Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2019 Champagne Premier Cru Blanc De Blancs Fleuron Brut is made entirely from Chardonnay grapes from the Grand Cru villages of Cramant, Chouilly, and 25% from the Premier Cru of Cuis. It has structure, intensity, and focus, yet remains crystalline and pure, with notes of candied lime, green apples, pastry dough, and chalky earth. Medium-bodied, it’s bright, refreshing, and long on the palate, with a sustained finish that features a hint of bitter lime pith that’s pleasing and salty.
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Wine Spectator
An elegant blanc de blancs, showing a finely detailed mousse and lithe, lively acidity. Apple blossom, chalky mineral and oyster shell notes are enticing aromatics lacing flavors of beeswax, poached quince and pear, and biscuit as they expand on the creamy palate and through the lasting finish. This offers the feel of an aperitif style, with the concentration and focus of a more serious example.
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James Suckling
A lively and bright blanc de blancs that has lemon peel, sliced apple, croissant and biscuit on the nose. It’s fine and silky on the palate with light bready hints to the citrus fruit. 100% chardonnay from Cramant, Chouilly and Cuis. Disgorged in 2023. Dosage 5g/L.
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.’