2002 Vilmart & Cie, Coeur de Cuvee Premier Cru

The exuberance of the year comes through in the 2002 Brut Premier Cru Coeur de Cuvee. Explosive and gloriously ripe, the 2002 walks the razors edge of power and subtlety with a level of grace that is utterly remarkable. At the same time, the style is unmistakably Vilmart.

From a bottle disgorged in May, 2010, Vilmart’s 2002 Brut Coeur de Cuvee offers prominent toasted grain and nuts mingled with hints of honey and blond tobacco, as well as bright lemon and mouthwateringly nutty, saline, chalky, seaweed-tinged oyster and clam liquor. There is a striking sense of vivacity and clarity here, yet also a silken texture. This exercises an almost tidal pull on the salivary glands, and generates wave-after-wave of salt-tinged nut oils, citrus, and bivalve juices. Look to follow this beauty for at least another 2-3 years. If a visit with the articulate and passionately quality-conscious Laurent Champs – or even “just” the tasting of his wines – doesn’t leave you inspired about the future of Champagne, then I don’t know what that would take. I can recall having been slightly disconcerted at the impression left by oak on some of the wines I tasted from Vilmart in the younger Champs’ early days in charge here, but recent wines are a model of how to integrate wood and Champagne which, granted, is made much easier by the fact that most of Vilmart’s wine nowadays sojourn in large Alsace-style foudres that Champs has been amassing for long enough that there is little (if any) overt, resinous “oakiness” to extract. Rather, we have the same sort of subtle influence – here too, with wine that doesn’t “do malo” – as you can experience at many a top, tradition-minded Riesling address. And even the minority Vilmart wine that sees smaller barrels or a bit of new wood is by no means overly marked by that stay. No advocate of low dosage for its own sake, Champs’ wines tend to harbor 8-10 grams of residual sugar that is almost invariably well-judged, lending support without overt sweetness. It’s worth bearing in mind that Rilly is hardly the most prestigious among Champagne’s premier cru-rated villages, and were it not for Vilmart – only a small share of whose acreage spills over into neighboring Villers-Allerand – we would be largely ignorant of this terroir’s solo potential. (The classifications themselves were rendered from the perspective of value as blending components.) I tasted most of the Vilmart wines reviewed here twice – once in June, and once in September – and have amalgamated by tasting notes where applicable. Importer:Terry Theise Estate Selections, imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Inc., Syosset, NY; tel. (516) 677-9300

(80% chardonnay and 20% pinot noir, from a single parcel in the premier cru Rilly la Montagne; disgorged May, 2010): Vivid gold. Intensely perfumed, mineral-driven nose displays pit fruits, honeysuckle, anise, clove, vanilla bean and marzipan. On the palate, suave, perfumed lemon, peach and chalky mineral flavors put on weight with air. The mineral quality gains power with air and carries through the very long finish, which strongly echoes the anise and vanilla notes. As complex as this Champagne is right now, it appears to be built to age.

Aromas of brioche, vanilla pod, candied peel, toasted nuts and dried fruits introduce the 2002 Brut Coeur de Cuvée, a broad, full-bodied and vinous wine with a satiny and textural attack, a deep and concentrated core, ripe acids and a gently wood-inflected finish. Fully mature and wide open, now is a great time to open bottles. Robust and muscular, I suspect the more recent vintages will prove longer-lived than this 2002 seems likely to do.