Vouette et Sorbee ‘Extrait’ Extra Brut, Champagne, France, 2011, 750ml

The wine takes its name from the French for ‘extract’, which is exactly what it is—a barrel’s worth of wine extracted from a single vintage. In fact, this is a blend drawn from the Domaine’s finest Pinot Noir and Chardonnay barrels with the composition following the percentage of each variety harvested that year. So while it generally comes in around 60% Pinot Noir and 40% Chardonnay, the final blend depends on the harvest (for example, the 2005 was 70% Pinot Noir). Furthermore, the terroirs that supply this cuvée are not set in stone; Gautherot simply selects his favourite parcels by taste (although the Chardonnay almost always comes from Biaunes and the Pinot Noir often comes from the Portlandian Sorbée vineyard) to make up the blend. The wine spends between nine and ten years on lees before being disgorged by hand. The 2008 reflects the quality of the vintage – it’s a beautifully sleek and complex wine, extremely mineral, with a complex, chalky crackle that can be reminiscent of a great Manzanilla Pasada.