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Wine Description
The Story
Moët & Chandon Grand Vintage champagnes, unlike most champagnes, are made from the grapes of a single exceptional year. Each Grand Vintage is unique. Each possesses the distinctive, imitable qualities of that year’s outstanding grapes, qualities which have been elevated to their fullest expression through the savoir-faire, experience and expertise of Moët & Chandon and the House’s chef de cave.
Since 1842, the House has released 69 vintage champagnes. Moët & Chandon possesses one of the world’s most prestigious collection of vintage champagnes, all of which are safeguarded in the Grand Vintage Reserve cellars.
Vintage 2015
A wet winter and mild spring gave way to an exceptionally dry summer from mid-May onwards. Hot weather prevailed until mid-August, when the skies opened again. Rains gave way to fine, cool, yet sunny weather for the first two weeks of harvest, which commenced on August 29th. The 2015 vintage has a lot of common denominators with the 2003 vintage but the 2015s are showing a better balance of weight and freshness with their average potential alcohol level of 10.5% and total acidity of 6.9 g/l. The quality and ageing capacity of the vintage has been questioned because of the low acidity, but to me the structure of the wine is not the problem; the aromatics are. Initially as vins clairs, I found the wines to come with ample, attractive fruitiness. The vegetal, particularly ash-like aromatics were subdued but have since then become amplified, especially in the vintage bottlings. Drought issues are considered to be the culprit to these widely spread aromatic issues of the year. I have come notably down from my initial assessment. However, most vintage and prestige cuvées are yet to surface from the cellars and their quality will make or break the vintage.
