Winemaker Notes
Bright, slightly coppery gold with a generous, creamy foam. Expressive and ripe with notes of yellow fruit and peach, with a lightly toasted aroma. The palate is ample with notes of ripe fruit – peach and mango – and barley sugar. The finish is fresh and slightly minty but also supple and long.
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
Only Premier Cru and Grand Cru sites are selected for the 2016 Champagne Blanc de Noirs Extra Brut. The nose has a very pure perfume of raspberry, red plum, and crushed roses, and it is fleshy on the palate, with a fine mousse and notes of wild strawberry, blood orange, and almond. The house excels at this style, and this example is no exception with its ripeness and purity. Best after 2024.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Disgorged in April 2022, the 2016 Extra-Brut Blanc de Noirs is a very classy wine, delivering aromas of red apples, pear, honeycomb and nectarine, followed by a medium to full-bodied, fleshy and layered palate that's broad, textural and vinous. A serious, gastronomic Champagne, it will work well at table.
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Wine Spectator
Firm and minerally, with a lacy texture, this structured version deftly integrates baked plum, smoked almond, preserved lemon, anise and chalk. Creamy finish. Disgorged April 2022. Drink now through 2029.
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.’