Bérêche & Fils Brut Réserve L:19.07/2022 NV
- Region
- France » Champagne » Champagne AOC
- Type
- white traditional sparkling, brut
- Producer
- Vintage
- NV, based on 2019
- Disgorged
- 2022-07-19
- On lees
- 24 to 36 months
- Grapes
- Pinot Meunier, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir
- Alcohol
- 12.5
- Sugar
- 6
- Volume
- 750 mL
- Cellar
- 1 bottles
Ratings
Bérêche & Fils Brut Réserve is among my favourite NV Champagne wines of this year. And boy, what a value. A wonderful mix of Jerez, shells, chalk, baked apple, honey and lemongrass. Vinous, intense and complex. Long and flavourful aftertaste with notes of Jerez, honey and lemon tart. Just a pleasure to drink. I love to let it warm and breathe a bit.
It was not a good idea to place it after the Benoît Lahaye Grand Cru Millesime 2017, but even in its shadow, Brut Réserve NV delivered well. Complex and mineral bouquet of shells, chalk, baked apple with honey, lemon and Jerez. Still young on the palate with piercing acidity, but already delicious.
Among the best NV Champagne available on the Ukrainian market. A wonderful mix of shells, chalk, baked apple, cider, honey and lemongrass. Vinous, intense and complex. Long and flavourful aftertaste with notes of Jerez, honey and lemon tart.
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.