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Wine Information
The lieu-dit of Terres Rouges can be found on a shelf located on the lower slopes of the Premier Cru vignoble of Dizy where Jacquesson farms more than 6 hectares, half of them planted to Pinot Noir, half to Pinot Meunier. Terres Rouges, so called for its reddish-brown calcareous soil lying on chalky silt deposits, has deep, lightly stony and well drained terrain which benefits from good hydrous reserves. The vine takes root easily, and can find water and minerals deep in the sub-soil.
2003 will remain long in the memory because of its catastrophic weather pattern: hard winter frosts reaching –15° C, destroying some vines, severe spring frosts going as low as – 8°C to – 10°C, annihilating almost half of the potential crop between 8th and 11th April, hailstorms in June and, of course, the heat wave of July and August, which scorched many grapes. We began picking on 25th August, the earliest date on record, and finished on 4th September, despite a 36 hour break due to a violent storm.
Despite a large decrease in volume in this parcel of around 60% compared to a normal year, we decided to benefit from the very unusual character of the vintage to produce a skin contact rosé, our only vintage wine in 2003. We used the grapes from two parcels of Terres Rouges: one located at the south east, planted to Pinot Meunier in 1971, and one located at the north west, planted in 1993 to Pinot Noir. Picking took place on 26th August, and we obtained superbly ripe fruit, with absolutely no botrytis. After de-stemming, the maceration of the fruit (83% Pinot Meunier, 17% Pinot Noir) lasted for barely 12 hours before the saignée. The juice was deeply coloured and the must had 11.1 deg. of potential alcohol and an acid content of 5.4 gr/l.
Terres Rouges Rosé was vinified in oak casks and bottled on 13th May 2004. 5004 bottles were produced.
Vintage 2003
A challenging vintage for Champagne in the face of an unprecedented heatwave during the summer months. The wines are characterised by the year's unusual circumstances. Large-scale frosts destroyed most of the projected yield and they were followed by hail and an extremely hot summer. Harvest was kick-started early on August 21st and yields remained minuscule at 8,100 kg/ha. Atypically round, ripe, sun-kissed wines that miss freshness and backbone. The total acidity level was notably low, at 5.8 g/l. Only the very best performers were able to avoid heaviness and overripe aromatics. This vintage was not largely declared but some famous names, Krug and Dom Pérignon at the fore, chose to experiment with it. Both produced excellent 2003s and Dom Pérignon's chef de cave at the time named the vintage as one of the creations he is most proud of. Some special cuvées surfaced, such as 2003 by Bollinger, as the house found the year did not stylistically fit into the La Grande Année range. Palmer & Co also took a curious route and made its 2003 only in magnum, releasing it much later than usual as cuvée Grands Terroirs. The ageing capacity of 2003 is much debated. Dom Pérignon's Richard Geoffroy had great confidence in his 2003 and he actually regretted releasing it too early. The jury is still out, but personally I am inclined to drink mine sooner rather than later, as the advancement post-disgorgement has in most cases been rather rapid and the wines miss the acidic backbone necessary for retaining freshness.
