Champagne Desautels-Cuiret Millésime 2018, Grand Cru Blanc de Blanc

14.00%

50 years old

Recoltant-Manipulant (RM), can only produce Champagne with fruit sourced from their vineyard. Winter pruning in November after previous harvest entirely done by hand. Fixing the branch on iron wire for the Winter resting time. When plant is active again, disbudding for better aeration and better quality yield. Sexual confusion: pheromone are released, preventing insects to mate, it averts the need of insecticide product (organic method). Once vegetation is grown, stripping the leaf on one side exposed to the rising sun to reduce and cancel the use of synthetic product (natural aeration optimized). 3 weeks prior harvest, tests with samples to get sugar/acidity/aromas content of each parcels to define the course of harvests on each parcels. Harvest are fully done by hand as per Champagne tradition.Winter pruning in November after previous harvest entirely done by hand. Fixing the banch on iron wire for the Winter resting time. When plant is active again, disbudding for better aeration and better quality yield. Sexual confusion: pheromone are released, preventing insects to mate, it averts the need of insecticide product (organic method). Once vegetation is grown, stripping the leaf on one side exposed to the rising sun to reduce and cancel the use of synthetic product (natural aeration optimized). 3 weeks prior harvest, tests with samples to get sugar/acidity/aromas content of each parcels to define the course of harvests on each parcels. Harvest are fully done by hand as per Champagne tradition.

All harvests from a single vintage. Full cluster pressed in a pneumatic press, Desaultel Cuiret created their own technique to reduce sulphites exposition to an extreme minimum,Alcoholic fermentation at 15° for 10 days average, malolactic fermentationtion only on 80% of cuvee for 2 month average, segementation of cuvee by terroirs, incorporation of the core of the cuvee (best vines and harvest) for the best wine. Mature on the lees for over 36 months as per Vintange Champagne label requirements.

Chardonnay

400 cases

Champagne

The 2018 vintage is truly exceptional for Champagne. The Chardonnay is outstanding. Initial results are wines that are dense yet fresh and should be long lasting. 2018 is destined to be remembered for producing both quality and quantity, but it’s also a game-changing vintage. This current assessment is in striking contrast to the feeling of trepidation felt during the heavy rains, leading to the need for constant vigilance and a substantial increase in the amount of work to be done in the vineyard in order to prevent the outbreak of fungal diseases such as mildew or powdery mildew. A few isolated hailstorms led to crop loss, notably in the Côte des Bar sector in the southern part of the region (luckily, not at Desautels-Cuiret). Fortunately, early summer was accompanied by a welcome change in weather, bringing hot, sunny, and, importantly, dry days. Occasional showers brought welcome relief to the parched vines, and kept hydric stress at bay, allowing for optimal ripening at a gradual pace in ideal conditions that resulted in an early harvest, commencing on 20 August. It was also, in the end, a relatively stress-free vintage for the producers. 

Vallée des Blancs, Champagne, France

16 inches of silt soil over solid chunk of chalk, signature terroir of Grand Cru Village in the Blanc Valley.

2018