Champagne Guy Charlemagne – Réserve Blanc de Blancs NV – Grand Cru Brut

Light golden nuance, quite fine bubbles, yet with a lively mousse. Pure nose. Quite mineral. With some depth and evolution. To me this is clearly Chardonnay and ripe Chardonnay as it is displaying some rather yellow fruit, ripe citrus, hazelnuts, almond, some spicy notes of saffron. And of course some of that, coming from the aging on the lees, fresh butter, brioche. Nice palate there, distinct quite dry, not a lot of dosage. Well integrated mousse adding a nice creamy texture. Yet I think this is underlined by a nice and bright acidity. Giving a lift to that buttery, yellow fruit. Good grip there, it is really salivating on the palate. Without gripy, but not phenolic I would say. There is a nice balance there and I like this on the finish. That fruit is expanding a bit more almost slightly tropical, yet well restrained by that minerality and acidity. Fine creaminess and really nice drinkability so high quality Chardonnay in my mind.

Tasted by the Best Sommelier of the World, Andreas Larsson.