Champagne L'Enclume 2013 Champagne Tarlant

The Champagne L'Enclume Brut Nature 2013 from Tarlant is one of the rarest and most singular cuvées from this family Champagne house whose origins in Oeuilly trace back to 1687. Bottled in May 2014 and disgorged in 2024 after ten years of ageing on lees, this is a Champagne of purity, minerality and patience that defies all conventions of the appellation. L'Enclume impresses with its almost Burgundian texture, creamy, complex, of infinite length. Bone-dry structure with precise acidity, pronounced minerality, notes of citrus and a long saline finish. The purist can now find their happiness in Champagne.

The vineyard and terroir

L'Enclume takes its name from the shape of the parcel, which from above resembles a blacksmith's anvil. This 0.40 hectare parcel is planted in Oeuilly, the birthplace of the Tarlant family, on a north-east facing slope at 15 percent gradient, on wind-blown soils rich in flint pebbles. This siliceous rock is rare in Champagne and is precisely the source of the cold, iodine-laden, steel-sharp minerality that immediately distinguishes this lieu-dit from all its peers in the Marne Valley. The vines, planted in the 1960s by the tenth and eleventh generations of the Tarlant family, root deeply in these flint soils over Lutetian limestone, producing grapes of incomparable concentration and aromatic precision. The parcel is certified organic. Harvesting is entirely by hand with gentle pressing. Vinification follows the house philosophy, fermentation with indigenous yeasts, ageing in Burgundy oak barrels, no induced malolactic fermentation, unfiltered and uncollaged. Bottled in May 2014, aged ten years on lees before disgorgement in 2024. Brut Nature, dosage 0 grams per litre.

Tasting profile

The colour is pale golden yellow with golden hues, animated by fine and persistent bubbles of crystalline lightness and clarity. The nose is of striking minerality and precision, the absolute signature of the flint from this parcel, with notes of smoked flint, citrus, white flowers and lime zest imposing themselves with a directness and precision that evoke the great Chardonnays of Chablis on Kimmeridgian limestone, with the added siliceous dimension unique to L'Enclume. Subtle notes of brioche and fresh butter, inherited from ten years on lees, enrich this bouquet with remarkable natural complexity and depth. On the palate, butter, green apple, pear, acacia honey, beeswax and floral touches emerge. The palate is taut and iodine-laden, at once muscular and lithe like a marathon runner. The structure is dry and straight, carried by precise and well-controlled acidity that sharpens with each sip. The creamy and complex texture, inherited from ten years on lees, brings an unctuousness and depth that few Champagnes can claim with such clarity. The finish is long, saline and mineral, of absolute persistence and purity.

The house

Since the reign of Louis XIV, the Tarlant family has cultivated vines in the Marne Valley. Today, Benoît and Mélanie Tarlant, the twelfth generation, manage 14 hectares in Oeuilly under certified organic agriculture, vinifying each variety from each parcel separately with the rigour and precision that have made them one of the reference houses of independent Champagne. L'Enclume, first bottled in 2011, is the most radical and convincing expression of this philosophy, zero dosage, ten years on lees, flint on limestone. Tarlant has shown what Champagne is capable of when freed from the marketing diktat of the large houses.

Food pairings

This Champagne L'Enclume Brut Nature 2013 will pair beautifully with oysters and shellfish, grilled lobster with lemon butter, seared turbot, sea bass en croûte de sel or 36-month aged Comté. It will also be sublime on its own, in a large white Burgundy glass, left open for twenty minutes to allow the ten years of lees to fully blossom. Fifteen minutes of decanting is recommended. Served between 10 and 12 °C, it will reveal all the siliceous minerality, alpine tension and creamy complexity of a Champagne of terroir with absolute patience and sincerity.