Vilmart & Cie Grand Cellier Brut Premier Cru
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Spectator
Wine -
Spirits
Wine & -
Dunnuck
Jeb
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
The pale lemon shade with golden and green highlights is shimmering and luminous. This wine develops a fine, elegant and long-tasting mousse. On the first nose, the wine reveals white flower aromas (honeysuckle, lilac), citrus notes as well as fresh butter and cream. After airing, as it is getting warmer, this Champagne exhales another spectrum of aromas. The wine reveals spicy notes of ginger, lemongrass, which were unsuspected until then. The beautiful quality of the acidity (present throughout the tasting) is especially remarkable. The frank vinosity of the wine (roundness and alcohol) gives an impression of strength and freshness. The wine appears both broad yet tight. These various sensations produce a pure, creamy and silky textured wine. The finish is clean, slightly mineral and long. The last aroma is the grapefruit. The impression will be remembered as a harmonious, healthy and vibrant wine.
This wine pairs well with soft and creamy in texture meals. Fish such as sole or turbot with a mild sauce, fine crustaceans such as prawns or oysters are suggested. This champagne can also be tasted for aperitif.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Spectator
A mouthwatering Champagne that shows seamless integration of the plush and creamy mousse, rapierlike acidity and expressive range of peach, chopped nut, ripe green apple, star anise and honeysuckle aromas and flavors that persist on the long finish. Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.
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Wine & Spirits
This is a 70-30 blend of chardonnay and pinot noir grown in clay-limestone soils. The components come from harvests in 2014 through ’16, the wines aged 10 months in foudre. It’s spicy in its structure and lasting in its fruit, with flavors ranging from the red blush of pear skin to orange and dry pineapple. Powerful, generous and still tight, this should develop well over the next several years.
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Jeb Dunnuck
Made from 70% Chardonnay and the remainder Pinot Noir, the NV Champagne Grand Cellier Brut was raised for 10 months in large foudre before spending 30 months sur latte. The nose is rounded and soft, with a delicate perfume of vanilla pastry, Anjou pear, and white flowers. The palate is rounded but dry, with citrus zest that lifts through the modest finish. Best After 2023.
The majority of Vilmart's 11 hectares of vines lie in Rilly-la-Montagne, although there are a few plots just over the border in the neighboring village of Villers-Allerand. Vilmart is a member of Ampelos, an organization that promotes organic and sustainable viticulture, and Champs has never used any herbicides or chemical fertilizers since taking over the estate. All of the vineyards are planted with cover crops and plowed, and Champs enjoys an additional advantage in that his parcels are relatively large—only 12 different parcels over 11 hectares—meaning that he is more protected from contamination by chemical treatments in neighboring plots.
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.
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.’