Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
Disgorged in December 2022, with zero dosage, the 2015 Champagne Grand Cru Mesnil-Sur-Oger pours a bright yellow/silver color, and is ripe with aromas of bread dough, baker’s yeast, fresh honeysuckle, and preserved lemon. It packs in a lot of electricity and intensity on the palate, with a broad core of citrus that powers through, and although it’s medium-bodied, it fills those shoes to the max with its drive. Persistent with citrus and vibrant acidity, it offers an energetic and full mousse to balance it all out. Packed with notes of citrus oils on the palate, it’s a very strong effort from the vintage that may well surprise in terms of its aging potential. Drink 2024-2036.
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Decanter
A bustling, intense Chardonnay from Le Mesnil in this solar year, with a bitter-chalky base over which pale yellow apple, pineapple and sea salt aromas convey both the restraint of the village and the heat of the year. Intense and slightly grippy, this has plenty to say right now, although it may settle further with three years in the cellar.
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Vinous
The 2015 Brut Nature Mesnil sur Oger Grand Cru was picked in the single parcel of Les Hautes Mottes in Le Mesnil-sur-Oger and the wine spent more than five years on lees. The nose opens with the enticing reduction of a distant struck match that blends in with maize meal and corn husk notions of autolysis. The palate is bright and has lightness, but this is rounder and less profound than pure Chardonnay from a storied grand cru would suggest. Blame the hot and dry summer and the short vegetative season. Yet, sprightliness and vivid lemon notions make for a very fresh finish. Zero dosage.
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.’