80% Pinot Noir; 20% Chardonnay.

Pale straw yellow color.  Dense, bold and forward on the nose: autolytic white and yellow orchard fruit, baking spices, mineral and breakfast sandwich.  Think meat cheesy sourdough.  Gutsy on the palate, medium-full: Fuji apple, bartlett pear, mirabelle, lime citrus.  Huge bead.  Youthful, excitable mousse.  Our conclusions on this Brut Réserve NV is similar to Bara’s Grand Rose NV: extroverted and mouth-filling fruit; its got size and weight.  It is just not all that complex.  Bara’s vines are supposed to have some maturity so wait a couple years before opening these NVs again to see if we get a better sense of what lies underneath.  For now, stuck in that place between fair and good or, as our friend Glenn likes to say, “fairly good”.

We (more specifically I) came into this with anticipation of Paul Bara wines as some of the best champagnes from Bouzy and we are reminded that wine is better off without the burden of expectations.  In the end, final judgement deferred on Paul Bara until we try his Tête de Cuvée ‘Comtesse Marie’.