NV Champagne Alfred Tritant L'Instant Blanc de Blancs 750 ml

Vintage Champagnes get all the love, all the respect. They’re aged longer than most nonvintage bubblies—usually five years or more before release—and they have the price tags to match.

But what if a Champagne were made from two totally different but equally incredible vintages? What if it were treated like a vintage wine and aged a luxurious seven years on the lees?

You would have a Champagne on your hands greater than the sum of its parts—one that reaches heights no vintage could reach on its own. 

You would have Alfred Tritant’s L'Instant, a simply exceptional Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs.

It’s a blend of the utterly classic, svelte 2013 vintage and the ripe, powerful 2012 crop, which grower Charles Philipponnat likened to the legendary 1988 and 1959 vintages!

Before the 1980s, Tritant sold all their grapes to Moët and Clicquot. Now they keep them all. They typically sell everything at the winery, but after we met proprietors Jean-Luc and Mathilde and tasted with them, we worked for months to score a small allocation of this stellar Champagne. 

This rich, full-bodied Champagne is 100% Grand Cru Chardonnay from Bouzy and Ambonnay, both 100% Grand Cru-rated villages in Montagne de Reims. It’s sustainably farmed, hand-harvested, and given an incredible seven-year sojourn on the lees. The dosage is 5.5g/L, rounding out the mouthfeel nicely without adding excessive sweetness. 

Tritant is a TINY house, farming 19 plots that cover a mere seven acres, producing just over 2,000 cases each year. Because of this minuscule production, they aren’t much of a candidate for a traditional importer—but they were perfect for us to import it ourselves and bring straight to our members.