Bonheur 2020 Blanc de Noir Sparkling Wine

• made with 100% Estate Grown Pinot Noir Grapes

• Zero Dosage

• 20 mg/l total sulphur additions

• second tranche released by customer order

• 31 months “en tirage” at disgorging; hand riddled and hand disgorged

• bright acidity with subtle autolytic flavour 

Tasting notes by Rick van Sickle

Last House Blanc de Noir Bonheur Traditional Method 2020 ($48, 93 points) — I first tasted this Pinot Noir-based, traditionally-made sparkling wine last fall at the Last House estate while sitting on the front porch of Gagné and Mathews’ home overlooking the vineyard. It was the first disgorging, unlabelled and awaiting VQA approval at the time. When first tasted, it spent 28 months on its lees but this iteration now has 48 months of lees aging as Gagné hand disgorges 24 bottles at time by himself as needed. The fruit was sourced from estate grapes planted in 2018, so third leaf Pinot Noir that was whole cluster pressed. It was wild fermented in stainless steel. There is zero dosage added and it’s bottled unfiltered and unfined. It shows a deepening golden colour in the glass with a much more flinty/bready/brioche nose before the ripe pear, green apple, lemon curd, salinity, white flowers, and savoury notes kick in. The bead is gentle and persistent in the glass. It’s about pure elegance and pinpoint minerality on the palate with savoury stone fruits, biscuit and brioche, flint, bright and zesty citrus all leading to beautiful freshness, an elegant flair to the bubbles and a lingering, lifted finish. It’s pure joy in the glass with robust bubbles tickling the senses. The fetching label is from a painting by artist Stewart Jones that hangs in the family’s home and brings a sense of happiness, as the name of this wine — Bonheur — joyfully suggests.