2013 Vilmart & Cie, Grand Cellier D'Or Premier Cru

The 2013 Grand Cellier d'Or soars out of the glass with majestic intensity. Rich, concentrated and somehow also light on its feet, the 2013 is sublime. I could describe the aromas, flavors and textures, but, really, more than anything else, the 2013 is flat-out delicious. The level of detail and precision here is simply tremendous. Disgorged: July, 2017.

The July 2017 disgorgement of Vilmart's 2013 Premier Cru Grand Cellier d'Or is showing brilliantly, bursting with scents of lime, citrus oil, freshly baked bread, crisp green apples and white flowers. On the palate, it's medium to full-bodied, broad and incisive, with an elegantly textural attack, a beautifully pure core of fruit, tangy acids and a nicely defined finish. While it's still a young wine, just beginning its drinking window, its quality is already apparent.

The 2013 Premier Cru Grand Cellier d’Or is an assemblage of 80% Chardonnay and 20% Pinot Noir (mass selections from a single vineyard named Les Blanches Voies), both vinified in four- to six-year-old 228-liter barrels for ten months (no malolactic fermentation). It offers a deep, intense, fresh and elegant nose of white fruits with just a spicy kiss of oak. Full-bodied and pure on the palate, this is a still sharp, citrus-flavored cuvée with great elegance, complexity and freshness. The finish is very elegant and fine but firmly structured, displaying concentrated lemon and grapefruit flavors. Disgorged in December 2016 with a dosage of seven grams per liter, the 2013 was still terribly young when tasted 16 months later, in April 2018. "2013 was a pretty cool year, but the end of summer and beginning of the harvest (which started on the 21st of September) was very good. The grapes had nice maturity and balance between sugar and acidity," says Laurent Champs. His Grand Cellier d'Or will surely improve over the years, and there are many years ahead of the 2013...

Magnum. No malo, yet so buttery! Plenty of time on lees to thank for that, probably. There's wonderful chew and grain to this, as well as ripe apple and orchard fruit. Rounded, fleshy – voluptuous, even. (RH)