Millesime Brut Terre d'Illite 2019
Mousse Fils

80% Meunier 20% Pinot Noir
Extra-Brut: 2.5 g/L dosage

91 pts Vinous (Galloni)
The 2019 Brut Blanc de Noirs Terre D’Illite is another expressive, open-knit Champagne in this range. A blend of 80% Meunier and 20% Pinot Noir, the 2019 nicely balances the house style in this release with plum, kirsch, spice and cedar notes. This is soft and inviting with tons of red fruit character. Dosage is 2.5 grams per liter. Disgorged: December 21, 2022.
- By Antonio Galloni on November 2023

Our Tasting Note:
If we had to, we were more of a 94 on this one - our fave of the main wines, though Mon Village was neck and neck with it (93+)...both solid B+ wines that could grow into an A range with a little more bottle age. I don't love giving my own scores as I think an exact number is kind of stupid for a wine...for another time.
Med+ yellow color, golf flecks. Med+/pronounced nose, rich with red berry and golden orchard fruits, started medium in aroma intensity and grew with air just inching into pronounced for me. Med/med+ acidity, medium bodied, with med+ flavor intensity. A very persistent finish. Very, very delicious and broad, very complex.

The name of this wine originates from the green clays. Indeed, our soils are very shallow, with very draining limestone marls, and systematically a thick layer of green clay, usually named “Illite” in pedology. During long dry periods, especially in summer, the green clay is the only soil where humidity persists. The delicacy and purity of these clays guarantee a water supply to our grapes. The identity of this geological wine comes from our choice to only select the plots having the thickest layers of green clay.
2019: harvest began September 17th, after quite a humid winter, a precocious spring, with widespread frosts, especially in the bottom of the plots.

Winemaking

• Grapes hand-picked in market gardening crates
• Malolactic fermentation
• Use of homemade mine sulfur: 11mg/l H2SO4
• Dosage: 2.5g/l
• 36 months on the lees disgroged 12/21/2022