EPC Champagne Blanc de Blancs Brut NV

Comes off the chalky, clay and sandy soils of Champagne’s Coteaux du Sézannais and, specifically, the EPC Winegrowers’ Group in Bethon. The vintage is noted on the back label as 2022. Brings an impressive depth of flavour to what is a beautifully precise and elegant Champagne. Aromas rise complex and clean in grapefruit, lemon zest, pear, Nice biscuit and light florals. The palate is finely textured and quite taut in structure, a good indicator of its potential down the track. This is a Champagne that would love a little more time in bottle.  Brings light savoury preserved lemon and quince to the palate alongside baked apple, almond and spice. Runs a long linear line of fresh lemon and grapefruit citrus with a chalky finish. Complex now and will reward opening (the maker suggests a pairing with Thai coconut chicken), but there’s plenty of energy for a bright future, too. Exclusive to Dan Murphy’s.

Jeni Port

Wine critic at Winepilot

Jeni Port is one of Australia’s top wine communicators. Based in Melbourne, Jeni created the first wine column in the (then) Sun News-Pictorial before moving over to The Age and becoming that paper’s longest-serving wine writer. Over the years she has written for most Australian wine magazines and these days calls WinePilot home. She is also a Tasting Panel member on the Halliday Wine Companion. She was named Wine Communicator of the Year and Legend of the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival in 2014 and in 2018 Legend of the Vine. She is a founding board member of Australian Women In Wine and is the co-deputy chair of Australia’s Wine List of the Year Awards and China’s Wine List of the Year Awards.

Wine writer and critic