Pierre Peters Les Chetillons Cuvee Speciale Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru Brut 2009
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The 2009 Brut Blanc de Blancs Cuvée Spéciale Les Chétillons is showing very well, though it has hardly budged since release and continues to offer up a youthful bouquet of citrus oil, honeycomb, freshly baked bread, oyster shell, warm biscuits and nougat. On the palate, it's full-bodied, fleshy and muscular, with a deep and layered core structured around abundant dry extract, concluding with a chalky finish. In a vintage that can be a little facile, this is a very serious, soil-driven Chétillons that has all the makings of a long-lived Champagne.
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For more than forty years, a mere percentage point separated Le Mesnil from Grand Cru status, and it wasn't until 1985 that the promotion came, even though many saw the village as the best of them all. Those grapes which grow in a belt at a height of 160-220 meters provide the most elegant champagnes the world has tasted. The cru has a very Special Chardonnay clone which gives a penetrating bouquet even when the actual content in a cuvée is small. Mesnil’s wines are often shy and acidic when young only to explode in a burst of colour and sensational pleasures.
The always smiling and tremendously skillful François Péters controls 17.5 hectares, twelve of which lie in the very best parts of Le Mesnil. For several years grapes from the [80-year] old vines in Les Chétillons were included in the vintage wine, but nowadays they make a Cuvée Spéciale from grapes from this unique location. . . . The enthusiasm over this wine all over the world is huge—and that’s before anyone has had a chance to taste a mature bottle. Mesnil's wines take a long time to mature, but champagne from Peters offers from the start an accessible fruitiness that resembles tangerine and a large portion of butterscotch and nut aromas. With age they become majestic and deep as a water well, full of coffee and walnut aromas and a fleeting vibrant exotic fruitiness. Pierre Péters is a hidden treasure of Champagne . . . and the prices are laughable considering the quality of the wines.
Representing the topmost expression of a Champagne house, a vintage Champagne is one made from the produce of a single, superior harvest year. Vintage Champagnes account for a mere 5% of total Champagne production and are produced about three times in a decade. Champagne is typically made as a blend of multiple years in order to preserve the house style; these will have non-vintage, or simply, NV on the label. The term, "vintage," as it applies to all wine, simply means a single harvest year.
Associated with luxury, celebration, and romance, the region, Champagne, is home to the world’s most prized sparkling wine. In order to bear the label, ‘Champagne’, a sparkling wine must originate from this northeastern region of France—called Champagne—and adhere to strict quality standards. Made up of the three towns Reims, Épernay, and Aÿ, it was here that the traditional method of sparkling wine production was both invented and perfected, birthing a winemaking technique as well as a flavor profile that is now emulated worldwide.
Well-drained, limestone and chalky soil defines much of the region, which lend a mineral component to its wines. Champagne’s cold, continental climate promotes ample acidity in its grapes but weather differences from year to year can create significant variation between vintages. While vintage Champagnes are produced in exceptional years, non-vintage cuvées are produced annually from a blend of several years in order to produce Champagnes that maintain a consistent house style.
With nearly negligible exceptions, . These can be blended together or bottled as individual varietal Champagnes, depending on the final style of wine desired. Chardonnay, the only white variety, contributes freshness, elegance, lively acidity and notes of citrus, orchard fruit and white flowers. Pinot Noir and its relative Pinot Meunier, provide the backbone to many blends, adding structure, body and supple red fruit flavors. Wines with a large proportion of Pinot Meunier will be ready to drink earlier, while Pinot Noir contributes to longevity. Whether it is white or rosé, most Champagne is made from a blend of red and white grapes—and uniquely, rosé is often produce by blending together red and white wine. A Champagne made exclusively from Chardonnay will be labeled as ‘blanc de blancs,’ while ones comprised of only red grapes are called ‘blanc de noirs.’