I follow MC2 and their notes but I have to disagree on the take that this is all edges. Last night we had the October 2017 disgorgement, poured blind side by side with the 2012 Les Bermonts. The GR showed peach, apple and then with air the cherry component really shined through, deep red berry signature. Slatey with great complexity and when this became still, it was a pleasure. At 10 years old, no sulfur added and to me no signs of oxidation at all showing.

Served blind last night alongside the 2012 La Grand Ruelle. 100% Chard, no dosage. Initially, this gave me an impression of pastry tart. As the wine evolved, it was at first taut and citrusy but with air a honeyed apple impression came through, with tangy lime, ultimately an apple pie filling/crust note. Just give this air and it will expand and show nicely. I did prefer the La Grand Ruelle last night, as I thought that wine was more complex, whereas this Bermonts is drinking well now.

Served blind, alongside the Larmandier-Bernier Les Chemins d'Avize (which I found more polished whereas the Suenen here more powerful). I have to admit that this Suenen fooled me big time. My notes have several indicators of BdN yet this wine is 100% Chardonnay. Disgorged December 2019, 2 grams of dosage. I wanted to put this on Pinot Noir but when the host told us this was Cramant, I knew I had missed the mark! Powerful wine with breadth and notes of saline and concentration. While citrusy, I could swear there was black cherry and raspberry in this bottle. Sometimes, we want to know but we really don't! This for me was one of the best wines of the night, unique and terrific.

Served blind alongside the 2013 Suenen Oiry La Cocluette. When we started to voice our guesses around the table, I correctly put this wine on L-B. For me, I recognized the style, as there is a polish and signature with L-B that sticks with me and I just had the sense that this was in my glass. I went onto guess Levant (which is Cramant old vine) but that was close but wrong. Disgorged January 2020. 100% Chard, with 2 grams of dosage. The barrique influence is here, a little aroma of toast in the aromatic. Polished and stony in the finish. Green apple, citrus and the chalk imprint. L-B does such a consistently good job with their best cuvees, this again was an example of that skill for me.

Third bottle this year, the most recent bottle a week ago and I am getting now a pretty good impression of 2015 Eff. Could not read the disgorge date via the etching as it was double etched. When we poured this wine last night, the host had arrayed it alongside the 2014 Eff, both were bagged and blinded. I had put the 2015 onto Chardonnay as a guess, as I kept smelling green apple. But when this finally went still and warmed up, then the impression morphed into tutti-frutti and a fruit punch quality. Good density but the 2015 does not have the depth nor the structure of the 2014. Overall, this aligns with my impression of the previous 2 bottles of the 2015, leading me to again believe and conclude that the 2015 is a more impressionable wine for the short-term. And it's probably not fair to compare this to the 2014, which is a wine of depth, structure, purity. It also shows why vintage matters and how it can render a cuvee like Efflorescence to be different across two vintages.

Served last night side by side (blind and bagged) with the 2015 Efflorescence. And, the 2014 was from the December 2018 disgorgement. This is bottle #11 of the 2014 since release, and it's an iconic wine for my Champagne experience because it was the wine that very early on led me to the appreciation and respect I have for Dominique Moreau's winemaking skill. Last night's bottle was again beautiful. Stony, with concentrated red fruit, with the pedigree of length and balance. And as I have remarked so many times now, don't drink these wines too cold, and instead let them warm up and go still. Then, the beauty is revealed. I tell you, the 2014 is aging wonderfully and continues to reflect and bring a joy that is remarkable for me.

Served blind. Disgorged October 2019, made without sulfur and from 100% Pinot Noir. As I sat with this wine, and admittedly I have some sense of what the host buys/drinks that brought this wine, I decided to lay a guess on this as Ruppert-Leroy. The color (a little bronzy) yet plenty of energy, pounded rock nose, the texture. Seemed like a good fit for a R-L cuvee. As for which one, I lack the chops to guess that closely. Cinnamon apple, with a tight finish that smoothed out with air. And this was wine #7 of 8 that was served during the meal and admittedly my palate was starting to fatigue by this point so my notes are not as complete here as I strive to write.

Served blind. And forgot I had been served a bottle of this just 2 months ago. Disgorged October 2015, no dosage and 100% PM. When this hit the glasses, the color was reflective of a golden hue. The darkest wine of the 8 we had last night. Stony, some maple (perhaps this is the age coming through?), nectarine, generous and despite the influence of the color, this remains fresh in flavor. This was the final bottle of the night and my palate was getting fatigued so I did the best I could to sense and note some things but my note here is underserving.