Winemaker Notes
Critical Acclaim
All VintagesA luscious and generous effort with depth and fine acidity. Anything but austere yet balanced and elegant; fresh, stylish, and long.
A minerally Champagne, with a streak of smoke, chalk and oyster shell notes supporting flavors of Asian pear, star fruit and candied lemon peel as they ride the creamy mousse. Racy, focused finish. Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier. Drink now.
The latest release of Delamotte's NV Brut is especially charming, bursting with aromas of crisp orchard fruit, peach and freshly baked bread. Medium to full-bodied, pillowy and enveloping, it's a fleshy, giving wine that's ample and pliant, with a pinpoint mousse and a nicely defined finish.
An attractively dry Champagne that highlights its mineral texture as much as its ripe white fruits, this is tense, with a fine bite of acidity. The bottling is young and the wine needs to soften for the full experience. Drink from 2023.
The NV Champagne Brut is 60% Chardonnay, 35% Pinot Noir, and the rest Meunier, with the base vintage being from 2017. It pours a pale straw, with fresh and inviting aromas of fruit punch, wet stone, and bread dough. The palate is full of life and drinking well now, with rounded golden orchard fruit, lime zest, and a hint of graham biscuit. A solid entry wine from the range, this would be a fantastic aperitif or wine by the glass. Best after 2022.
The House of Delamotte is the fifth-oldest Champagne house in the region, founded in 1760. It is located in the heart of the Côte des Blancs in Le Mesnil-sur-Oger. Delamotte is small (just 25,000 cases annually) and one of Champagne's best-kept secrets. It is the sister winery of the legendary House of Salon. The two wineries sit side-by-side and are both run by Didier Depond.
"Delamotte has always been somewhat of an insider's house, producing high quality at realistic prices. One of the best buys in exquisitely crafted Champagne."
- Robert Parker, The Wine Advocate
Associated with luxury, celebration, and romance, the region, Champagne, is home to the world’s most prized sparkling wine. In order to bear the label, ‘Champagne’, a sparkling wine must originate from this northeastern region of France—called Champagne—and adhere to strict quality standards. Made up of the three towns Reims, Épernay, and Aÿ, it was here that the traditional method of sparkling wine production was both invented and perfected, birthing a winemaking technique as well as a flavor profile that is now emulated worldwide.
Well-drained, limestone and chalky soil defines much of the region, which lend a mineral component to its wines. Champagne’s cold, continental climate promotes ample acidity in its grapes but weather differences from year to year can create significant variation between vintages. While vintage Champagnes are produced in exceptional years, non-vintage cuvées are produced annually from a blend of several years in order to produce Champagnes that maintain a consistent house style.
With nearly negligible exceptions, . These can be blended together or bottled as individual varietal Champagnes, depending on the final style of wine desired. Chardonnay, the only white variety, contributes freshness, elegance, lively acidity and notes of citrus, orchard fruit and white flowers. Pinot Noir and its relative Pinot Meunier, provide the backbone to many blends, adding structure, body and supple red fruit flavors. Wines with a large proportion of Pinot Meunier will be ready to drink earlier, while Pinot Noir contributes to longevity. Whether it is white or rosé, most Champagne is made from a blend of red and white grapes—and uniquely, rosé is often produce by blending together red and white wine. A Champagne made exclusively from Chardonnay will be labeled as ‘blanc de blancs,’ while ones comprised of only red grapes are called ‘blanc de noirs.’
A term typically reserved for Champagne and Sparkling Wines, non-vintage or simply “NV” on a label indicates a blend of finished wines from different vintages (years of harvest). To make non-vintage Champagne, typically the current year’s harvest (in other words, the current vintage) forms the base of the blend. Finished wines from previous years, called “vins de reserve” are blended in at approximately 10-50% of the total volume in order to achieve the flavor, complexity, body and acidity for the desired house style. A tiny proportion of Champagnes are made from a single vintage.
There are also some very large production still wines that may not claim one particular vintage. This would be at the discretion of the winemaker’s goals for character of the final wine.