Packed with fruit while hinting at mature toastiness, this wine is now in perfect balance. Its white fruits are from half-and-half Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, shot through with acidity while having a ripe character. Rich while also crisp, it is ready to drink.
A fragrant nose with aromas of apples, pears, brioche and candied citrus. Round, silky and balanced with fine bubbles and a flavorful, minerally finish. Full-bodied with a creamy texture and wonderfully soft fruit. Highlights the balance of the 2012 vintage. A blend of 54% chardonnay and 46% pinot noir.
An undramatic, cloud-filled season came right in a late harvest in October. A textbook cool vintage of great ageing potential. The perfect 50/50 balance of mineral-stamped Chardonnay and powerful, masculine Pinot makes this a champagne for patient drinkers. Vibrant acidity is joined by notes of white flowers and that magnificent mineral structure.
Rich, creamy, and super-expressive, all of which make it an excellent choice for drinking now and over the next few years. Pastry, apricot, lemon confit, green pear and white flowers all grace this subtle, inviting Champagne from Henriot. The 2008 has enough fruit to drink well now, but also more than enough vibrancy to develop nicely in bottle.
The wine displays a gently reductive nose with notes of citrus and stone fruit mingling with suggestions of freshly baked bread, oyster shell and smoke. On the palate, it's medium to full-bodied, with a voluminous but notably fine mousse, bright acids and an elegantly chalky finish that's delicate but penetrating. This is a comparatively supple, open-knit example of the taut 2008 vintage.
A bright and balanced rosé Champagne, with the delicate mousse carrying finely meshed flavors of white raspberry, slivered almond, Meyer lemon zest and fleur de sel. Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Pinot Meunier.
A racy, dense wine but it's refined and silky with wonderful texture and length. Full-bodied and very tight with minerals and sliced apples. Couilly, Avize, Oger and Le Mesnil-sur-Oger. Mostly from their vintages. It's aged five years on the lees. It starts off slowly and goes very, very long. Such intense brioche, dough and tropical fruit. Mutli-layered with wonderful phenolic layers. Bottled in 2009 and disgorged end of last year. The process began 1990 and each year they add a little bit of the new vintage in the solera in stainless. Only in 1,000 magnums.
Not the first time I’ve witnessed the other worldly freshness that can be sustained by annually refreshing a grand old solera, but I was stunned by the unbridled joy of youth radiating from this glass. The wisdom of maturity is articulated in secondary richness, but its’s still far from tertiary in its development. It will effortlessly take another 25 years in its stride.
A toasty version, this is elegant overall, offering a rich, finely woven palate of baked apricot, marzipan, lemon curd and a smoky mineral. Fine and creamy in texture, with a lingering, bright and zesty finish.
A unique wine, this is a blanc de blancs produced from a solera, a perpetual reserve begun in 1990. With notes of citrus peel and lovely ripe apricot, pear and crème Brule, it is at once fresh and still very rich; Henriot conceives of it as a 'dialogue between the ancient vintages and the modern vintages'. Great elegance, wonderful length.
