27. sep. 2009

Champagne: Blanc de Blancs Invites your inner angel out to sing

When perfectly ripe for champagne, the skin of the Chardonnay-grape is neatly decorated with little black dots. It develops a yellowish colour that remains influenced by the acid green of summertime.

This is why our Blanc de Blancs champagne – made entirely of Chardonnay-grapes – is labelled like this.

We wanted it to look like the mature grape, that has made the Côte de Blancs one of the famous regions of Champagne.

Excellent Chardonnays
Our Blanc de Blancs champagne is no exception to the rule of excellence of Chardonnay-grapes from this area.

The grapes are still acid when we pick them up at the grape harvest. The still wines are no exception. But we’ve got time to wait.

The second alcoholic fermentation in the bottle followed by the wonders of the caves - time basically - is what the Methode Champenoise is all about.

Good champagne is a slow starter. And even slower when a born millésime like this Blanc de Blancs from 2011.

Personality for a vintage
A vintage champagne like this holds such a distinctive personality of its own that makes you keep it away from the traditional mixing with older years to achieve a great result. The wines made from the various Chardonnay plots are already superior on their own.

2011 was one of these early years in Champagne: the leaves followed by flowers came early due to unusually warm and dry conditions. Cooler and wet weather in the first part of summer was followed by warmer conditions in August. However late rain just before the early start of the harvest made it necessary to do a good job when sorting rotten grapes from healthy ones directly on the plant. The Chardonnays have come out very well with a nice balance between sugar and acidity despite these very complicated conditions.

Acidity meets sweetness
When you sip, you may even notice a certain sweetness as you let the wine fill your mouth. Some would liken this sensation with sweets, the French refer to it as Confiserie. It is a sweetness that relates to the long aging of the champagne. Yet there is more to come.

This Blanc de Blancs is certainly still upright and tight.

It is a wine that will develop further during some years with the correct conditions. But already now you can discover this great wine.

Dosage
The dosage – a bit of sugar dissolved in some base wine and used to top up the bottle at disgorging time - is as low as 5 grams of sugar per litre which leaves it below the range of a brut that ranges from 7 to 15, technically an extra-brut.

Let Blanc de Blancs begin your gathering nicely
The Blanc de Blancs 2011 is a very good choice for an aperitif.

For occasions where you plan to take your time to taste and share the sensations of a great wine with family, friends or workmates.

Nothing puts more value to the special moments of your life than wines with carefully chosen dishes or snacks to match.

This Blanc de Blancs 2011 will even accompany your party nicely at the table and reveal itself as an excellent match for your dishes of seafood or breaded, white fish, fried in butter.


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