About this WINE
Champagne Fleury
Champagne Fleury has been in the business of winemaking for over 125 years and is respected as one of the region’s first pioneers of biodynamics. Despite its long history, Fleury has remained a family winery. It is located in the far south of Champagne, in the Côtes des Bar, where the terroir has a huge amount in common with the Grand Crus of Chablis.
Fleury has never stopped innovating. In 1989, they committed fully to organic and biodynamic practices, the first in the region to do so. The winery prides itself on personifying the “art of being natural”. In this spirit, Champagne Fleury isn’t afraid to go against the grain in the interest of coaxing the very best out of the terroir.
Perhaps due to this, Fleury cuvées have a distinctive vinous quality and display outstanding precision, thanks to the care taken by the team in growing them. The mature Champagnes are a conversation piece at any gathering, managing to balance an ethereal purity of fruit with an earthy sense of place.
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.
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Description
A tribute to their grandfather, the Robert Fleury Champagne is only made in the greatest vintages, where the family find power and complexity, but also harmony, in the wines. This is a careful selection of grapes from their oldest vineyards, some of which are over 50 years old. This blend of Pinot Noir, Chardonnay & Pinot Blancs, sees fermentation take place in 228L Burgundian barrels. The nose is exotic and spicy with candied ginger, saffron and roasted peach. The palate is deep, creamy foam, patisserie and confit citrus with chalky length and lift. There is incredible depth, complexity and balance in the wine.
Drink 2024 - 2040
Davy Żyw, Senior Buyer, Berry Bros. & Rudd
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