Blanc de Noirs

What blanc de noirs is

Blanc de noirs translates as white from black. The wine is made from dark-skinned grapes that get pressed straight after harvest, before the skins can release colour. Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier or a blend of the two form the base.

In the glass the wine ranges from pale gold to straw with a faint copper tint. The flavour weight runs heavier than blanc de blancs. Red apple, pear, brioche, sometimes red fruit on the finish. More texture, less citrus bite.

How the style works

The trick lives in the press cycle. Champagne presses run a slow, low-pressure schedule defined by the Comité Champagne. The first juice, the cuvée, comes out almost colourless. Later fractions, the tailles, carry more pigment and tannin and tend to be used in lower-tier wines or sold off.

Pinot Noir from the Montagne de Reims gives structure and length. Meunier from the Vallée de la Marne brings volume and early-drinking fruit. Both varieties handle warm vintages better than Chardonnay, which becomes a useful trait as harvest dates keep moving forward.

What rarely gets said

Standard guides claim that blanc de noirs is always fuller and heavier than a blanc de blancs. That only holds for the old high-dosage style. A modern Brut Nature from pure Pinot Noir can run tighter and leaner than a heavily dosed blanc de blancs from an industrial house. Bollinger Vieilles Vignes Françaises, the benchmark UK collectors chase, sits closer to chiselled than to opulent.

The grape does not predict the taste. The grape predicts a potential the vigneron either realises or wastes. Treating blanc de noirs as a synonym for weight ignores half the production.

At the table

Blanc de noirs handles dishes where a blanc de blancs runs too light. Smoked salmon, grilled langoustines, veal cheek in a delicate sauce. With a properly aged example, even a mature Comté holds up.

Price for a serious grower sits between forty-five and eighty pounds, or sixty to a hundred dollars. Below that you usually get young commercial wine; above that means single-vineyard or vintage releases. For first exploration the middle band beats both ends.