Country: | France |
Region: | Burgundy |
Winery: | Chartron et Trebuchet |
Grape Type: | Chardonnay |
Vintage: | 2012 |
Bottle Size: | 750 ml |
Bavencoff Montagny Blanc is made from 100 percent Chardonnay.
This Montagny presents a typical robe of a Burgundy Chardonnay: A pale yellow color with discreet green reflections. The color will change to golden yellow with age. On the nose, it develops delicate honey and vanilla aromas. On the palate, this wine is full-bodied, it offers a slightly oily texture typical of the great whites of Burgundy, rich and fresh flavors (vanilla, honey, golden apple, toast). The finish is long and mineral.
This wine goes perfectly with veal in sauce, scallops in butter and herbs, and most fish. Also to drink with hard mountain cheeses: Comté, Beaufort.
Brulesecaille Blanc Grande Reserve is made from 75% Sauvignon Blanc, 25% Sauvignon Gris.
Average age of the vines is 25 years.
Manual harvest from September 19th-20th 2016.
Direct press at low pressure (whole cluster) with low amount of SO2, settling at 10°C.
Addition of yeast and alcoholic fermentation in casks 400 liters.
Raised on the lees for 6 months with regular batonnage (stirring of the lees).
Bottling in april 2017.
Fish, seafood, white meats, fine goat cheeses.
All older vintage wines have been purchased from a single collectors cellar. Pictures can be requested before shipment.
Morlet Family Vineyards Billet Doux Late Harvest Semillon 2012 (half-bottle) is made from Sémillon (65%) Sauvignon Blanc (31%) Muscat à Petits Grains (4%)
rowing in the gravelly soil of an ancient riverbed in the beautiful Alexander Valley, the old vines benefit from hot afternoons and cool, foggy mornings, favorable for the development of Botrytis (Noble Rot). Extremely small yields in the Sémillon, Sauvignon Blanc and Muscat vineyards lead to the immensely concentrated fruit. Just as one receives a note from one’s sweetheart, we present this wine as a precious ‘Love Note’ or ‘Billet Doux.’
Deep crystal clear gold. Intense and complex bouquet of dry apricot, pêche de vigne and Reine Claude yellow plum intermixed with notes of quince, honey, Muscat and a hint of sweet vanilla. Full bodied, the palate is reminiscent of the nose, with a creamy sweet texture and a great intensity. The large amount of sugar and glycerin creates a highlighted viscosity. Along with the wine’s great concentration, richness and opulence, the classical aromatic complexity reveals a flamboyant yet harmonious ensemble, leading to a very long, complex and smooth finish.
Proprietary name ‘Billet Doux’
Name meaning Love Note
Type of wine Late harvest white wine
Appellation Alexander Valley
Vineyard singularity 25-60 year old vines Loamy and gravelly soils from an ancient river bed One cluster per shoot ‘de rigueur’
Typical harvest date November Picking Manual, small lugs, refrigerated truck
Sorting Cluster by cluster
Fermentation In barrel through native yeast
Upbringing 16 months French Oak from selected artisan Coopers
Bottling Unfined, filtered to prevent Malolactic
Cellaring time Decades
Serving Chilled and decanted
Review:
Produced from 65% Sémillon, 31% Sauvignon Blanc and 4% Muscat, the 2012 Billet Doux has a medium golden color and profoundly scented nose of beeswax, honeyed nuts, orange marmalade, Manuka honey and preserved lemons. Full-bodied, full-on sweet, rich, concentrated and oh-so-unctuous, it delivers powerful flavor layers and epic length. 175 cases were made.
-Wine Advocate 97 Points
Roland Champion Champagne Blanc de Blancs NV is aged for minimum 30 months (the minimum for NV is 15 months). This cuvee is made from 100% Chardonnay and is produced from the free run juice only. The current release is the result of the blend of the 2005, the 2006 and the 2007 vintage.
Fresh and delicate, its fine bubbles and wide range of aromas will be perfect as an aperitif. This Champagne will also match very well with seafood and shellfish.
dosage : 8 grams per liter
ageing : 30 months on laths
Even if it doesn't say on the label, 100% of the production is RD (Recently Disgorged)
Total Production for this Cuvée : 1,500 cases (9 liter equivalent) per year
Reviews:
"(L40): Light yellow-gold. Musky pear and peach pit aromas are enlivened by notes of lemon zest and chalk. Weighty but energetic, offering powerful orchard fruit flavors and hints of candied fig and lemon curd. The pear skin quality comes back strong on the clinging finish. This powerful Champagne is definitely better suited for duty at the table than for serving by itself. - Josh Raynolds" - Antonio Galloni's Vinous (Dec 2012), 91 pts
- Roger VOSS"
Wine Enthusiast (December 1st 2019), 92 pts
"Golden yellow color. Lively, fruity, toasty leesy aromas of honeyed brioche and apple tart with a satiny, tangy, dry-yet-fruity medium body and a sleek, interesting, snappy lemon curd, nougat, and chalk finish with silky, soft, fruit tannins. A classic example of blanc de blanc champagne, delicious."
