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Wine Description
The Story
Since 1808, Champagne Henriot, one of the last independent and family-owned houses in Champagne, has pursued a tradition of excellence – a fragile balance between delicacy, intensity, and purity. For seven generations, the family has selected only the very best vineyards, concentrated on the purity of chardonnay and has upheld the utmost respect for time in order to ensure the cuvee has an opportunity to reach its full expression.
The choices made in blending perpetuate the house style: chardonnay reigns in proportion (fifty to sixty percent). It brings finesse, elegance, richness and freshness. Pinot noir gives essential structure. Pinot meunier contributes fruit complexity. Non vintage wines may contain as many as fifty different crus in precisely orchestrated balance, with roughly twenty percent reserve wines. It is again Champagne Henriot’s task to impart a distinct personality to its wines. These wines, which may be a decade in age and are tasted at least every three months, comprise the house’s library, guaranteeing the perpetuity of its style.
Wine Information
Mature and rounded, Brut Millésimé 2003 is the result ofmost atypical weather conditions in Champagne. This complex cuvée, dominated by black fruit, would be suitable over a meal, a blend of the very best vineyards producing a most pleasant champagne.
THE 2003 VINTAGE
An unusual year in Champagne with a succession of hitherto unseen periods. After a cold,wet winter, hard spring frosts destroyed a large part of the vineyards, essentially in the chardonnay districts. Warm weather began in May followed by heavy hail storms in July. Then very hot weather during August destroyed part of the crop which just dried up on the vine. These extreme conditions led to the loss of a great number of bunches but the remaining grapes were rich and concentrated. To preserve the quality while still maintaining asmuch freshness as possible, the harvest began on the 18th August, the earliest ever recorded.
ASSEMBLAGE
Maison Henriot decided to make a 2003 vintage as supply of grapes from the chalky slopes suffered less from the heat. Moreover, the weather conditions in 2003 year have produced a truly unique character. This cuvée represents both the characteristic style of the House and the specificity of the year, with dominant black fruit, suppleness and exceptional maturity.
52% chardonnay – 48% pinot noir
AGEING
It is in the quiet, dark Henriot cellars in Reims that the bottles of Brut Millésimé 2003 remain for a period of 6 years.
COMMENTS
On the eye : Golden yellow with fine bubbles and an attractive ring of mousse.
On the nose: A complex nose withmature notes (leather), the strength of the pinots attesting the originality of the year 2003. Rich aromas reveal elegant notes of black fruit (cherry, blackberry, bilberry).
On the palate: The wine has fine maturity with the pinots dominating the palate but also richness from the chardonnays. Mellow notes follow : pastries, marzipan with a touch of honey, toast and aromas of gingerbread. Fine ripe notes complete the finale.
Food-wine suggestions
Fried duck Magret withmorello cherries.
Veal Grenadin inmustard sauce and vegetables of the season.
Roast chicken stuffed withmushrooms in creamand thyme sauce.
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.
