagille Champagne "La Garenne" Pinot Meunier '22

Vincent Lagille is a relatively fresh face on the Champagne scene, taking over the family Domaine in 2017. Don't discount the weight of that familial history, though - the Lagille Family has been making wine in the same spot, the tiny village Treslon nestled into the Northwest corner of the Montaigne de Reims, since 1818. In fact, the family name is nearly synonymous with the Champagne tradition coming from the village. And as with Treslon as a whole, the Lagille vineyards favor Meunieur, planted to 55% of Vincent's 7.20 hectares of vines.

With the richness of his family's history tied to these vines, Vincent focuses in on tiny microparcels (or parcellaires) of his vineyard space, and bottles them separately to show off the minute variations in terroir. It's the sort of project only someone intimately familiar with the granular details of these different parcellaires could hope to accomplish, and Vincent, alongside his sister Maud, make them sing. In keeping with this painstaking attention to the smaller details, the Lagilles practice fully organic viticulture: without taking into account the health of the vineyard, how could they show off the heights of which Treslon is capable?

"La Garenne" (translating to The Wild Rabbit) is one of these parcellaires wines, utilizing an entirely single varietal / single vintage approach focused on Meunieur from the '22 harvest. The wine is classic Meunieur, with a wash of blood orange citrus and raspberry, but balanced with the tart cut of rhubarb and a waft of savory herbs. The wine lands nicely, with a crystalline mineral finish that hints at the zero dosage.