Larmandier-Bernier Champagne Grand Cru Extra Brut Vieilles Vignes du Levant 2012 750 ML

93+ The 2012 Vieilles Vignes du Levant Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru Extra Brut has a golden-yellow color and opens with a pure, fresh, very deep and concentrated bouquet that reveals more matured fruit aromas than the 2009. There are stony notes on the nose, even dried fruit expressions. The mineral flavors seem to have filled up with iron in the 2011. With lots of brioche flavors on the palate, this is a very elegant and rather lean, purely mineral and linear vintage and a more challenging compared to the generous 2009. I find the 2012 a bit harsher in the tightly woven finish at the moment, but it is very salty and complex and definitely needs some big fish to soften its edges. Some stone-dried fruit flavors in the aftertaste.n93nThe 2011 Extra Brut Vieille Vigne de Levant Cramant Grand Cru is a big, imposing Champagne. Dried pear, smoke, slate, dried herbs and crushed flowers all resonate in the glass. The 2011 carries a real sense of old-vine gravitas and power. There is no shortage of intensity, but the slightly forward, oxidative flavor profile leads me to think the 2008 is best enjoyed sooner rather than later. Disgorged: September 2017. Dosage is 2 grams per liter.n