Winemaker Notes
Blend: 70% Meunier, 30% Pinot Noir
Professional Ratings
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Vinous
The 2014 Extra-Brut Millésime is fabulous. Rich, deep and expansive, the Millésime soars out of the glass, showing magnificent concentration and layers of flavor that build into the nuanced, palate staining finish. For readers who have not discovered these wines yet, the 2014 is a great place to start. The 2014 is a blend of 70% Meunier and 30% Pinot Noir. Bottled with no dosage. Disgorged: March, 2021.
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
COMMENTARY: The Champagne Dehours & Fils Extra Brut 2014 shows outstanding and persistent tension from start to finish. TASTING NOTES: This wine displays aromas and flavors of ripe fruit and dried earth. Enjoy it with panko-coated, pan-fried Petrale sole. (Tasted: November 4, 2022, San Francisco, CA)
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Jeb Dunnuck
Made from 70% Meunier raised in fuder and the remainder Pinot Noir in stainless steel, the 2014 Champagne Millésime Extra Brut is pretty, with a sweet umami note of shitake broth, red plum, and red flowers. The palate is medium-bodied but powerful in its attack, with wildflowers, herbs, and juicy citrus. It has a soft stony feel and a bit of bitter citrus on the finish. This needs some time to show its full potential, as it is somewhat tighter coiled at this stage than the rest of the range. Best after 2025.
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.’