Alcohol: 12.5%
Grape(s): 100% Chardonnay
Localization: Montagne de Reims, France
Tasting Notes: The straw-yellow colour with pale green highlights is fed by a very delicate effervescence announcing breadth and finesse.
On the nose, a harmonious bouquet of citrus fruits animates our senses with in particular, lemon, lime and grapefruit. In aromatic support, subtle vanilla notes and roasted hazelnuts bring structure and consistency to the wine.
On the palate, our taste buds discover dried fruits always highlighted by vanilla and hazelnut. After a few moments, apricot, ripe pear and honeysuckle flavours complete this wine of great complexity. A delicate and silky texture on the mouth reflects the personality of this chiseled wine. This vintage made from sixty years old vines on a chalk floor, brings us a very developed mineral side.
Notes: Aging process: ten months in oak barrels of 228 l; Eighty-four months on lies in the cellars after bottling; No malolactic fermentation; Dosage: 4 g/l; Quantity limited to 2 900 bottles numbered
Food Pairing: This champagne can be enjoyed as an aperitif or as an accompaniment on a Saint-Jacques dish, sweetbreads or seafood such as oysters or caviar.
The Domain: Vilmart has been estate-bottling wine in the village of Rilly-la-Montagne since 1890. Its current proprietor, Laurent Champs, is the fifth generation of his family to make wine here.
Champs is a member of Ampelos, an organisation that certifies and promotes sustainable viticulture, and he has used no herbicides or chemical fertilisers since taking over the estate in 1989. He ferments and ages all of his wine in oak: large foudres of up to 5,500 litres for the entry-level wines, and 225- litre barriques or 600-litre casks for his top wines, the vintage-dated Coeur de Cuvée and Grand Cellier d’Or. Combined with their ripe fruit, this gives Vilmart’s Champagnes a creamy depth and complexity, although they also retain a brisk focus and poise, thanks to their avoidance of malolactic fermentation. They tend to be very closed in their youth, needing several years after release to fully reveal their character and aroma.
