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Wine Description
The Story
This cuvee la Vigne d'Or (The Golden Vine) comes from vines growing for more than 50 years on a chalky-clay subsoil - the Sparnacian. This exceptional terroir, only to be found in the Marne valley, allows the Pinot Meunier grape to express itself with rare beauty. You will never forget tasting this astonishing and intense Champagne.
Harvest: August 30, 2003
Grapes: 100% Pinot Meunier
Terroir: Vineyard "Pierre de Bellevue" in Oeuilly (Marne valley), Sparnacien soils (chalk mixed with clay).
Average age of vines: 50+ years
Vinification: Vinification in 4-wine oak barrels. Barrel fermentation with the lees regularly stirred back into the wine. Remains in barrels until May.
Bottling: 5th May 2004
Disgorging: 2014 - Manual (see back label for exact date)
Dosage: 0 g/L - Brut Nature
To the eye, warm gold, lively mousse.
Nose: Powerful and aristocratic, it develops attractive dense exotic fruits, with hints of almond.
Mouth perfumed and tasty, full and surprising, with lychee, passionfruit, mango and pineapple. Marrying hazelnut and praline, the ensemble is crowned with spice on the palate.
Food & wine: This is a wine to taste amongst connoisseurs, melding length and complexity. It would go fabulously well with dolphin fish (mahi mahi) grilled on the Hibachi, served on a bed of grilled pineapple with papaya salsa
Wine Information
This cuvee la Vigne d'Or (The Golden Vine) comes from vines growing for more than 50 years on a chalky-clay subsoil - the Sparnacian. This exceptional terroir, only to be found in the Marne valley, allows the Pinot Meunier grape to express itself with rare beauty. You will never forget tasting this astonishing and intense Champagne.
Grapes: 100% Pinot Meunier
Terroir: Vineyard "Pierre de Bellevue" in Oeuilly (Marne valley), Sparnacien soils (chalk mixed with clay).
Average age of vines: 51 years
Vinification: Vinification in 4-wine oak barrels. Barrel fermentation with the lees regularly stirred back into the wine. Remains in barrels until May.
Dosage: 4 g/L - Extra Brut
Food & wine: This is a wine to taste amongst connoisseurs, melding length and complexity. It would go fabulously well with dolphin fish (mahi mahi) grilled on the Hibachi, served on a bed of grilled pineapple with papaya salsa
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.
