Champagne Pierre Peters, Cuvée de Réserve, Blanc de Blancs, Grand Cru, Brut
Critics reviews
Dosage is 5.5 grams per liter. Disgorged: January 4, 2023.
The NV Brut Cuvée de Réserve Grand Cru (base 2021) is a fine introduction to this range. Soft, open-knit and creamy, the Cuvée de Réserve is wonderfully engaging right out of the gate. Lemon confit, dried flowers, chamomile, baked apple tart and spice are front and centre. All the elements are so well put together. This is an exquisite Champagne from Rodolphe Péters.
Drink 2024 - 2030
Antonio Galloni, Vinous.com (March 2024)
Based on the 2019 vintage (which Péters declares "the best of the decade") and disgorged this year, the NV Brut Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru Cuvée de Réserve bursts with aromas of crisp stone fruit, orange zest, freshly baked bread and beeswax. Medium-bodied, ample and pillowy, with a fleshy core of fruit, racy acids and a saline finish, it's animated by an attractive pinpoint mousse.
Drink 2022 - 2032
William Kelley, Wine Advocate (August 2022)
This is Rodolphe Péters’ main wine made from a blend of 2017 Chardonnays from top villages in the Côte des Blancs but mainly in the home village of Le Mesnil. The wine remained in tank on lees (with regular tastings) until the assemblage, when 50% reserve wines were added to the blend. The reserve wines come from Rodolphe’s ‘perpetual reserve’ which is based on the 1988, 1990, 1993 and 1996 harvests. These reserve wines are stored in a combination of large foudres, concrete, stainless steel and cement vats. The wine was kept on the lees for a minimum of two years before disgorgement in September 2020 when it received a dosage of 6–7 g/l.
A more friendly, approachable wine than the Extra Brut – and more tight knit. Very fine bead and great, sappy balance between the delicate fruit and something more substantial – presumably the reserve wines. I don't really see why this is less expensive than the Extra Brut. Really quite fine and rewarding with this more mature undertow beneath the particularly zesty initial impression.
Drink 2021 - 2025
Jancis Robinson MW, JancisRobinson.com (March 2021)
The reserve wines bring a delicious, savoury sense of sourdough richness to fresh clementine, lemon and pale stone fruit, the tension of classic chalky villages still present but rounded out into a wine of impressive persistence. A benchmark NV Blanc de Blancs. 100% Chardonnay from grand cru villages in the Côte des Blancs.
Drink 2023 - 2028
Tom Hewson, Decanter.com (October 2023)
The NV Champagne Cuvée de Reserve Brut is vibrant with soft lime candy, wet rock, and candied green apple. There is consistency to the palate, with more candied lime, green apple, and a delicate salinity, with the dosage rounding things out nicely, This is a fantastic aperitif with an energetic mousse that is versatile and fresh to drink now or over the coming 10 years.
Drink 2022 - 2032
Jeb Dunnuck, JebDunnuk.com (November 2022)
About this WINE
Champagne Pierre Peters
The loquacious and extremely likeable Rodolphe Péters of Champagne Pierre Péters is one of the most highly respected champagne growers in Le Mesnil-sur-Oger, where 12 of his 17 hectares are located.
The style of Le Mesnil Champagnes, differing markedly from more gentle siblings from villages such as Cramant, focuses on mineral power and capacity to age. Péters is the master of this art; a full malolactic fermentation and moderately high fermentation temperatures serve to tame the steely acidity of the wines, but in no way diminishes their inherent power and potential to develop over the medium to long term.
The non-vintage bottlings always incorporate a significant proportion- up to 40% - of reserve wine assembled over decades by saving back a portion of each year's blend and adding it to a solera.
Blanc de Blancs
In Champagne, the term Blanc de Blancs designates Champagnes made only from Chardonnay grapes. The vineyards located between Cramant and Mesnil-sur-Oger in Côte des Blancs yield the best examples of the style.
A classic Blanc de Blancs is restrained and elegant when young, yet with ageing it develops a mouth-coating brioche richness that overlays an intense expression of fruitiness. Blanc de Blancs are endowed with longer ageing potential than a typical Blanc de Noirs.
Recommended Producers: Salon, Billecart Salmon, Jacques Selosse, Dom Ruinart, Krug, Le Mesnil Grand Cru, Guy Larmandier
Chardonnay
Chardonnay is often seen as the king of white wine grapes and one of the most widely planted in the world It is suited to a wide variety of soils, though it excels in soils with a high limestone content as found in Champagne, Chablis, and the Côte D`Or.
Burgundy is Chardonnay's spiritual home and the best White Burgundies are dry, rich, honeyed wines with marvellous poise, elegance and balance. They are unquestionably the finest dry white wines in the world. Chardonnay plays a crucial role in the Champagne blend, providing structure and finesse, and is the sole grape in Blanc de Blancs.
It is quantitatively important in California and Australia, is widely planted in Chile and South Africa, and is the second most widely planted grape in New Zealand. In warm climates Chardonnay has a tendency to develop very high sugar levels during the final stages of ripening and this can occur at the expense of acidity. Late picking is a common problem and can result in blowsy and flabby wines that lack structure and definition.
Recently in the New World, we have seen a move towards more elegant, better- balanced and less oak-driven Chardonnays, and this is to be welcomed.
When is a wine ready to drink?
We provide drinking windows for all our wines. Alongside the drinking windows there is a bottle icon and a maturity stage. Bear in mind that the best time to drink a wine does also depend on your taste.
Not ready
These wines are very young. Whilst they're likely to have lots of intense flavours, their acidity or tannins may make them feel austere. Although it isn't "wrong" to drink these wines now, you are likely to miss out on a lot of complexity by not waiting for them to mature.
Ready - youthful
These wines are likely to have plenty of fruit flavours still and, for red wines, the tannins may well be quite noticeable. For those who prefer younger, fruitier wines, or if serving alongside a robust meal, these will be very enjoyable. If you choose to hold onto these wines, the fruit flavours will evolve into more savoury complexity.
Ready - at best
These wines are likely to have a beautiful balance of fruit, spice and savoury flavours. The acidity and tannins will have softened somewhat, and the wines will show plenty of complexity. For many, this is seen as the ideal time to drink and enjoy these wines. If you choose to hold onto these wines, they will become more savoury but not necessarily more complex.
Ready - mature
These wines are likely to have plenty of complexity, but the fruit flavours will have been almost completely replaced by savoury and spice notes. These wines may have a beautiful texture at this stage of maturity. There is lots to enjoy when drinking wines at this stage. Most of these wines will hold in this window for a few years, though at the very end of this drinking window, wines start to lose complexity and decline.
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Description
The Cuvée de Réserve goes from strength to strength and is now one of the most sought-after of our non-vintage Champagnes, no mean achievement for a Grower Champagne and indicative, perhaps, of the long overdue re-appraisal of the hierarchy in this region, where the hegemony of the Grandes Marques has held sway for so long.
This perhaps explains the inherent complexity on the palate, with its notes of hazelnut, acacia and apricot garlanding the more usual descriptors of citron pressé, sweet spice and crushed rock. The dosage is seven grams per litre and the finish is powerful, with a twist of salinity to confirm the fact that the majority of the fruit is sourced from the great village of Le Mesnil-sur-Oger, the balancing 30% coming from equally prestigious Grand Cru sites in Oger, Chouilly and Cramant.
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