Larmandier’s prestige cuvee is produced from their oldest parcels of Chardonnay in the grand cru village of Cramant (along with a small amount of fruit from a holding in the Grand Cru Chouilly), and it spends a full five years on the lees before disgorgement. No dosage is present in our version of the 2008, but one would never even know it is missing—the wine’s depth and richness is extraordinary, voicing the sappy and dense character of the fruit Francois wrests from these old vines. Notes of pear tart, fresh figs, baked apples, and cherries f