Chardonnay Prestige Brut Nature – 2020

Chardonnay Prestige Brut Nature from Griesel Sekt with zero dosage

The 2020 Chardonnay Prestige Brut Nature from Griesel Sekt is a Blanc de Blancs made from pure Chardonnay from the Hessische Bergstraße, aged on the lees for thirty-four months. In the end, not a single gram of sugar is added, and only 3,000 bottles were filled.

Chardonnay Prestige Brut Nature 2020 is the dosage-free vintage sparkling wine from Griesel Sekt in Bensheim, grown on the barren granite soils of the Hessische Bergstraße. Blanc de Blancs means "white from white," a sparkling wine made solely from light-skinned grapes, and here that means pure Chardonnay without any blending. Brut Nature means that nothing is added to sweeten the wine after disgorgement—the sparkling wine must be able to stand on its own through fruit, acidity, and yeast aging.

Pear, almond blossom, and a hint of matcha

It smells of juicy pear and apple compote, accompanied by almond kernel and almond blossom, until fresh brioche rounds it all off.

On the palate, the first thing you notice is the perlage, so fine that it feels more like cushioning than fizz. Beneath it, the acidity draws a straight line, accompanied by a slightly tart note reminiscent of matcha and garden herbs. Right at the finish, a chalky minerality remains, the kind that barren soils tend to leave behind.

It meets oysters and raw fish on equal terms, as well as veal tartare or young goat cheese. Because it lacks a cushion of sugar, it also pairs well with lemon and vinegar, which would overpower milder sparkling wines. It should be served in a tulip glass, which gives it the space that its aromatics require.

Why not a single gram of sugar is added in the end

Most sparkling wines receive a dosage at disgorgement—a small amount of sugar that smoothes out rough edges and fills in gaps—whereas Brut Nature dispenses with this entirely.

This is only possible with a base wine that has nothing to hide. The Chardonnay grapes were harvested by hand in September 2020 and pressed so gently that only about half of the juice runs out of the berries; anything more would introduce tannins and therefore a coarser perlage.

With 7.2 grams of acidity per liter, the wine has great drive, and because no sulfur was added during disgorgement either, it is presented in the glass exactly as the cellar released it.

Thirty-four months on the lees

In the cellar, Niko Brandner and cellar master Rachele Crosara give things time. The musts ferment spontaneously, undergo malolactic fermentation, and then mature—three-quarters in stainless steel, the rest in small barriques.

In August 2021, the wine was bottled, neither filtered nor fined, along with the *tirage* for the second fermentation. It then lay in rest for thirty-four months, during which the perlage became finer and those brioche notes, typical of long yeast contact, were formed. The yeast was only expelled from the bottle in June 2024.

In the 2024 Falstaff Sparkling Special, the Chardonnay Prestige took third place in its category with 94 points. Out of 3,000 bottles, that is a manageable amount of happiness. Next to it are the Blanc de Noirs from the Tradition line and the Pinot Blanc Prestige, and among all sparkling wines, you can find other bottle-fermented options.