Printemps 4 | Passion Chardonnay, Grand Crus d'Exception
The penultimate roundup from this year's Printemps des Champagnes
Welcome, bubbleheads. Thanks to all the new readers, too - for those that have paid or taken out a free trial there are also some previous posts you can access now, such as this:
The newsletters will go back to being once (or occasionally twice) weekly after the final Printemps instalment. I’m also setting about recording audio versions of all the paid pieces.
Onwards, then, with two more salons from Printemps - the impressive Passion Chardonnay featuring a host of blanc de blancs specialists (and some new names), plus Grand Crus d’Exception.
Jérôme Legras of Legras & Haas in Chouilly
Passion Chardonnay
In a sense there were few surprises here. It was good to see another grower from the Vitryat, though - Bolieu in Bassuet taking my grand tally of grower-producers from this Chardonnay stronghold in Champagne’s Eastern edge to two (apparently there are five or six now). It’s an area where grapes are usually bought up and blended, but I got on well with the clean, crisp entry-level Fleur de Craie and the richer Carnet de Léone.
At the southern end of the Côte des Blancs André Jacquart continue to impress with intense, sometimes searing Blanc de Blancs that draw deeply on oak influence. The entry Vertus Experience is full of focus and energy in 2019 base, with more brown-bread richness and power in the 2016-based Mesnil Experience. Quite daring wines, in a way.
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