Suenen, C+C Blanc de Blancs Extra Brut Grand Cru

With an incisive personality shaped by the cool season, the NV Extra Brut Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru C + C, as always, derives from the villages of Cramant and Chouilly. Based on the 2021 vintage, complemented by 50% of a perpetual blend, and disgorged in July 2024 with a dosage of four grams per liter, half of this wine is vinified in tank and the rest in barrels (mostly from François Frères and Damy). Soaring from the glass with notes of citrus fruit, pine nuts and green apple, with lots of structuring chalky extract and racy acids, it concludes with a long, searingly saline finish. This cuvée has inspired Aurélien Suenen to reconsider his approach with vintage-dated lieux-dits, possibly building them with a reserve wine component in future, to even out vintage variations.

100% Chardonnay. Base 2019. Dosage 4 g/l. Disgorged January 2023. Lemon blossom, orange blossom, aloe. Playfully floral on the nose and then very serious on the palate, starting with beautifully woven-in smokiness and then plush and vibrant with ripe fruit. White peach, golden fig, white apple, oranges. The textures are complex and mosaic: crunchy and silky and floral and gauzy. Just a bit of crunchy toastiness, like pan-grilled hazelnuts. So much here. Full-bodied and sensual, it seems to roll in like a lazy wave up the beach, hissing with foam and salt and rocks and sand. This is a beauty. (TC)