Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
This is a step up from the linear and fresh 2006. It shows subtle depth and power with a dense block of vivid fruit that's highlighted with lemon zest, green apples and hints of white peaches. Just the right amount of praline and nuts on the nose. Fine and tight bead give the Champagne a luxurious mouthfeel. One for now or the cellar.
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Tasting Panel
A stunningly beautiful wine with seductive aromas and precise, refined flavors; bright, crisp, and exceptionally long, it shows purity and finesse.
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Wine Enthusiast
Always one of the great Champagnes, this comes from a year that is generally regarded as good but not great. And yet, with this Champagne is magnificent. The wine has some good bottle age, hinting at toast while also keeping the tight, mineral edge of a great wine from the Côte des Blancs. Drink from 2020.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Born of a long yet cold and damp growing season that yielded many wines from grapes harvested at the threshold of ripeness, the 2007 Blanc de Blancs Comtes de Champagne is a considerable success and has evolved little since I last tasted it a few years ago. Disgorged in 2017 with a dosage of nine grams per liter, it reveals a bouquet of pear, mocha and dried flowers mingled with cacao nib, and there's a touch of smoky reduction that is more overt in this rendition than in the 2012–2014 trio. On the palate, it is medium-bodied, elegant and taut, with a crystalline core of fruit, pinpoint mousse, incisive acids and a precise, long, chalky finish. Less demonstrative than both the 2006 and 2012 editions, this is a middleweight, more lightly structured Comtes—one that may stir a certain nostalgia for the Comtes of bygone years.
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Jasper Morris
The date of the 2007 harvest (late August) might give a false impression of ripeness. The harvest date was influenced by early flowering rather than excess heat during the growing season. Chardonnay was by far the most successful variety during this vintage, which is reflected in the quality of this release. Newly released, it was nervy, with a streak of chalky minerality dominating lemony fruit. There has been some evolution in the intervening years, and this champagne is now replete with lovely nutty-toasty yellow fruit. The quick burst of aromatic development suggests this may not be the longest-lived champagne, although it should remain vital over the next decade.
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Wine & Spirits
An intriguing 2007, this is 100 percent chardonnay from grand cru sites in the Côte des Blancs, a small portion aged in oak barrels, the blend then aged ten years on the lees. Over that time, it developed mature tones of bottle age that add to its vibrant freshness. It’s a grand wine with floral notes of beeswax and nutty tones of yeast autolysis.
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Wine Spectator
Elegant and toasty, with a firm backbone of acidity structuring the brioche, lemon zest, poached apricot and spun honey flavors as they ride the lacy bead. Grated ginger and chalk notes detail the lively finish.
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Decanter
Sunny, floral, citrusy expression, with elegant creamy white fruit on lightly textured and finely drawn palate: true Blanc de Blancs finesse.
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.’