- Beverage Testing institute , 93 pts
"Spiced with ground anise and ginger accents, this offers notes of poached pear, lemon meringue pie, hazelnut and stony mineral. Very elegant and well-meshed throughout, with a silky finish. Tasted twice, with consistent notes. 1,500 cases made. –AN"
- Wine Spectator 92 pts
"This cuvée made from 100% Chardonnay offers a fresh aromatic nose of light toast, dried yellow fruit and nuances of yeast. On the palate it has a creamy mouth feel of toasted nuts and rich autolytic notes. This is a beautiful wine, rich and complex."
International Wine review 92+ pts
"Small grower. Autumn fruits dominate the aromas of this wine, which is blatantly more like a wine than we normally expect a champagne to be. Some may find that unexpected and even off-putting, while others will find it intriguingly delicious."
- Washington Post - EXCELLENT
"Roland Champion is a small family-owned producer, now with the fourth generation, in the village of Chouilly (”shoo-ee”), which has only Grand Cru vineyards. Made from 100 percent chardonnay grapes, this Champagne offers ethereal grace and poise and harmony; if I were fighting a duel tonight, I would ask for this Champagne as my last beverage. The nose here is about the richness of warm biscuits and hazelnuts, dried fruit and spice, like a Platonic, ineffably light fruitcake; in the mouth, however, it’s about a structure that encompasses an incredible marriage of power and elegance, like the delicacy and strength of the finest bone china. And there’s something porcelain-like about this Champagne, in its notable crisp, lively character, its transparency and its slightly chalky, shale-like mineral elements. Forget the Champagnes that come on with heavy toasty, caramel qualities; here, instead, is a wealth of subtlety and nuance touched with a racy, dynamic edge. Exceptional."
Biggerthanyourhead.net
The House of Trouillard has incredible holdings on the Côtes de Blancs. The vineyard's rating average 94-95, just one of the reasons the Blanc de Blancs has such incredible raciness and elegance. It is a Cuvée of eleven different Crus in the Reims Mountain, the Côtes de Blancs and the Sézannaise region and is the specialty of the house.
Trouillard Blanc de Blancs Brut NV is made of 100% Chardonnay with a green-gold color, characteristic of Chardonnay, and with fine persistent bubbles. This wine has an aroma that jumps out of the glass and is very inviting. On the nose there are seductive scents of warm almond croissant and honey, lightened by some floral notes. Crisp and refreshing in the mouth and lively with a very refined fruitiness and a touch of smokiness typical of wines from the Côtes des Blancs. The elegance and subtlety of the Chardonnay are to be especially appreciated as an aperitif, and nicely accompanies shellfish and fish.
It has become the favorite of those who know Champagne Trouillard.
Reviews:
"A blend of grapes from the Aube and the Marne Valley, this ripe wine shows the structure of Pinot Noir. The fruit's richness balances the low dosage to give an almost bone-dry wine that is full, fruity and that could age further in bottle. - ROGER VOSS"
- Wine Enthusiast (December 2019), 91 pts
"Aromatic, offering ripe fruit and yeast notes, this is backed by firm acidity, with a lively bead and flavors of Golden Delicious apple, white peach, ginger and whole-grain toast. Drink now through 2018. 2,500 cases made. –AN"
Wine Spectator (Web Only 2013), 90 pts
- Chardonnay du Monde 2012, SILVER MEDAL
This all Chardonnay Champagne is sourced from eleven different crus. It offers a fragrant bouquet of orchard fruit with hints of toasted grain and lemon zest. On the palate, there’s good textural richness and attractive apple and pear complemented by a smoky mineral note. But what we like most about this Blanc de Blancs is its outstanding sense of freshness. 100% Chardonnay aged 2+ years on the lees; 7-8 g/L RS" - - I-WineReview (Champagne: Diversity and Change, January 2020), 91 pts
Chartron & Trebuchet Montagny Blanc 2012 is made from 100% Chardonnay
Very attractive wine, with a nice gold, with green tints. Delicate bouquet with a hint of hazelnuts and ferns. Slightly mineral, and full of fruit with a beautiful lingering flavor.
Wine of character and finesse. Ideal with shellfish, oysters, grilled or fried fish and fish prepared with sauce.
The Chartron et Trebuchet Estate
Owners of Premiers and Grands Crus in Puligny-Montrachet since 1859 with the Domaine Jean Chartron, Jean-René Chartron founded the Maison Chartron et Trébuchet in 1984 with Louis Trébuchet, manager of a wine trading company.
