Description
Doyard’s 2012 Extra-Brut Grand Cru Les Lumières was disgorged only a few days before I tasted it, with just over one gram per liter dosage, but its considerable potential is already amply apparent. Unfurling in the glass with aromas of crisp, golden orchard fruit, green mango and buttery pastry mingled with subtle hints of white flowers and peach, it’s full-bodied, vinous and enveloping, with a pillowy mousse, racy acids and a long, resonant finish. Seamless and complete, it’s the usual blend of Chardonnay from Mesnil-sur-Oger and Pinot Noir from Aÿ. I revisited another bottle a few months later, and it only confirmed my original assessment that this is one of the wines of the vintage in Champagne in 2012.
- Country: France
- Region: Champagne
- Size: 750ml
- Alcohol by Vol: 12.0%
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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