2017 Champagne Crété Chamberlin, C.D.B, Blanc de Blancs, Grand Cru, Brut Nature
About this WINE
Champagne Crété Chamberlin
Champagne Crété Chamberlin is a family winery, spearheaded by the brother-sister collaboration of Mathieu and Blandine Crété. Their beautifully artisanal wines are an excellent opportunity to explore what the Côtes des Blancs can offer.
Mathieu and Blandine are 15th generation winemakers. Their ancestors started farming the land in 1683 and making Champagne in 1887. However, it wasn’t until the siblings took over that extra focus was placed on creating terroir-focused wines, of outstanding precision and authenticity.
Crété Chamberlin is located in Moussy in the Marne Valley, and spans 8 hectares of 88 plots, spread across 11 villages. This covers an incredible diversity of terroirs, and each plot is vinified separately to maintain the unique nuances of each. Minimal intervention is practised, and the wines are crafted without chemicals or unnecessary sulphur, to preserve the purest expression of character possible.
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.
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Description
Champagne Crété Chamberlin’s CDB Grand Cru is a blanc de blancs, produced from Chardonnay vines in Mesnil-sur-Oger et Oger in the Côtes des Blancs. This cuvée is a new project and bursts with energy, despite coming from the difficult 2017 vintage. The wine was aged in stainless steel to retain as much expression of terroir as possible, after which three years cellaring has helped develop aromas of green apple, honeysuckle, dried fruit and brioche. Only 5,000 bottles of this have been made, and this rarity has the structure and texture to last for another ten years at least.
Davy Żyw, Senior Buyer, Berry Bros. & Rudd
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