Flavien Nowack, Champagne 'Autre Cru' Blanc de Meunier Extra Brut (2022 base), NV

Blanc de Meunier is a Champagne category that barely exists on paper and matters enormously to those who love it. Meunier — long dismissed as the blending workhorse of the Marne — reveals a completely different face when vinified on its own: rounder, more aromatic, more immediately charming than Chardonnay, but with a complexity that sneaks up on you. Flavien Nowack's 'Autre Cru' is built on a 2022 base from Vandières and pushed to extra brut, a combination that keeps the grape's natural plushness in check and lets the terroir do the talking. A genuinely unusual and exciting bottle.