Taittinger Champagne Brut La Francaise NV (375ml) 070226ROBUST spends 36 months on the

spends 36 months on the lees

this bottling in particular is defined by an herbaceous and piney character with a distinct gentian note

The fruit comes from 26- to 30-year-old vines and ferments in stainless steel to keep everything bright and unadorned

A Bavarian-style wheat beer from Portland's Occidental Brewing

and the wines that survived lean toward freshness and red-fruited transparency rather than muscle - which suits this site well

Taittinger Champagne Brut La Francaise NV (375ml) 070226ROBUST spends 36 months on theThe half bottle is an underrated format: two good glasses, no commitment, no flat Champagne going sad in the fridge door. This is Taittinger's house wine, and its house style is Chardonnay forward at roughly 40% of the blend, unusually high for a big house non vintage, with Pinot Noir and Meunier filling in the middle. It spends close to four years on its lees in the chalk cellars beneath Reims, far past the legal minimum, which is where the texture