Description
From an east-facing site higher up the slope, Adrien Dhondt’s flamboyant 2020 Blanc de Blancs Le Mesnil-sur-Oger Chétillon de Haut is another success. “The terroir is similar to Les Coullemets, with very thin topsoil, but Chétillon de Haut is affected by le court-noué virus,” Adrien explains, which results in a wine with slightly higher flavor concentration and richness. Matured in barrels (around one-third new) and disgorged in April 2024 with a dosage of one gram per liter, it soars from the glass with a bouquet of dried white flowers, sweet citrus fruit and smoke. Layered and deep, underpinned by tangy acidity and concluding with a perfumed, precise finish, it’s the most immediately expressive of the three wines this year.
- Country: France
- Region: Champagne
- Size: 750ml
Varietal
Champagne Blend
The sparkling wines of Champagne have been revered by wine drinkers for hundreds of years, and even today they maintain their reputation for excellence of flavor and character, and are consistently associated with quality, decadence, and a cause for celebration. Their unique characteristics are partly due to the careful blending of a small number of selected grape varietals, most commonly Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. These grapes, blended in fairly equal quantities, give the wines of Champagne their wonderful flavors and aromas, with the Pinot Noir offering length and backbone, and the Chardonnay varietal giving its acidity and dry, biscuity nature. It isn’t unusual to sometimes see Champagne labeled as ‘blanc de blanc’, meaning it is made using only Chardonnay varietal grapes, or ‘blanc de noir’, which is made solely with Pinot Noir.
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