NV  Extra Brut

Extra Brut

NV  Henri Dosnon Brut Rose

90% Pinot Noir - 10gr RS -- From chalky soils 30mi north of Chablis

NV  Brut Blanc de Blancs Cuvée Vendémiaire

Brut Blanc de Blancs Cuvée Vendémiaire -- "The NV Brut Premier Cru Cuvée Vendémiaire is a Chardonnay from five villages of the Côte des Blancs but is mainly sourced in Vertus (50%). The recent disgorgement from early 2018 (dosage: four grams per liter) is based on the 2012 vintage and includes 50% of reserve wines from vintages 2011 down to 2008. Intensely citrus colored, this is a pure, fresh, concentrated, very mineral and pure Chardonnay that still offers greenish citrus flavors. With great finesse and complexity on the palate, it is very elegant and pure as well as very long and expressive, with intense, powerful and well-concentrated but fresh and highly finessed fruit and vitality. There is lots of energy and tension here, lots of expression and length. Great complexity and vitality. This has huge aging potential. A great wine, indeed." - 94pts WA

NV  Brut

Not surprisingly, sleek, comely and digitally fruity, yet it shows its fruit on a high white wire, like some iridescent filament snaking through darkness. Sitting in the glass it starts to smell like those little pink cookies ("Biscuits de Reims") you see everywhere in the region. I’m always torn between feeling this is a smart wine that also wants to show you how sexy it is, or a sexy wine that wants you to know how smart it is. Yet of course, smart is sexy. I heard that from Noam Chomsky. Disg. 7/2016, we have 50% CH from Mareuil, vintage 2014 - then 43.5% PN from Mareuil, vintage 2012-13 - then 6.5% still PN from Mareuil vinified in neutral cask, vintage 2013. - Terry Theise

1990  Charles Heidsiek Blanc de Millenaires

2008  

Future Arrival -- "The 2008 Dom Pérignon is fabulous, but quite remarkably, it was even more open when I tasted it a year ago. Bright, focused and crystalline in its precision, the 2008 is going to need a number of years before it is at its best. Lemon peel, white flowers, mint and white pepper give the 2008 its chiseled, bright profile. Several recent bottles have all been magnificent. What I admire most about the 2008 is the way it shows all the focus, translucence and energy that is such a signature of the year, and yet it is also remarkably deep and vertical. In other words, the 2008 is a Champagne that plays in three dimensions." - 98+ points, Antonio Galloni

NV  "Cuvee Prestige"

The Duc de Romet Brut is a Blanc de Noirs of Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier. It’s 75% Meunier and 25% Pinot Noir. The vineyards are entirely from the village of Vandières which is along the Marne River, a few villages west of Cumières. Vandières has the same rating as Merfy, where Chartogne-Taillet is located, but the parcels here are situated in a south-eastern facing amphitheater around the village, much like Oger, which allows the grapes to become very ripe. The Duc de Romet is a delightfully balanced Blanc de Noirs made from purchased grapes from small growers in the village. This is a ND (Négociant-Distributeur), which means this is a blend from the different growers in the Vallée de la Marne who do not produce their own Champagne. The grapes are sent to the local co-op where they are fermented; one of our producers does the final blend.

NV  Blanc de Noirs Grand Cru

Disgorged July 2018 -- 100% Pinot Noir, 50% 2011 and 50% 2010, all from 70 year old vines in the single vineyard Les Crayeres in Ambonnay Grand Cru. Fermented and aged in barrel, no malo, 72 months sur latte. -- "Dense, full-bodied and voluptuous, with all of the richness of the old-vine coming through, the Crayères is fabulous. Red cherry, Mirabelle plum, dried flowers and spice notes fill out the wine’s ample frame effortlessly. Ample and creamy on the palate, with soft curves, the Crayères, also has more than enough vibrancy to develop beautifully in bottle for many years to come. These old vines date back to 1946 and 1947 and confer notable gravitas." - 95pts Vinous

NV  

"Was there ever a better vintage of this wine? Much more than the usual fruit-bomb, this is a panolply of complexity and flowers, especially roses and groseille. It should take us to the Fall, but it would avail you to be, well, grabby. I did taste a 2014 without dosage and had no reason to doubt it would be effective. But ’13 is stunning" - Terry Theise

NV  1er Cru

"Based on 100% Pinot Noir (90% Bisseuil, 10% Ambonnay), the white-golden NV Blanc de Noirs Premier Cru Brut offers a clear, fresh, intense, pure and spicy-scented bouquet of ripe, sweet cherries along with mineral notes. Based on the 2014 vintage (with 2013 and 2012) and disgorged in March 2018, this is a full-bodied, very fresh cuvée with searing acidity and mineral purity. This is far from being enjoyable today, but it will benefit from further bottle aging. Great tension and mineral grip here. Tasted April 2018." - 92+pts WA

NV  

"Color: A bright, vibrant salmon-pink hue, over ruby-red reflections, with generous, persistent bubbles.-- Bouquet: Intense and harmonious. Ripe summer fruit aromas of wild strawberries, raspberries and redcurrants mingle with nuances of sweet spices such as cinnamon and nutmeg. On pouring, a bouquet of fresh-baked brioche, sweet buns and fresh cream emerges, followed by hints of wild roasted almonds and warmed mandarin peel on the finish. -- Taste: Opulent, concentrated, and infinitely silky, this champagne’s elegant perfume and velvet bubbles caress the palate. Generous, ripe and full-bodied in the mouth and bursting with rich, red fruit flavors. Delicately structured for exemplary length, the finish is delicate and refined, with subtle gingerbread aromas."

NV  

100% Grand Cru, particularly satisfying Pinot Noir here. Fresh, bracing red-grape Champagnes with long, swollen midpalate flavors. Just 5 hectares in size, so availability is scarce! The vineyards are spread over 18 different mid-slope parcels in Ambonnay. The position of these vineyards are considered some of the best sites in Ambonnay and expressive of the classical character of this village. All his vineyards are grand cru and Serge Billiot says that the high degree of maturity from these sites doesn’t require malolactic. That makes them very frisky and reductive when they’re first disgorged, and occasionally a Billiot bottle will show a slightly metallic aroma for the first few minutes. That’s rare and nil if you hold the wines six months after disgorgement. Powerful and vinous, but also elegant and fine is the way that Laetitia Billiot describes the wines. Billiot does not filter his wines, fermentations take place in enameled stainless steel tanks. Billiot seems to want liveliness most of all, as he can presume upon lavish and deep fruit flavors. If you know the wines of Egly-Oriet (Billiot’s friend and neighbor) they couldn’t be more different. Egly pulls you down into its mealy-ripe depths; Billiot lifts you up on a billowing fountain of fruit. His wines have marvelous stamina and brightness. They’re hedonistic but not sloppy. Too firm and impeccable to be sloppy!