Winemaker Notes
A new wine for this 300-year-old estate, a non-dosage version of their peerless, Pinot Noir-based Brut Reserve — and what an "expression" of nature it is! Exuberant and lively on the tongue, with citrus and red berry notes.
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
A blend of 80% Pinot Noir and the rest Chardonnay, this release of the NV Champagne L'Expression Nature Brut Nature is based on the 2020 vintage and was disgorged in October 2024. It’s attractive and floral and pure on the nose, with wonderful powdery freshness and pretty red fruit, salinity, and a clean, pillowy mousse that rounds it out. The extra aging makes for a more rounded profile as well, and while it has verticality, it’s quite rounded and approachable.
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Wine & Spirits
This is a new bottling from Delphine Vesselle, presenting her family’s pinot-noir focused Réserve without dosage. The chalk soils of Bouzy come through in a lasting mineral essence, the mouthwatering acidity cloaked in juicy lime and notes of lemon balm. The wine is gentle, yet firm enough to serve with a lime-cured sea-bass ceviche.
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
COMMENTARY: The Jean Vesselle L'Expression Brut Nature is lovely and endearing. TASTING NOTES: This wine offers aromas and flavors of marzipan, ripe fruit, and yeasty notes. Pair it with a well-seasoned, oven-baked Porchetta. (Tasted: May 9, 2022, San Francisco, CA)
A term typically reserved for Champagne and Sparkling Wines, non-vintage or simply “NV” on a label indicates a blend of finished wines from different vintages (years of harvest). To make non-vintage Champagne, typically the current year’s harvest (in other words, the current vintage) forms the base of the blend. Finished wines from previous years, called “vins de reserve” are blended in at approximately 10-50% of the total volume in order to achieve the flavor, complexity, body and acidity for the desired house style. A tiny proportion of Champagnes are made from a single vintage.
There are also some very large production still wines that may not claim one particular vintage. This would be at the discretion of the winemaker’s goals for character of the final wine.
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.’