100% Grand Cru with the fruit sourced only from great sites across four revered villages in the Côte des Blancs: Avize, Cramant, Oger and Oiry. Together with the terroir, vine age is a key factor in quality. The average age of the plantings is more than 50 years.
This release is based on 2019, 2018 and 2017, with the reserve wine making up a remarkable 80% of the cuvée—another key to the quality. After natural fermentation, half the wine matured in large-format, neutral oak and then spent more than 36 months on lees.
Dosage is limited to 5 g/L and disgorgement was carried out by hand in March 2023. These winemaking standards, combined with organic viticulture, set a benchmark far higher than any Grande Marque prestige cuvée we know of. This disgorgement is flat-out stunning. Perhaps this is down to the quality of the vintages involved, or perhaps it’s the dominance of reserve wines in the blend. Regardless, it’s evidence of a stellar grower in perpetual movement. It is wonderful now and will, as always, benefit from another year under cork. Again, the reviews below refer to a previous disgorgement (and this release is even finer!).