Lanson Noble Cuvee Blanc de Blancs 2002 Champagne 75cl

Lanson's prestige cuvée is produced from a careful selection of grapes from Grand Cru rated vineyards only. The very essence of the Lanson style, Noble Cuvée embodies all the fruity, grape-flavour freshness so characteristic of the House.

Weather: The 2002 vintage shaped up magnificently over the spring, with no significant frost and near-perfect flowering. Then followed a summer marked by long, sunny periods interspersed with regular cloudy and rainy spells. The vines were in good health and the dehydration of the grape berries helped them reach new heights of ripeness, perfect for the enhanced delicacy of this pure-Chardonnay Lanson Noble Cuvée. Generally considered one of the best harvests in the last twenty years.

News Articles: Lanson Noble Cuvée Blanc de Blancs 2002 performed well in our comprehensive Prestige Cuvées from 2002 blind tasting in October 2016 with Jancis Robinson MW. Read the full write-up here. You can also read more about Lanson Noble Cuvée Blanc de Blancs 2002 in our blog article here.

Technical Information:
Vineyards: 100% Grand Cru
Grape Varieties: 100% Chardonnay
Ageing: 13 years on the lees
Disgorged: June 2015
Dosage: 6 g/l
Drink: Now to 2028

Tasting Note: A vibrant yellow golden hue with a fine stream of bubbles. On the nose initial fruits of citrus and subtle lime impress. On the palate the initially quite tight acidity opens up to a bold toasty mid-palate with an abundance of orchard fruits. Very complex already and sure to develop further given some more ageing, this is an exquisite expression of a flawless vintage.

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. 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

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The house of Lanson was founded in 1760 by François Delamotte, an influential character in Reims society. The joint owner, alongside his wife, of a substantial vineyard in Aÿ and Cumières, he decided to found his own Champagne house - one of the first ever to exist. In 1798, his younger son Nicolas-Louis Delamotte took over the business. Having been admitted as a knight of the Order of Malta at a very young age, he decided to use the Maltese Cross as the House’s emblem. Now revised, the Lanson cross has become the icon of the company.

Jean-Baptiste Lanson, a long-standing friend and later associate of the Delamottes, gradually began to play an increasingly important role in the management of the House. After an agreement between the two families, he succeeded Nicolas-Louis Delamotte after his death and renamed the business Maison J-B Lanson et Compagnie. Jean- Baptiste worked to develop the business outside of France and particularly in Great Britain. He signed the first exclusive agent’s contract with the well-established Percy Fox company in London: a contract which lasted a hundred years and gave the house a dominant position in Great Britain.

In 1855 Victor-Marie Lanson, Jean-Baptiste’s son, took over the running of the house, at which point the name changed to Lanson Père et Fils. The house developed steadily and won increasing numbers of admirers among connoisseurs, including crowned heads – the House of Lanson has been the official supplier to the British court since 1900, when Henri Marie Lanson was awarded the title of ‘Purveyor of Champagne to Her Majesty’ by Queen Victoria. Later, Lanson also became the only Champagne of the principality of Monaco. In recognition of this honour, the House developed a special design to include Monaco’s symbolic chessboard pattern.

Victor Lanson then took the helm in 1928. He had a considerable in influence on the history of the house and would become known as the ‘great ambassador of Champagne’. In 1937, he wanted to promote sales of non-vintage dry wine and decided to name the blend Black Label in honour of the house’s biggest market, Great Britain. He was also one of the first to develop rosé champagne.

Etienne Lanson, one of Victor’s sons, joined the house alongside his father and eventualy took over in 1967. He decided to conserve vintages in the cellars to develop a unique wine library, from which the house still benefits today. In 1972, Jean-Paul Gandon joined the house and in 1986 became chief winemaker – a role he held for almost three decades!

In 2013, Hervé Dantan joined Champagne Lanson, working alongside Jean-Paul Gandon. In 2015, after two years of sharing and passing on the secrets of Lanson’s production, he assumed the great responsibility of Chef de Cave and has overseen extensive development at the house in recent years.