Reviews
January 1, 2025 100 Points The SOMM Journal
The laser-beam precision of this wine electrifies as seashell and Meyer lemon take a taut turn across the palate. Ethereal at first, it acquires weight from honeyed notes of vanilla pots de crème and chamomile tea before starched linen provides tension. What a contrast between austere and embracing.
December 26, 2024 92 Points Wine Spectator
A fragrant red, with dried mint, bay leaf and cigar box notes wafting through the ripe black currant, hot stone and apple wood smoke. This is long and well-meshed, layering the creamy profile with sculpted tannins and balsamico acidity. Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. Drink now through 2035.
December 20, 2024 93 Points Jeb Dunnuck
Part of a new collection that’s just reaching the market now, the NV Champagne Collection 245 is based on the 2020 vintage. (The trilogy of vintages in the collection are from the early ripening 2018, which is lighter and fruitier, the 2019, which is richer and more powerful, and the 2020, which is somewhere in between the other two.) The blend of the 245 is 41% Chardonnay, 33% Pinot Noir, and the rest Meunier. It has a reflective straw hue and offers notes of fresh almond, bread dough, and fresh flowers. Medium-bodied on the palate, with a fruity nature, it’s crunchy and fresh in the glass, with a lovely chalky texture, good refinement, a note of fresh nectarine, and a clean finish. Dry, but with a delicate rounded feel and some depth throughout, it opens to show more of its salinity and the delicate reductive smoke that frames the wine with oyster shell-like umami character. It’s approachable now but will age with ease.
December 20, 2024 95 Points Jeb Dunnuck
From a very difficult year, the 2017 Champagne Vintage Rose is co-fermented from a blend made at harvest time. It pours a pristine bright salmon color and shimmers in the glass, offering notes of peaches, fresh berries, white pepper, and Mirabel. The palate has surprisingly good tension and lovely focus. A superb and more gastronomic wine, it has a hint of warmth, but it is more the spice that comes through. Drink 2025-2045.
December 20, 2024 95 Points Jeb Dunnuck
The 2016 Champagne Vintage Brut is the new release and is composed of 70% Pinot Noir from Verzy and the rest Chardonnay from Chouilly. A slightly richer golden straw hue, it has a floral bouquet on the nose and is a very pretty vintage of this wine aromatically. It’s sappy with lemon confit and is salty throughout the palate, revealing the weight of the Pinot Noir but retaining wonderful freshness. This lovely wine is going to take some time to open aromatically, but it’s going to be worth the wait. Drink it over the coming 15 years. It’s a going to be a stunning wine for pairings. 7 gram per liter dosage in this wine and in the collection.