Jacky Blot Montlouis Brut Tradition

In the entry for Jacky Blot’s Clos de Mosny I said that I must have already mentioned his Bourgeuils and Triple Zero sparkling. I turns out I hadn’t. The Bourgeuils I’ll leave for another day, but Triple Zero is a sparking Montlouis, 100% Chenin. There is no chaptalisation, no sugar syrup and no dosage – hence the name.

This isn’t Triple Zero, though (please try to keep up…) – this is a more standard methode champenoise that I’ve always wanted to compare to Triple Zero and which I picked up at Monsieur Vin in St Omer (see Bastide Saint Dominique.) It doesn’t have the gorgeous dry freshness of the TZ and the dosage gives it a much sweeter finish, but it’s a good value sparkler and a fine bottle with which to celebrate the 500th mile of virtual walking at the excellently-named Shitlington Hall on the Pennine Way.