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Wine Description
The Story
Nicolas Feuillatte’s iconic cuvée, capturing its quintessential style, Palmes d’Or Brut is only revealed through the prism of the vintage, when a truly exceptional harvest year enables its primary qualities to truly shine. A wine defined by time, capable of stirring supreme emotion, offering texture and flavours of great finesse.
A precious, black, opaque bottle that shuns accepted Champagne tradition. A bottle specially designed to contain this exceptional Champagne, facetted like a precious stone, its exterior illuminated with a thousand shards of light. Golden letters, traced with a touch of luxury, subtly underscore the promise of an exceptional Champagne.
Blend:
• Chardonnay 50%, Pinot Noir 50% from 11-12 Grand Crus
• 95% of wines sourced from Grand Cru vineyards, a blend of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay in equal measure.
• Chardonnay – Chouilly, Cramant, Oger, Le Mesnil-sur-Oger, Avize et Montgueux)
• Pinot Noir – Bouzy, Verzy, Verzenay, Aÿ et Ambonnay..
• A pure gem, an ode to beauty.
• Rested in the cellars for almost a decade.
• A defining feature: Chardonnay from Montgueux, more tropical, fleshy and intense in character, and imparting its aromatic patina and cohesive qualities.
Taste:
• Aromas of bracingly fresh white fruits, dried almonds and apricots, and a slight hint of spice.
• Upfront, permeating flavours of redcurrant and citrus fruits. A second wave of Pinot Noir freshness and streak of minerality, underpinned by a distinctive chalk signature and acutely delicate smoky edge.
Vintage 1999
A difficult start to the year led to early budbreak. There were some damaging hailstorms in early May, but the frost ultimately stayed away. The summer was overall warm and thanks to the hot and dry August, the grapes looked promising for the harvest. However, a damp September challenged producers and dilution was an issue for some. The 1999 harvest that started on September 15th produced a large yield (12,989 kg/ha) of sweet grapes that resulted in soft wines, low in acidity, which produced Champagnes that, in many cases, miss linearity and structure. Voluptuous and enjoyable with ripe, fruity, even exotic characters but in most cases for the medium-term only, even if the best seem to be maturing better than initially expected. The red wines of the year were exceptional and resulted in some outstanding prestige cuvée rosés, such as Louis Roederer Cristal Rosé, Taittinger Comtes de Champagne Rosé and Bollinger La Grande Année Rosé.