Pierre Baillette Champagne Grand Cru 'Coeur de Craie Verzenay' 2018

Trois-Puits, seven kilometres south of Reims, has a relatively low profile as a Champagne-producing village. But Domaine Pierre Baillette is set to swiftly change that. Périne Baillette is the ex-wife of Alexandre Chartogne of Chartogne-Taillet, one of the most influential figures of Champagne's burgeoning grower movement. She is also a formidable talent in her own right, and took over the winemaking at her family's tiny estate in 2012.

With a commitment to organic farming and ploughing by horse, Périne makes tightly-knit, intensely mineral wines, which are aged in chalk caves beneath the winery. Bottled with very low dosage, the results are Champagnes of great personality and charm.

From 3.5ha of Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and 65-year-old Pinot Meunier vines in Trois-Puits 1er Cru, Périne produces her signature non-vintage 'Le Village' cuvée, with a salinity and grip she attributes to the 15cm of chalk in the Trois-Puits soils.

She also crafts two all-Pinot wines: 'Bulles Roses' – a spicy, rosé saignée from 'Les Bas Moutons' – and 'Coeur de Craie de Verzenay' – a textural yet poised cuvée from the 0.28ha 'Le Pertois' lieu-dit in Verzenay Grand Cru.