Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
-
James Suckling
This is a racy and intense, late-released blanc de blancs that spent 15 years in the bottle on yeast. Aromas of flint, iodine, brioche, butter, chalk and dried lemons with some apple. So complex. Full-bodied with round, creamy bubbles and a dense, very long finish. Rather chunky. Pristine and transparent. Disgorged in 2022. 5,000 bottles released at the beginning of 2024.
-
Jeb Dunnuck
The standout in the lineup was the 2007 Brut Blanc De Blancs Le Mesnil-Sur-Oger which is 100% Chardonnay all from grand cru vineyards. It offers a ripe, sexy, full-bodied style as well as classic notes of baked apples, brioche, buttered citrus, and hazelnut. With roughly 70-80% of the blend going through full malolactic fermentation, this powerful, concentrated beauty is drinking terrific today, yet will certainly keep for another 10-15 years.
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Disgorged in May 2015, Delamotte's white-golden colored 2007 Blanc de Blancs (dosage Brut) opens with a pure, fresh, intense and smoky/chalky bouquet with white fruit aromas, orange/lemon, brioche, nut and toffee flavors. Pure, fresh and elegant on the palate, this is a concentrated, complex and juicy yet finessed and tensioned Chardonnay from the Côte des Blancs. It is tight but creamy and harmonious and reveals concentrated lemon juice flavors in the long, mineral finish.
-
Wine Enthusiast
Delamotte, the sister house of the legendary Salon, is based in the Côte des Blancs so it has plenty of experience with Chardonnay. This crisp, fruity and lightly toasty wine shows well-balanced freshness and poise.
-
Wine Spectator
A firm Champagne, softened by the creamy mousse that carries floral and fresh herb notes lacing tightly knit flavors of pippin apple, kumquat and smoke-tinged minerality. Drink now through 2020.
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.’