Clandestin is growing into an ambitious negociant project in Landreville, working with 11 organic growers in the Côte des Bar to put together Champagnes that focus on either north-facing (Boréal) or south-facing (Austral) vineyards. The style at Clandestin is frank, even austere at times, but with a beguiling aromatic complexity and presence from intense fruit and smart oak vinification. It is the cooler, more incisive and precise Boréal cuvée that shines in the hot 2022 base, with some of the juiciness of the year opening up with Comice pear and tangerine fruit before complex layers of jasmine, dried lime and lightly resinous notes. Firm and imposing but not heavy, 100% Pinot Noir.

The most chiseled wine in the range this year is the NV Brut Nature Boréal, derived from six north-facing parcels on clay-limestone soils—that is, from cooler sites. Disgorged in September 2024, it unfurls in the glass with aromas of nashi pear, orange zest and lily, mingled with white top notes of ripe red apple and quince. Medium-bodied and rich yet incisive, it’s animated by a tangy spine of acidity and concludes with a long, bone-dry finish. Benoît Doussot recalls that the harvest took place around August 20. The wine comes across as somewhat precocious and is best enjoyed in the near term.