The 2016 vintage of Cristal is composed from a blend of fifty-eight percent pinot noir and forty-two percent chardonnay. Just under a third of the vins clairs in this vintage were barrelfermented and the wine was finished with a dosage of seven grams per liter. Chef du Cave Jean- Baptiste Lécaillon compares the classical style of the 2016 Cristal to recent classics such as 2002, 2008 and 2012. The wine is utterly refined on the nose, wafting from the glass in a constellation of peach, golden delicious apple, a hint of mirabelle, almond, brioche, a complex base of chalky soil tones, white flowers and just a whisper of oak. On the palate the wine is crisp, precise and fullbodied, with a great girdle of acidity, superb depth of pure fruit at the core, great salty soil signature and grip, elegant mousse and outstanding length and complexity on the perfectly balanced finish. Like the 2008 and 2012 were in their youth, this is a very young wine that absolutely deserves a decade in the cellar before broaching, as there is so much more here to unfold if time is given a chance to work its magic! 2035-2085+.

Compact and creamy. integrating tightly-meshed flavors of plum skin, plumped white cherry, blood orange pith and lemon thyme with a firm frame of acidity. The profile expands on the creamy palate, and minerally smoke and chalk notes linger on the finish. Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Pinot Meunier. Best from 2027 through 2040.

In the ripe vintage of 2018, the Brut Nature bottling from Maison Roederer possesses an uncharacteristic sensation of early generosity that already makes it very easy to drink. As has been the case since this bottling was first envisioned, the fruit hails entirely from the “sunbasket” of Cumières, with one of the three lieux à dits used for the bottling being the famous les Chèvres, from which Vincent Laval famously makes a single vineyard cuvée. The vins clairs do not go through malo for this bottling, with just under one-third barrel-fermented, and the still wines spend nearly a year of élevage prior to bottling up for secondary fermentation. The final cépages ended up being fifty-five percent pinot noir, twenty-five percent pinot meunier and twenty percent chardonnay, with a stray row or two of pinot blanc also finding its way into the blend. The wine offers up an excellent bouquet of apple peach, warm bread, a fine base of chalky soil tones, dried flowers, just a hint of buttery oak and plenty of upper register smokiness. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied, focused and complex, with a superb core of fruit, a lovely spine of acidity, fine soil undertow, elegant mousse and a long, beautifully balanced and vibrant finish. Fine juice. 2025-2055+.

The new release of 2017 Louis Roederer Blanc de Blancs Brut Millésime is an excellent young wine. Twenty-eight percent of the vins clairs were barrel-fermented this year for this bottling, with none of them going through malolactic fermentation. The wine was aged five years sur latte and finished with a dosage of seven grams per liter. It offers up a complex and refined aromatic constellation of apple, pear, fresh-baked bread, chalky soil tones, dried flowers, just a whisper of oak and gentle smokiness in the upper register. On the palate the wine is bright, young and full-bodied, with a very good core of fruit, lovely soil inflection, a fine spine of acidity, elegant mousse and a long, beautifully balanced and still quite primary finish. This bottling is always made for cellaring and it is still very early days for the 2017 Blanc de Blancs. I would opt for tucking it away in the cellar for at least five years before starting to drink it, just to allow it to blossom properly. It is going to be a fine bottle in due course. 2030-2070+.

The 2023 “Classic” from Domaine Marc Brédif is a fine bottle of young Vouvray Sec. The wine comes in at 12.5 percent octane in this vintage and offers up a bright, deep and complex bouquet of quince, lemon, chalky soil tones, incipient notes of lanolin, orange peel and a lovely topnote of white lilies. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and zesty, with a superb core of fruit, excellent soil signature, lovely focus and grip and a long, impeccably balanced and impressively complex finish. Domaine Marc Brédif is very much under the radar these days, but they are making stellar examples of both Vouvray and Chinon and represent stunning values! 2025-2050.