Rathfinny Blanc de Noirs

Note:

I found it interesting that the reviews for this wine were from over a year ago, either from before it was released (May 2022) or very shortly afterward. Most of the (good !) reviews had fairly marginal correlation with what I tasted as they tended to focus on primary fruit – which I suspect was all that was evident in January 2022 – but the note on Jancis’ site from 2022 does at least start to describe the wine I tasted, so is included. The wine I tasted: lovely, clean nose poised perfectly between ripeness and freshness. Profoundly savoury in the most positive way I can imagine – there is an abundance of fresh fruit, sure, but there is an autolytic, oyster shell and ozone element that I adore. Some ‘best of Chablis’ type aromatics here, despite it being a Blanc de Noirs. Then behind that you get the weight of sweetly nutty fruit. No oxidation, no bitterness, no wood, just a wealth of saline, meaty Pinot-ey fruit. Pretty much a perfect Blanc de Noirs (for me) and going to get better and better and better. Rathfinny recommend this with beef tartare, which I think would be an absolute dream. This absolutely obliterates lots of significantly more expensive Champagne for complexity.