Paul Bara Marie de France Blanc de Noirs 2015

• One of the finest Blanc de Noirs ever
• Combines the power of Pinot Noir with the mineral finesse of the Grand Cru Bouzy

The Blanc de Noirs Marie de France from old Pinot Noir vines in the Grand Cru Bouzy is one of the icons of Champagne and has made Paul Bara famous. The 2015 vintage is well-structured, mineral but still underdeveloped aromatically. It needs a few years of ageing before it gains in richness and nutty, smoky complexity. Bouzy produces full-bodied champagnes that have a firm mineral structure and refined freshness in the best vineyards;

Marie de France from Bara is one of the best Blanc de Noirs, known for its ability to develop over decades. Over the years, it develops fascinating flavours of grilled hazelnuts and smoky notes of gunpowder. Paul Baras 1959 won the Blanc de Noirs category of the most prestigious Champagne tasting of all time, the Millennium Tasting in 1999. In April 2019, I was able to taste the perfect 1982.

The Baras have been growing wine in Bouzy since 1833, but it was Paul, who managed the estate for over 60 years until his death in 2015, who made it the flagship of Bouzy. Today, under the management of Chef de Cave Christian Forget, the Bara house is "still the most quality-obsessed grower in Bouzy. Only the first pressing is used, the wines are aged for at least four years in the cold cellar, and the yield is maintained at the lowest possible level" as Richard Juhlin writes on champagneclub.com. Marie de France is made from old Pinot Noir vines from the best of the 30-odd parcels in the region.

Bouzy, along with Ambonnay and Ay, is one of the most famous Pinot Noir vineyards in Champagne, where particularly full-bodied, concentrated wines are produced on steep south-facing slopes, and the terroir of fine-pored, very old chalk also provides mineral tension and freshness. However, Bouzy champagnes rarely achieve the finesse and complexity that Paul Bara has already achieved with the Special Club. The Marie de France offers an even richer palette of aromas.

At the end of the 1960s, Paul Bara named his best Pinot Noir champagne Comtesse Marie de France after the daughter of Eleanor of Aquitaine. He registered the trademark separately, so that Marie de France is labelled as MA, but is produced from Bara grapes by Bara.

91 Richard Juhlin champagneclub.com

750 mL

12.5

Champagne

Pinot noir

Sulphites

• Brut

France

Paul Bara, 4 Rue Yvonnet, 51150 Bouzy, Frankreich