2008 Vilmart & Cie, Grand Cellier D'Or Premier Cru

An 80-20 Chardonnay-Pinot blend from a single 45-year-old vineyard planted solely to selection massale in Rilly, Vilmart’s 2008 Brut Grand Cellier d’Or is scented with gentian and iris, along with intimations of the lemony juiciness and the alkaline, saline, chalky mineral bath that follow on the palate. A miso and clam stock-like savor serves for saliva-inducement in a finish at once gripping and glowing, with an exuberantly invigorating meld of lemon, nuts, musky rose radish and diverse sprouts of grains and legumes, not to mention the palate-coating persistence of mineral elements. I imagine that this will prove worth following for the next half dozen or more 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

eRobertParker.com November, 2013 An 80-20 Chardonnay-Pinot blend from a single 45-year-old vineyard planted solely to selection massale in Rilly, Vilmart’s 2008 Brut Grand Cellier d’Or is scented with gentian and iris, along with intimations of the lemony juiciness and the alkaline, saline, chalky mineral bath that follow on the palate. A miso and clam stock-like savor serves for saliva-inducement in a finish at once gripping and glowing, with an exuberantly invigorating meld of lemon, nuts, musky rose radish and diverse sprouts of grains and legumes, not to mention the palate-coating persistence of mineral elements. I imagine that this will prove worth following for the next half dozen or more years.

(made from 80% chardonnay and 20% pinot noir, from a single site; aged for ten months in four-to-six-year-old barrels before bottling and then aged on its lees for 41 months; disgorged in December, 2012): Green-tinged yellow. Bright mineral- and smoke-accented aromas of candied citrus fruits, fresh pear and fig, with a suave floral overtone. Tight, racy and precise, offering vibrant pear, orange and honeysuckle flavors that put on weight with air. Finishes on an emphatic mineral note, with lingering florality and excellent length.

The 2008 Grand Cellier d'Or is fascinating to taste next to the 2009. More ethereal and less immediate in style than its younger sibling, the 2008 impresses for its weightless and understated personality. Mint, sage, crushed rocks and wild flowers open up beautifully in the glass. The 2008 is just starting to show the first signs of complexity from aging in bottle. The Grand Cellier d'Or is 80% Chardonnay and 20% Pinot Noir. This bottle was disgorged in March 2012.