Bérêche & Fils Brut Réserve L:18BSA-10/20 NV
- Region
- France » Champagne » Champagne AOC » Montagne de Reims
- Type
- white traditional sparkling, brut
- Producer
- Vintage
- NV, based on 2018
- Disgorged
- 2020-10
- On lees
- 24 to 36 months
- Grapes
- Pinot Meunier, Pinot Noir, Chardonnay
- Alcohol
- 12.5
- Sugar
- 7
- Volume
- 750 mL
- Cellar
- not available
Ratings
Basic Champagne by Bérêche, 24 months on lees, degorgee on 06/2021. Great and complex bouquet - red apple baked with honey, flowers, lemon, Jerez and chalk. Great structure and balance. Mineral touch makes it more interesting. Sweeter side makes it more friendly. Nice.
Friendly and non overwhelming. Bruised apples, lemon and chalk. Not simple, refreshing, mineral and delicious Champagne with long aftertaste.
About Producer
Bérêche & Fils is one of those domaines that quietly reshaped how many of us think about Champagne (at least, it happens to me). Under the direction of brothers Raphaël and Vincent Bérêche - who officially took over in 2004 - it has transformed from a solid family-run house into one of the region's most respected grower-producers.
The domaine is based in Ludes, a Premier Cru village in the Montagne de Reims, but their vineyard holdings stretch across 14.8 hectares in the Montagne de Reims and Vallée de la Marne, with small but important parcels in the Grand Cru village of Cramant in the Côte des Blancs. Farming is thoughtful and labour-intensive. Old vines are cultivated by hand, with no herbicides or insecticides, and yields are kept deliberately low.
Vincent focuses on the vineyards, while Raphaël runs the cellar - where the approach is just as deliberate. Fermentations are slow, native, and largely carried out in barrels. Malolactic fermentation is typically blocked to preserve tension and acidity. One of the more distinctive touches: they use natural cork, not crown caps, for the second fermentation. This traditional method, rarely seen these days, allows a gentle, oxygen-rich ageing process in a bottle - resulting in subtler bubbles and a deeper, more layered texture. Everything is hand-disgorged, nothing is filtered, and the wines speak for themselves.
Bérêche isn't chasing trends or looking for glossy perfection. Their wines are textured, vinous, and unpolished in the best possible way. And while they've become cult favourites - spoken of in the same breath as Selosse, Agrapart, and Prévost - there's still a kind of humility and directness that sets them apart.