2002 Champagne Moët & Chandon, Grand Vintage, Brut
Critics reviews
The 2002 is 51% Chardonnay, 26% Pinot Noir and 23% Meunier. Disgorged: May, 2017.
The 2002 Grand Vintage Collection is remarkably bright for a vintage, producing much more opulent Champagnes. Orchard fruit, almond, marzipan, chamomile, dried flowers, and dried apricot all effortlessly fill out the wine’s frame. Rich and sensual but also light on its feet, the 2002 is fabulous.
Drink 2020 - 2032
Antonio Galloni, Vinous.com (July 2019)
Bright yellow. Smoky citrus and pear aromas are complicated by honeysuckle, sweet butter, and allspice. Bright and incisive on entry, it offers lively lemon curd and orange flavours that give way to a deeper, musky mango quality in the mid-palate. It is showing more depth than the '02 Dom Perignon right now, which is comparatively shrill. The spicy finish features a subtle smoky quality and impressive persistence.
Josh Raynolds, Vinous.com (November 2010)
Disgorged in May 2017. Dosage 5 g/l.
Tasted blind. Deep straw. Sort of mahogany nose. Lots of pleasure but not quite as intense and tight-knit as the 2004 vintage, though very long.
Drink 2016 - 2030
Jancis Robinson MW, JancisRobinson.com (January 2024)
Disgorged in May 2017, the 2002 Extra Brut Grand Vintage Collection has acquired appreciable complexity from its 15-year sur lattes. It offers aromas of honeyed citrus fruit that mingle with nuances of smoke, iodine, and brown butter. On the palate, the wine is medium to full-bodied, broad, and impressively vinous, with a textural attack, good depth at the core, and a pinpoint mousse. It concludes with a sapid, saline finish. It should drink well for another decade.
Drink 2018 - 2028
William Kelley, Wine Advocate (April 2019)
A cuvee of 51% Chardonnay, 26% Pinot Noir and 23% Pinot Meunier. From a magnum disgorged during the tasting, therefore, with zero dosage.
The attractive red-berry and red-apple nose leads you into the elegant, creamy palate, in which the acidity is neatly integrated until you reach the finish, where it pops out with green-apple freshness and a hint of caramel.
James Suckling, JamesSuckling.com (July 2022)
About this WINE
Champagne Moet & Chandon
Moët & Chandon can trace its history back to 1743 when it was established by Claude Moët in 1743. It is now part of the massive LVMH group and is by far the largest house in Champagne, producing a staggering 24 million bottles a year and with nearly 30 kilometres of cellars to mature its stocks.
Quality at Moët & Chandon has improved hugely under the auspices of master blender, Richard Geoffroy, who brought a silkiness, finesse and elegance to the wines that they were previously lacking. Moet's Chief winemaker is now Georges Blanck.
Moët & Chandon Brut Impérial has for many years been the world's best selling non-vintage Champagne and is consistently soft, fresh and very well balanced. The Vintage Brut Impérial is one of the best value vintage Champagnes on the market, while the firm's top cuvée, Dom Pérignon, is one of the greatest Champagnes in the world.
Moët & Chandon now has outposts in Spain, California, Brazil and Australia, where it produces very high quality sparkling wines sold under the Green Point label.
Brut Champagne
Brut denotes a dry style of Champagne (less than 15 grams per litre). Most Champagne is non-vintage, produced from a blend from different years. The non-vintage blend is always based predominately on wines made from the current harvest, enriched with aged wines (their proportion and age varies by brand) from earlier harvests, which impart an additional level of complexity to the end wine. Champagnes from a single vintage are labelled with the year reference and with the description Millésimé.
Non-vintage Champagnes can improve with short-term ageing (typically two to three years), while vintages can develop over much longer periods (five to 30 years). The most exquisite and often top-priced expression of a house’s style is referred to as Prestige Cuvée. Famous examples include Louis Roederer's Cristal, Moët & Chandon's Dom Pérignon, and Pol Roger's Cuvée Sir Winston Churchill.
Recommended Producers : Krug, Billecart Salmon, Pol Roger, Bollinger, Salon, Gosset, Pierre Péters, Ruinart
Champagne blend
Which grapes are included in the blend, and their proportion, is one of the key factors determining the style of most Champagnes. Three grapes are used - Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Pinot Meunier.
26% of vineyards in Champagne are planted with Chardonnay and it performs best on the Côtes des Blancs and on the chalk slopes south of Epernay. It is relatively simple to grow, although it buds early and thus is susceptible to spring frosts. It produces lighter, fresher wines than those from Burgundy and gives finesse, fruit and elegance to the final blend. It is the sole grape in Blancs de Blancs, which are some of the richest long-lived Champagnes produced.
Pinot Noir accounts for nearly 40% of the plantings in Champagne and lies at the heart of most blends - it gives Champagne its body, structure, strength and grip. It is planted across Champagne and particularly so in the southern Aube district.
The final component is Pinot Meunier and this constitutes nearly 35% of the plantings. Its durability and resistance to spring frosts make the Marne Valley, a notorious frost pocket, its natural home. It ripens well in poor years and produces a soft, fruity style of wine that is ideal for blending with the more assertive flavours of Pinot Noir. Producers allege that Pinot Meunier lacks ageing potential, but this does not deter Krug from including around 15% of it in their final blends.
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
Disgorged in May 2017. Dosage 5 g/l.
Tasted blind. Deep straw. Sort of mahogany nose. Lots of pleasure but not quite as intense and tight-knit as the 2004 vintage, though very long.
Drink 2016 - 2030
Jancis Robinson MW, JancisRobinson.com (January 2024)
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