Vincent Sauvestre acquired the company in 2004. His objective is to continue to promote the great white wines of Burgundy, whilst respecting and perpetuating the quality work achieved by Jean Chartron and Louis Trébuchet.
The Maison Chartron et Trébuchet specialises in producing great white Burgundy wines. The know-how of the winemakers begins with a radical selection of the very best plots: the highest-quality terroirs of the Côte are chosen and the grapes are carefully monitored throughout the ripening period. Grapes are hand-picked when the balance between acidity and sweetness is at its prime: the fruit must not be too ripe so that the full potential of the terroir is maintained, including its acidity, to ensure that the wines age properly. All of the winemaking is done in casks: the alcoholic fermentation is followed by malolactic fermentation. A proportion of 20 to 40% of new barrels is used, depending on the appellations and the vintage. Wines are left to age for 12 to 18 months depending on the appellations.
The Chartron et Trebuchet Vineyards
Chartron et Trébuchet's vineyards are all planted on Limestone and Clay based soils. In average, the age of the vines is 30 years old.
Luis XIV Fondillon Oro 50 years NV is made from 100 percent 100% Monastrell (Mourvedre). Only 24 9 liter cases produced.
The wine is produced in the village of Cañada, in the subarea of Alto Vinalopó in the province of Alicante. Made from 100% Monastrell planted on traditional dry land as bush vines, at 550-580 meters above sea leval and enjoying a Mediterranean climate with great marine influence due to the easterly winds.
Fondillon 50 years is mahogany in color with orange tile rim, medium layer and great density. On the nose, it has a very deep aroma of old wood, black tea and carob. In the mouth, it has a sweet entry balanced by a rich high acidity. Its aromas are long, almost eternal and very intense. It tastes like old mahogany, a very old barrel and bygone times.
Bottled in December 2019.
AGEING:
CASK NAME: Saboners.
AGEING: Aged more than 50 years (single barrel).
TYPE OF WOOD: 19th-century American oak barrels
CASK SIZE: 70 “cántaros valencianos” (805 litros).
ANALYSIS:
GLUCOSE AND FRUCTOSE: 34 gr/litre.
VOLATILE ACIDITY: 1.35 gr/l.
ALCOHOL: 16.2º (NO ADDED ALCOHOL).
FREE SULFITES: less than 10 mg/litre.
TOTAL SULFITES: 76 mg/litre.
Review:
Dark mahogany color, candied fruit aromas, fruit liqueur notes, spicy, varnish, acetaldehyde, bakery, complex. Fine solera notes, bitter flavors."
- Penin 2022, 99 pts
"The NV Fondillón Luis XIV has the subtitle Edad Superior a 50 años (over 50 years old), and it's a dark mahogany, bottled from a single barrel that has the specific profile of a very old wine greatly concentrated by age, which tends to make it similar to other very old and concentrated wines, be it a Mediterranean rancio or a very old Moscatel. It has notes of bitter chocolate, coconut and iodine, carob beans (algarroba) and some bittersweet sensations. It's dense and concentrated, and the palate is pungent, with very intense flavors and a bitter twist in the finish. This has 16.3% alcohol, 6.45 grams of acidity and 34 grams of sugar, but it comes through as very dry. The wine is long and extraordinary, but it just doesn't have any Fondillón character after decades of concentration by evaporation. The price is ludicrous. Only 435 half-liter bottles were filled in December 2019. - Luis GUTIERREZ
- Wine Advocate (September 2020), 95 pts
"Fondillón is an extraordinary treasure of Alicante, a rare product, made from late harvest, non-botrytised grapes, unfortified, but with a final alcohol of no less than 16%. Intense, aged, but not sweet (deliciously not more than 45g/l). Fab with cheese or dark chocolate. The wines have to be a minimum of 10 years; this release is more than 25 years. The project is a revival by David Carbonell of Vins del Comtat and two local families. Very limited quantities. - Sarah Jane Evans MW"
- Decanter (December 2021, My top 10 Spanish fine wines of 2021), 95 pts
Argyle Reserve Pinot Noir is made from 100 percent Pinot Noir.
Pinot Noir thrives in Willamette Valley's long growing seasons with cool autumn breezes and sunny days. This culmination of extra time on the vine yields aromatics of crunchy dried leaves, pomegranate molasses, black tea leaves, and tart cherries. Earthy undertones and great textured tannins that continue to smooth out with time - adding to the body and longevity.
Review:
Rich and polished, this Pinot offers multilayered raspberry and blueberry flavors. Shows dusky spice and fresh forest floor accents while building structure toward refined tannins.
-Wine Spectator 93 Points