2012 Champagne Perrier Jouët, Belle Epoque, Brut
Critics reviews
Delicate, crisp, vibrant nose of ripe green apples, white flowers, and elegant autolytic notes of toasted bread, honey wax, and biscuits. This medium to full-bodied wine has a rich, layered palate of clean, bright white fruits and a firm, linear acidity that leads to an elegant yet defined finish. Despite the fleshy fruit concentration, this wine is charming, precise and well-defined in all its aspects.
Drink 2020 - 2040
Robert Park, Jr., Wine Advocate (March 2023)
About this WINE
Perrier Jouet
Pierre Nicolas-Marie Perrier established Perrier-Jouët in 1811. It was his son Charles who did most to establish the family name by supplying champagne to the courts of Napoleon III, King Leopold of the Belgians and Queen Victoria.
Belle Époque, with its elaborately enamelled bottles, is the flagship of the house. A prestige cuvée with an elegant lightness of fruit and a wonderful creaminess on the finish.
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
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.
Buying options
Add to wishlist
Description
Delicate, crisp, vibrant nose of ripe green apples, white flowers, and elegant autolytic notes of toasted bread, honey wax, and biscuits. This medium to full-bodied wine has a rich, layered palate of clean, bright white fruits and a firm, linear acidity that leads to an elegant yet defined finish. Despite the fleshy fruit concentration, this wine is charming, precise and well-defined in all its aspects.
Drink 2020 - 2040
Robert Park, Jr., Wine Advocate (March 2023)
wine at a glance
Delivery and quality guarantee