AR LENOBLE INTERNATIONAL

PRESS REVIEW
2020

JANCIS ROBINSON
« AR Lenoble is probably the most admired boutique family house right now. There is an international
buzz and it reflects the outburst of family creative energy in the past few years from brother and sister
owners Antoine and Anne Malassagne. Based in Damery in the Marne, independent and family-owned, the house’s jewel of
terroir quality is their 10 hectares of Chardonnay in Grand Cru Chouilly on the Côte des Blancs. It provides the finesse and elegant
minerality which is the heart of all their wines. Ploughing the soil, grassing the alleys (for low yields) and near-organic HVE-certified
viticulture and winery practices all make for intense fruit and fresh precision in all their wines. Here is a small house making a big
point. »

DECANTER

« AR Lenoble Intense mag 15 is one of the best brut non-vintages to buy. With 45% of vins de réserve
and a 2015 base, this cuvée from this independent house shows a delicate and lively bouquet with
spring flowers, citrus and chalky notes. It has a dynamic and tense structure, perfectly balanced. This little house is starting to get
the word out. »

« AR Lenoble Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs Chouilly Vintage 2008 contains mushroom and honeyed, evolved richness. Seductive
with acidity holding up well. Fine mousse, very classy. »

PETER LIEM
«The wines of Chouilly are marked by a broad build and creamy richness. Tempered by the
Marne River to the North, the microclimate of Chouilly is also warmer, making it a departure
from other villages in the Côte des Blancs. As a consequence, the chardonnay from this village
can yield expansive and voluptious wines with forward ripeness and soft structure. AR Lenoble
Les Aventures is a superb expression of Chouilly, balancing creamy richness with soil-driven
complexity.»

ORGANIC AUTHORITY
« AR Lenoble is one of the last independent, wholly family-owned producers in Champagne. Since 2010,
the team has taken care to age reserve wines in magnums under natural cork, in order to preserve the sought-after freshness so
characteristic of the local wine. The magnum format allows the wine to develop a subtle aroma that, when blended with non-
vintage Champagnes, gives them a unique and exceptional flavor. »
 SEVEN FIFTY DAILY

« Champagne AR Lenoble in Damery is one of the region’s most vocal supporters of immediate action
to combat climate change. »

VINE PAIR
«  At Champagne AR Lenoble, reserve wine comprised an unprecedented 45 percent of this year’s non-vintage release, Brut
Intense mag 15. AR Lenoble keeps reserves in its cellars in Damery, roughly 70,000 magnums under natural cork and under a bar
and a half of atmospheric pressure. This is working for the time being, but it’s a pricey solution. For a small, 100 percent family-
owned, independent house like AR Lenoble, the investment was, and continues to be, massive. »

THE GUARDIAN

« This small, family-owned house makes some of the finest and best-value champagne around. The
réserve perpetuelle, a store of old wines topped up with new wine each year, is a fascinating winemaking fashion in Champagne,
with AR Lenoble’s superbly vital, rich but incisive fizz an example of how it can add depth and life to non-vintage fizz. »

TYSON STELZER
« Since 2010 harvest, reserve magnums have been bottled under 1.5 atmospheres of pressure & sealed
with corks to achieve autolytic ageing on lees & slow oxidative evolution not possible in tanks. No
easy process, since it’s tricky to disgorge at this low pressure. These magnums have been blended
with reserves aged in foudres, barriques & stainless steel vats to form a perpetual reserve. Every year,
part of the blend of this cuvée is kept in magnums as the perpetual reserve. The first of the exciting new Mag era is an
impeccably crafted cuvée of integrity & poise that reflect its noble fruit sources, boasting a complexity commensurate
with its super-detailed and labour-intensive reserve regime. »

WINE ENTHUSIAST

94/100 Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs Chouilly “mag 15”– « EDITORS CHOICE »
93/100 Brut Intense “mag 15”
92/100 Brut Nature Dosage Zero “mag 14”
90/100 Rosé Terroirs Chouilly-Bisseuil

FALLSTAFF
96/100 Les Aventures Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs Chouilly
93/100 Brut Intense “mag 15”
93/100 Premier Cru Blanc de Noirs Bisseuil 2012
93/100 Brut Nature Dosage Zero “mag 14”
92/100 Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs Chouilly “mag 15”

ROBERT PARKER

« There are some gorgeous cuvées to discover from the brother-sister team of Antoine and Anne Malassagne at Domaine AR
Lenoble in Damery. Especially exciting are the Grand Cru wines from Chouilly on the Côte des Blancs. »

WINE SPECTATOR

92/100 Rosé Terroirs Chouilly-Bisseuil

«  Firm, almost crunchy in texture, this fresh rosé Champagne is lightly spiced and minerally, offering saline-laced
flavors of dried white cherry, slivered almond, blood orange pith and lemon thyme. Satiny finish. » 
TIM HALL
« Antoine and Anne Malassagne seem to coax increasing intensity, structure yet featherlight texture and airy weight, with high
levels of reserve wines, dosages all below extra brut and judicious oak. »

LANGTON’S
« It is salutary to note the time span involved -- nine years from the original decision to the release of the first wines that had reserve
magnums included in the blend. It’s also worth noting that the proportion of reserve wines used to make these Champagnes is
between 35% and 45% of the final blend. »

