2022 "The Assembly" Blanc de Noirs - Whitlands VIC

An impeccable expressive sparkling (60% Pinot Noir/40% Pinot Meunier) from Clare Burder. 

Clare's notes are very good, so I've used them here

Blanc de noir is French for 'white from black' - meaning this is white wine, made from black (or red) pinot noir and pinot meunier grapes. This is possible because the colour in these grapes is all in the skins, so if we press very gently, the juice that comes out is almost clear because the skins don't break. 

So if the blanc de blanc is an experience of effortless & charming chardonnay, the blanc de noir is the seductive opposing force. This wine has a more robust structure and broader, bigger, rounder shape; the flavours are built around a core of sweet red fruit - think plum tart and roasted strawberry - alongside some interesting sesame/cocoa/pine nut characters which is likley the influence of the lees ageing. It's altogether more vinous (wine-ey) and more complicated than the blanc de blanc, and for those who gravitate towards red wines, you will likely find this more satsfying.

To go back a step, the base wines were made from our Whitlands grown grapes, all sourced from the 2022 season. Hand picked, gently pressed to neutral barrels for the primary ferment with no yeast, sulphur or enzyme additions. Most barrels went through malo and aged on gross lees in barrel for 11 months before blending. The blended base wine was then filtered and prepped for the second ferment, which happens in bottle. Once fermented, it aged on lees in bottles for two years prior to disgorging. 

And against well-meaning advice, we disgorged this wine with no dosage, meaning it it has no residual sugar at all. As I've said before, no dosage means nothing to hide behind and so it exposes the framework of the acid - which is this case shows the undulating, less polished acid of the pinot and meunier - concentrated in the mid palate but also amplified by the higher level of phenolics.