Winemaker Notes
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.
On the south bank of the Loire River, below Vouvray, Montlouis produces all styles of Chenin blanc from bone dry, off-dry, sweet, oak aged and even the sparkling Montlouis Mousseux and Montlouis Pétillant Naturel. Soils here are lighter and sandier compared to Vouvray.