R.H. Coutier· Ambonnay

Ambonnay is one of the great Pinot Noir villages of Champagne, and the Coutier family has farmed here since 1619, long before grower Champagne was a category anyone could market. Antoine Coutier is the thirteenth generation, and the house is often credited as one of the first in the region to bottle its own wine rather than sell the fruit to the houses. That history is worn lightly across nine and a half hectares of chalk and clay-limestone.

This is grower Champagne with Grand Cru muscle. The Pinot dominates, vinified with a touch of oak, fifteen percent new, and held a minimum of forty-eight months on lattes before disgorgement. The Henri III cuvée, off vines planted in 1953, has a red-fruited depth and structure you rarely find in Blanc de Noirs.

I treat Coutier as the Ambonnay anchor of my Champagne list. It over-delivers against its price, which means I never have enough of it.