NV AR Lenoble - Champagne Brut Intense (750ml)

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(40% Chardonnay, 30% Pinot Noir and 30% Pinot Meunier; L 13 04209 25 10): Pale gold. Fresh pear, tangerine and buttered toast on the mineral-accented nose. Fleshy but focused on the palate, offering juicy citrus and orchard fruit flavors, plus a hint of white pepper that adds back-end lift and cut. Finishes stony and incisive, with a sexy floral nuance coming in late.-JR

A spare, faintly dank and decidedly sour - though, for all that, not uninteresting - non-dose blend tasted alongside could scarcely have contrasted more vividly with Lenoble's NV Brut Intense Disg. 2/2013, which is as immediately affable a wine as I tasted from the Malassagnes on this occasion. This largely tank-raised blend of 30% Meunier grown in Damery with 40% Chardonnay and 30% Pinot from Chouilly and Bisseuil respectively is rather Ruwer Riesling-like in its evocations of smoke-tinged fresh lime and red currant suffused with distinct stoniness as well as saliva-inducing salinity. Polished in feel and infectiously juicy, it finishes with mouthwatering, stimulating tartness and tang. I suspect this will be best enjoyed in its bracingly bright, juicy present state, though a hint of piquant nuttiness in the finish is apt to grow with time in bottle and for some tasters enhance the wine's appeal.-DS