Our definitive 2016 Vintage Report, based on Vins Clairs tastings at ten Champagne houses with the winemakers. Extreme weather has produced surprisingly fresh and balanced base wines, but what potential does 2016 really have? Read our full summary.
The difficult 2016 vintage appears to have been kind to Champagne Bollinger. We tasted the Vins Clairs at the winery in Aÿ last month and the house are optimsitic – even drawing likeness to the magnificent 1988 vintage! We judged for ourselves…
Bruno Paillard founded this eponymously named Champagne house in 1981: the first in nearly a century. A remarkable success story that is still being written… we met with daughter, Alice and tasted (sniffed) the 2016 Vins Clairs and current Champagne range.
Enlightening, educational and at times jaw-dropping, our visit to Moët was one of a kind. Amine Ghanem showed us the 2016 Vins Clairs, new Grand Vintage 2008, a 1988 magnum and the ultra-prestige MCIII.
Chef de Caves, Dominique Demarville showed us the 2016 Vins Clairs, a trial blend for this year’s Yellow Label NV and both La Grande Dame & Rosé 2008. We also cellared some Champagnes from the 60s…
We tasted the 2016 base wines with Vitalie Taittinger, Loïc Dupont & Damien Le Sueur. Discussing the influence of oak barrels, the new ‘image of Taittinger Rosé’, the potential for Comtes 2016 and Taittinger’s new winery; this was a truly eye-opening visit.
Assistant winemaker, Stéphane Lipreau guided us through a tasting of the 2016 Vins Clairs. We also sampled the oldest reserve wines in stock (Cramant 1996) & Essi Avellan MW put her blending skills to the test…
We tasted the 2016 Vins Clairs with cellar master Odilon de Varine, talked winemaking secrets and heard about Gosset’s grand plans: including the opportunity for consumers to create their own blend?!
In the first of our Vins Clairs 2016 articles, we recount our visit to Louis Roederer to taste the 2016 base wines. Chef de Cave Jean-Baptiste Lécaillon had a lot to say about both the present and the future…
“Everything that could go wrong, did.” The most difficult growing season in Champagne for 60 years was saved by late sunshine. A miraculous vintage? Definitely. A future great? Probably not.
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