Pascal Agrapart Mineral 2018 Blanc de Blanc Extra Brut

Strong and soft spoken, Pascal Agrapart has been working like this since 1984, well before todays grower Champagne boom. Peter Liem compares his reputation for outstanding Ctes des Blancs wines to that of Anselme Selosse. Farming is intended to sync with natural cycles, and only indigenous yeast is used, capitalizing again on each plots unique terroir.

The house is based in Avize, in the Ctes des Blancs, and unsurprisingly focuses on Chardonnay. Agrapart creates terroir-driven and focused wines of great minerality and complexity, from plots chosen specifically for each cuve. The farming is intuitive and meticulous; the work in the cellar is equally painstaking.

Critical Acclaim

95 Vinous

The 2018 Extra Brut Blanc de Blancs Minral Grand Cru is impressive, especially for the year. As always, the Minral is a blend from the Champboutons and Bionnes lieux-dits in Avize and Cramant, respectively. Creamy and resonant, with exquisite balance, the 2018 has so much to offer. Expressive floral, earthy and savory undertones frame a core of Chardonnay fruit. Vinification and aging in oak further softens the contours. Time in the glass amplifies the wines strong mineral accents. The 2018 is, quite simply, pristine. Dosage is 3 grams per liter.

94 Robert Parker Wine Advocate

The 2018 Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru Minral, disgorged in August 2024 with three grams per liter dosage, introduces the range of vintage wines. Defined by poor soils with just about 50 centimeters of topsoil, it comes from two chalk-based, old-vine parcels: Le Champ Bouton in Avize (vinified in tank) and Les Bionnes in Cramant (vinified in an old 600-liter barrel). In 2017, we lost about 50% to 60% due to frost, then in 2018 we harvested three times the volume of 2017, reveals Ambroise Agrapart, who is now making the wines, though his father is still very much present. More generously structured compared to the 2016 yet more precise than the 2017, it wafts from the glass with notes of tangerine zest, green apple and dried white flowers. Nakedly chalky with electric-like acidity, it maintains its reputation as the most tensile wine in the range, capturing the freshness much better than many other wines of this vintage.