A new Blanc de Noirs from Vilmart:
Nudging very close to perfection (SL)
Vilmart fans will not want to miss the new Extra-Brut Blanc de Noirs Les Blanches Voies
Antonio Galloni, vinous.com, May 2026
2017 Vilmart, Les Blanches Voies, Blanc de Noirs Extra Brut
£480 per 3 bottle case in bond
I have followed the wines of Laurent Champs since the early 1990s and have repeatedly stated that I am a fan. That said, this new addition to his range is without question one of the most exciting wines I have tasted in 2026.
That is not a statement I make lightly by any stretch.
For years, I have associated Laurent's finest wines with Chardonnay. The predominantly Chardonnay-based Coeur de Cuvée remains one of Champagne's great grower wines, while a bottle of the 2013 Les Blanches Voies Blanc de Blancs, enjoyed a few months ago, ranks among the finest Champagnes I have tasted this year. That bottle of Blanc de Blancs, tasted alongside 2008 Selosse Millésime no less, more than held its own, albeit in a very different register. Broader, more vinous, more textural. Pure Vilmart.
Which makes this release all the more remarkable.
The 2017 Les Blanches Voies Blanc de Noirs is Laurent Champs' first foray into Blanc de Noirs territory, produced entirely from Pinot Noir grown in the Les Blanches Voies parcel in Rilly-la-Montagne. Mature Premier Cru vines, élevage in oak and more than six years on lees have yielded a wine of enormous character and presence. Production amounted to just 2,900 bottles, of which I am pleased to have snaffled an allocation.
There is one big point to make…..Over the past decade, I have frequently commented on the gradual stylistic shift taking place in Champagne. Warmer growing seasons are producing riper fruit and naturally lower levels of acidity. Success increasingly hinges on judgement: vineyard management, harvest date and the ability to retain freshness and balance despite greater natural richness. For a single-parcel wine such as this, there is nowhere to hide. There is no blending away of excesses. Everything depends on what the vineyard delivers and the decisions taken by the grower to maximise the potential.
Some producers are better equipped for this new reality than others.
Laurent Champs has not changed his style. If anything, the conditions are simply moving in his favour.
His wines have always been among Champagne's most vinous. Oak-aged base wines, ripe fruit expression, texture and breadth have distinguished Vilmart for decades. Tom Stevenson famously described the wines as 'Montrachet with bubbles', and there is more than a grain of truth in that observation. What once seemed a distinctive stylistic choice now appears exceptionally well suited to the fruit profile that modern Champagne vintages increasingly provide.
Yet richness alone is not enough. The real achievement is balance. Time and again, Laurent manages to combine generosity and depth with remarkable precision. That is what separates Vilmart from many growers pursuing similarly ripe fruit profiles.
This 2017 Blanc de Noirs left me genuinely gobsmacked – and I can’t stress that enough. 2017 is not a Champagne vintage jam-packed with glorious successes.
My notes from last evening are as follows:
Deep in hue, as you might expect from a 100% Pinot Noir Champagne, it opens aromatically with juicy citrus fruit, then much riper fruit notes of peach and apricot, hints of fresh bread and crème anglaise (custard cream?). Yet for all its generosity, it remains wonderfully defined. This is an extrovert of a wine, full of flavour and personality, but never excessive. What impressed me most was its singular mouthfeel and the way it gained complexity with every passing minute in the glass. The finish was astonishingly long, precise and pure, but the overriding impression is of expressive yet balanced richness. Simply stunning.
Antonio Galloni awarded the wine 96 points following an earlier tasting, in May this year. His note is below.
2017 Vilmart, Les Blanches Voies, Blanc de Noirs Extra Brut
£480 per 3 bottle case in bond
96 points, Antonio Galloni, vinous.com, May 2026
A new wine from Vilmart, the 2017 Extra-Brut Blanc de Noirs Les Blanches Voies is 100% Pinot Noir from a site in Rilly-la-Montagne. Candied apricot, passion fruit, spice, hazelnut and kirsch all meld together in the glass. Readers will find a heady, exotic Champagne that shows a different side of Vilmart. The 2017 is wild and beguiling. My only regret is not having been able to spend more time with it at the domaine. Dosage is 5 grams per liter. Disgorged: January 2025. Dosage is just 5 grams per litre. Drink: 2027-2037
Having spent several hours with the wine yesterday, I cannot help feeling there is even more to it than Galloni captures - and he concedes he himself would have benefitted for more time with the wine. Critics tasted this wine back in May and I wonder whether its very individuality makes it difficult to assess against more classical benchmarks. I do not know the answer to that question. What I do know is that if I scored wines professionally, this would be nudging very close to perfection. 99 Larkin points? Quite simply, it blew me away.
Please let us know of your interest.
Simon
simon.larkin@atlasfinewines.com