Winemaker Notes
Still youthful but built to last…this vintage combines heady, citrus notes with a long, lingering finish and crisp, full mouthfeel. Patience here will be rewarded.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Complex nose of candied orange peel, bergamot, apricot and brioche. An elegant and sleek champagne in spite of the excellent structure on the mid-palate. Long, very straight and crisp finish with some real minerality. Really fine mousse. More than 60% pinot noir, much of it from Ay, Mareuil and Bouzy, one third chardonnay from the Cote des Blancs and just 5% of pinot meunier. Drink or hold.
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Wine Enthusiast
This Champagne is rounded while also having maturity. The white fruits have added a yeasty character, while keeping the acidity and a mineral edge.
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Jeb Dunnuck
Effusive and fleshy, the 2016 Champagne Millésime Brut pours a medium-golden hue and offers forward aromas of golden apple, ginger, and honeyed citrus. Medium to full-bodied, it’s expansive on the palate, with a pithy texture and ripe fruit through the finish. Generous and giving, with biscuity notes on the finish, it’s ready for drinking now and mid-term cellaring. Drink 2023-2030.
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Wine Spectator
Lacy in texture and balanced, with bright acidity and a pretty mix of yellow apple and cassis fruit, pickled ginger, white blossom and toast point notes. Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Meunier. Drink now through 2028. 2,083 cases made, 133 cases imported.
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.’