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Wine Information
The blend is composed of 54% Chardonnay, 20% Pinot Noir and 26% Pinot Meunier and the wines from the 2006 harvest were completed with reserve wines from 2005 (22%) and 2004 (5%). 345,052 bottles, 13,964 magnums and 390 jeroboams were produced.
In Champagne, one of the most northerly of wine growing regions, the concept of a consistent tasting non-vintage cuvée was developed as it can help a producer disguise any problems caused by a difficult growing season; however, this also means that in great years the better qualities in the raw materials that are available to the winemaker have to be sacrificed in order to maintain a House blend.
At Jacquesson, we were not happy with this state of affairs and several years ago we decided to cease making non-vintage cuvées that aimed for the same taste from year to year.
Thanks to the quality of our terroirs, all Premiers and Grands Crus from La Grande Vallée de la Marne and the Côte des Blancs, thanks to our traditionalistic viticulture where we completely eschew the use of herbicides, and thanks to our using only the cuvée from each pressing, but also because we have absolutely no hesitation, in difficult vintages, in rejecting juice which doesn’t meet our standards, our non-vintage wines retain the best of every harvest and we are able to say that they faithfully reflect the characteristics of the base vintage whilst benefiting from the addition of some vins de réserve.
Therefore, our wines have a personality which can be quite different depending on their base vintage, which means they each need to have their own identity. Thus Cuvée No 734, based on the 2006 vintage, succeeds Cuvée No 733 which was based on the 2005 vintage.
The weather was somewhat chaotic in 2006. Winter was cold with some snow, Spring was quite mild although there were some violent storms in May, while Summer began with extreme heat and little rain. August was cold and very wet which caused the grapes to swell and brought on grey rot. All our hard work in the vineyards meant that our yields were reasonable and botrytis was largely kept at bay except in certain areas which are particularly susceptible to it. Picking began on 11 September at our Aÿ Vauzelle Terme vineyard under sunny skies but the rain returned on 20 September forcing us to speed up our harvesting in order to avoid botrytis taking hold. Nevertheless, the must was well balanced with an average potential alcohol of slightly less than 10.5 deg and acidity of approximately 7.5 gr/l.
Vinification took place, as usual, in large oak barrels, on the lees and with weekly bâtonnage. The Chardonnays were soft but very fine, the Pinot Noirs fruity and vinous while the Pinot Meuniers were more variable in quality so we decided to reject any parcels that were less than successful.
