J.L. Vergnon is a grower-producer in Le Mesnil-sur-Oger in the Côte des Blancs, farming Chardonnay exclusively in the Grand Cru vineyards of that village and producing a range of cuvées that explore different styles, sites and ageing periods within the Mesnil terroir. The Hautes Mottes is Vergnon’s single-vineyard expression from a specific lieu-dit within Le Mesnil-sur-Oger, one of Champagne’s most celebrated Grand Cru villages for Blanc de Blancs, whose deep chalk subsoil at 100–150 metres below the surface produces Chardonnay of extraordinary mineral precision, tension and ageing potential that is frequently compared to the finest Montrachet in its structural ambition. The Brut Nature designation confirms the absence of any dosage at disgorgement, making this a wine of absolute mineral purity whose character depends entirely on the quality of the base vintage.

The Hautes Mottes parcel, situated in the upper area of the Mesnil vineyard, is associated with the chalk-dominant, iron-mineral character that distinguishes the finest Mesnil from the broader Côte des Blancs Grand Cru expressions. A 2013 vintage from this site in the Brut Nature style, now aged for over a decade from harvest and released in the magnum format, will have developed an extraordinary depth of autolytic complexity alongside the vintage’s natural freshness and mineral precision. The 2013 Champagne vintage was cool and challenging, with very low yields producing wines of exceptional concentration and tension that have developed beautifully over the decade since harvest.

A 2013 Vergnon Hautes Mottes Brut Nature Magnum represents the most precisely terroir-specific and age-developed expression currently available from one of Le Mesnil-sur-Oger’s most dedicated small producers, in the format best suited to the wine’s long-term development. For collectors who seek the deepest and most mineral expressions of Le Mesnil Blanc de Blancs, this is an outstanding acquisition of the highest grower Champagne quality.

Pale gold with fine, persistent bubbles and an extraordinarily complex nose of white chalk mineral, preserved lemon, green apple, brioche, toasted almond and the distinctive deep silex minerality of Le Mesnil-sur-Oger Chardonnay at full development. Medium-bodied with electric natural acidity, remarkable concentration from the 2013 vintage and a long, bone-dry, mineral finish of great persistence. Best now through 2035.