Cedric Bouchard Val Vilaine 2019

Cédric Bouchard's NV Blanc de Noirs Côte de Val Vilaine (2019) is beautiful, wafting from the glass with aromas of pear, green apple, clear honey, fresh bread, almond paste, white flowers and mirabelle plum. Medium to full-bodied, layered and vinous, it's satiny and textural, with an enveloping core of fruit, superb concentration and incisive acids. Chiseled and penetrating, it concludes with a long, saline finish. If the 2018 was immediate and demonstrative, this has structure to burn with age, charming though it is out of the gates, and I'm inclined to nominate it Bouchard's finest Val Vilaine to date.