Founded in 1760, Champagne Lanson is one of the oldest producers in the region, with a rich history embedded in the famous city of Reims. The red cross in the logo comes from, Nicolas-Louis Delamotte who in 1798 took over from his father and as a knight of the Order of Malta, decided to use the Maltese Cross as the House's emblem. Developing steadily and winning numerous awards over the years, they gained real prominence in the 1900s, becoming official supplier to the British court. Lanson has changed ownership many times in the last 50 years, the most significant change in 1990 when it was bought by LVMH who re-sold a few months later in 1991, keeping 210 hectares of vineyards, at the time considered the best vineyard holdings of all the large Maison. In 2006 Lanson became part of what is now the Lanson BCC Group. Today Lanson sources grapes from over 500 hectares across 60 villages.
Weather in 2019: A year of record high temperatures, with three unprecedented heatwaves. The rather cool night-time temperatures during the ripening phase for the grapes helped to preserve their natural acidity. Moderate yields combined with remarkable ripeness produced a very fine vintage. The harvests took place from 7 September to 20 September 2019. By respecting the unique character of each parcel, we were able to harvest Pinot Noirs of intense elegance and fruitiness. To counterbalance their tension, we chose Meuniers for their richness and delicacy. The Chardonnays stood out for their great generosity.
Creation 67 - What does it mean? This is the 1st rose from Lanson where they identify the dominant vintage in the champagne, here it is 2019, a really top year in Champagne; Creation 67 refers to the 67th time a non-vintage rosé has been made at the Maison. A non-vintage champagne is made every spring from the previous summer's grapes, fermented into a still wine. Older wines known as "reserve wines" are blended in and it is bottled with a small addition of yeast and sugar. The bottles go to the cool cellars where over 2-3 months the bottle fermentation happens, creating the bubbles we know and love. After the fermentation the champagne remains in contact with the yeast for three years where a good part of the texture and aromatics further develop.
Technical Information:
Vineyards: Reims, Epernay, Sezanne, Vitry & Troyes
Grape Varieties: 52% Pinot Noir | 34% Chardonnay | 14% Meunier
Winemaker:
Hervé Dantan
Base wine: 2019
Reserve wines: 29% | Inc vintage reserve wines 12.9% of 2016, 4.6% of 2017 & 11.5% of 2018
Red wine: 6.6% from Bouzy, Les Riceys & Vallée de la Marne
Lees Ageing: 3 years
Dosage: 8 g/l
Disgorged: November 2023
Wine without Malolactic Fermentation: 75%
Drink: Now to 2038
Tasting Note: On the nose, the fine scents of raspberry, pomegranate and blood orange enhance a delicate note of rose. On the palate, a beautiful mineral crispness is accompanied by subtle floral and fruity notes of strawberry, redcurrant and pomelo.
Founded in 1760, Champagne Lanson is one of the oldest producers in the region, with a rich history embedded in the famous city of Reims. The red cross in the logo comes from, Nicolas-Louis Delamotte who in 1798 took over from his father and as a knight of the Order of Malta, decided to use the Maltese Cross as the House’s emblem. Developing steadily and winning numerous awards over the years, they gained real prominence in the 1900s, becoming official supplier to the British court. This strong relationship with Great Britain was further cemented in 1937, when owner at the time Victor Lanson named their non-vintage dry champagne Black Label, in honour of Lanson's biggest market. Champagne Lanson has also sponsored the The Championships, Wimbledon - one of the UK's oldest and most traditional sporting competitions - for over forty years.
Traditionally favouring a high-acidity style with blocked malolactic fermentation, Lanson has changed considerably under new Chef de Caves, Hervé Dantan. Universally blocking malolactic fermentation has been discarded to produce a softer and more complex style. More recently, in efforts directed towards image building, Lanson have begun displaying disgorgement dates on their bottles. Their cellars have also undergone an impressive makeover, affording this most historic of Champagne Houses an ultra-modern HQ.
Cellar Master:
Hervé Dantan
Winery Location: Reims | Champagne, France
Champagne Region:
Montagne de Reims
Annual Production (bottles): 5,000,000
Chef de Cave History at Champagne Lanson:
Hervé Dantan - 2015 to current
Herve joined Lanson in 2013 having spent 22 years as cellar master at Mailly Grand Cru cooperative. During the next two years he learnt the secrets about Lanson cuvee's from the outgoing chef de cave. During his time Herve has overseen many changes, the most significant was evolving their NV blend from a champagne with no wines going through the MLF, malo lactic fermentation, to creating a blend where some of the wines were put through the MLF. This gives a champagne easier to drink when younger and with a more generous fruit profile. He also continued to introduce Clos Lanson to its distributorship which was launching as he joined in 2013. This single clos, across the road from the Lanson winery, is a prestige cuvee Blanc de Blancs, showing a delicious yellow fruit profile and a touch of spice from barrel fermentation. In addition Herve created the Lanson Green Label champagne from all organically farmed grapes. Herve has more recently been involved in establishing a new Clos for Lanson, planted with Pinot Noir, champagne from their new Clos we will see in the late 2020's.
Jean-Paul Gandon - 1987 to 2015
Born in Touraine, studied viticulture and winemaking in Burgundy, joining Lanson in 1972, by 1982 he oversaw Lanson's vineyards and and took charge of the winemaking and cellars in January 1987. From the 2006 vintage Jean-Paul started bottling the single vineyard Blanc de Blancs from Clos Lanson, no malolactic and barrel fermented this was the new prestige champagne in the range, launched in 2013 as Jean-Paul began handing over to his successor Herve Danton. To celebrate Lanson's 250th anniversary in 2010 Jean-Paul was given the honour of creating Lanson Extra Age from nearly all Grand Cru fruit with five years lees ageing, a sensationally champagne to this day, though in 2020 the winery stopped making it. This quote speaks for itself:
"Throughout the Lanson saga, and its changes of ownership, this honest man has always remained faithful to the words of Victor Lanson “The House of Lanson makes wine in the style originally established in 1760”. To retain the Lanson style, the wines do not undergo the malolactic fermentation because, he explains, “malic acid is the ideal support for the aromas of fresh fruits”. The flavours of apple, pear and grape are one of the 3 components of the Black Label Brut of Champagne Lanson. The second distinction is their power, their body, their generosity, due to the majority of Pinot Noir in the composition of the blend. The third is their freshness and longevity, deriving from the absence of the malolactic fermentation.
To help appreciate the evolution of the wines, this demanding and perfectionist man puts the disgorgement date on all the Lanson Champagnes. The first age (under 3 years) is the period of fresh fruit and floral notes; the second age (between 3 and 5 years) that of maturity, showing flavours of ripe fruits and warm patisserie; in the third age, that of fullness, the wines develop tertiary aromas and toasted notes. With the mature cuvees, the dosage is low, (3g/l). Very precise, at all the stages of the vinification, Jean-Paul Gandon points out that, with the changes in climate, Champagnes have lost some of their vivacity and tightness and explains that, thirty years ago, the acid level of the wines was normally around 8-9 grams at harvest whereas in the past twenty years it has been more likely to have been between 7 and 8gr/l. 2013, this continental year with the harvest at the end of September brings us back perhaps to something more like those we have known in the past?"
Bernard Gasco - 1955 to January 1987
Bernard Gasco was born in December 1927 and died in a car accident in January 1987. He began his career at Lanson in 1949 after completing various internships. After starting as a joint wine maker with Monsieur Charlemagne he became Chef de Caves in 1955, respecting the style of the House while turning to ever more modernity and introducing stainless steel for both fermentations and reserve wine storage.