Adrien Dhondt 'Les Potees' Le Mesnil-Sur-Oger Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru Extra Brut 2019

93 pts Wine Advocate (Kelley)From a lieu-dit just below the tree line where the soils tend to be deeper, Dhondt's 2019 Extra-Brut Blanc de Blancs Mesnil sur Oger Les Potées delivers generous aromas of yellow orchard fruit, plums and pear mingled with notions of beeswax and buttery pastry. Medium to full-bodied, fleshy and vinous, it's layered and textural, with a charming, giving profile and a long, saline finish. As I wrote last year, Adrien Dhondt's small négociant project under his own name is the fruit of a desire to explore the terroirs of the southern end of Champagne's Côte de Blancs. Picking small parcels in different sites every year, the first releases from the 2018 vintage featured Avize, Le Mesnil sur Oger and Oger. In 2019, Dhondt instead opted to work with three plots in Mesnil sur Oger: Les Potées, from the top of the slope; Chétillons de haut, from mid-slope; and Les Coullemets, from the bottom of the slope. Readers versed in the Côte de Blancs's geology will remember