FRANK SMULDERS, MW
« I love this house, a bit under the radar somehow but these days it’s on par with the best producers. AR Lenoble
Cuvée Gentilhomme Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs Chouilly Vintage 2013 is all toasted bread and brioche on the nose,
slightly nutty and a bit Fino-like. It is a wonderfully elegant yet intense tasting wine. It has amazing length, repeating
the purity that is so much the Lenoble hallmark. »

NICK JACKSON, MW
« There’s a revolution going on in Champagne, with a movement away from wines blended
across the whole region and subject to long, autolytic aging, and towards more and more precision:
single variety, single village or even single vineyard wines, a little like the Burgundy model. And these
wines are thrilling. When tasting them you have to forget everything you thought you knew about
champagne and instead taste them for what they tell you about their grape varieties or origins. And
suddenly the region and its wines become so much more fascinating, when you start to distinguish
these subtle differences in taste and style. Some of the producers I visited who are making stunning examples in this new world
of champagne include Marguet, Vilmart, AR Lenoble, Eric Rodez and Bérêche. »

WINE & SPIRITS

90/100 Rosé Terroirs Chouilly-Bisseuil
« Mostly chardonnay from the Grand Cru village of Chouilly, with eight percent pinot noir, this is a rich and toasty rosé. It’s copper-
pink in color and carries the fresh flavor of strawberries dusted with sugar, bright and a little citrusy. The chalky abrasion of Cote
des Blancs acidity integrates into a lovely tension with the fruit, bringing you back for another taste. »

SOCIAL VIGNERONS
«  AR Lenoble is a family-owned boutique champagne house that puts every posible bit of their know-how and effort into
crafting every single incredible cuvee they make. »

GUIDE DES MEILLEURS VINS DE FRANCE 2020

Champagne AR Lenoble 2 STARS

« The work carried out by Anne Malassagne and her brother Antoine has taken this pretty little house in Damery
to the top. The range of cuvées is doing admirably well, offering styles that suit all circumstances. »

Le coup de : Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs 2008 17/20

Intense « mag 15 » 16/20
Brut Nature – Dosage Zéro « mag 14 » 16/20
Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs Chouilly « mag 15 » 16.5/20
Premier Cru Blanc de Noirs Bisseuil 2012 16/20
Rosé Terroirs 15.5/20
Gentilhomme Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs Chouilly 2009 17/20
Les Aventures Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs Chouilly 18/20
 GUIDE BETTANE & DESSEAUVE 2020
Champagne AR Lenoble ***

«  Anne and Antoine Malassagne passionately took over the family home in 1993, following their father,
throwing all their energy and talent into the execution of great style champagnes, chiseled and energetic,
always with very little dosage. Based in Damery, the house gives pride of place to Chardonnay which comes
from the Grand Cru village of Chouilly where it owns 10 hectares. Recently, the brut, called Intense, has been
completely redesigned, the reserve wines are now aged in magnums under natural cork, bringing more
body and complexity to the champagne. The version currently available comes from the base of the 2015
harvest. The rest of the range is in unison with the efforts made, offering precision and pleasure, with some very fine vineyard
expressions. »

Intense « mag 15 » 15.5/20

Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs Chouilly « mag 15 » 15.5/20
Brut Nature – Dosage Zéro « mag 14 » 16/20
Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs Chouilly 2008 17/20
Gentilhomme Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs Chouilly 2009 17/20
Les Aventures Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs Chouilly 17.5/20
Premier Cru Blanc de Noirs Bisseuil 2012 15/2

THE FINANCIAL TIMES

« AR Lenoble is one of the growers of the moment. »

CHAMPAGNE SWEDEN
« AR Lenoble is one of our favourite producers in Champagne and we believe they will be one of the absolute best
within less than 10 years. »

WINE-SEARCHER
«  AR Lenoble’s 18 hectares of vineyards have been certified Haute Valeur Environnementale since 2012. They are
practising near-organic viticulture with one important caveat, as they do not feel comfortable treating mildew with copper sulfate
since they are worried about the long-term effects of copper in the soil. It rains more in Champagne than almost any other region
in France. Mildew is a recurring problem. If AR Lenoble has to treat it periodically with drastic limits on the use of phytosanitary
inputs to control both mildew and powdery mildew, they would prefer to treat it periodically rather than to introduce large
amounts of copper into the soil. »

I VINI DI WINENEWS
« AR Lenoble was the second house in Champagne to earn the Haute Valeur Environnementale certification, a fact that attests
to the attention the company places on the issues of sustainability and biodiversity. »

FREDRIK SCHELIN, BESTCHAMPAGNE.SE

96/100 Les Aventures Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs Chouilly

DER FEINSCHMECKER
«  Today AR Lenoble’s champagnes have a reputation for their particularly full-bodied texture and their perfectly
integrated, creamy perlage. »

MADAME FIGARO
« At AR Lenoble, eco-commitment consists of reconstructing the natural biotope. By leaving fallow plots, replanting trees and
flowers where bees forage, creating a virtuous circle which enriches the life of the soil and naturally provides the vine with all
the nutrients it needs. Healthy grapes don’t need treatments. »