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Charles Heidsieck Blanc des Millénaires 1996
100% Chardonnay comprising equal portions from five Crus in the Côte des Blancs; Mesnil-sur-Oger, Oger, Avize, Cramant, Vertus. 24 years of aging in lees. Disgorged 2021. 9g/L dosage.
There’s a reason why we pay a premium for extensively aged champagnes. Kept in their original condition, in the best of cellaring conditions, they unfurl to full potential in the passage of time.
When all of the elements dovetail, wine enters a sanctified place. This is exactly where you will find Charles’ 1996 Blanc des Millénaires.
Crab piklets, oysters, tempura vegetables
A vivid golden colour in the glass, you would be forgiven for thinking it has forsaken freshness for maturity but not at all. Aromatically pronounced on the nose, you will find salivating tertiary character mingling with yuzu freshness in what is ultimately a gourmand wine. This is a grand champagne where much of the pleasure is on the nose. Take your time, because you’ll do yourself and the wine justice.
The palate offers all of the textured richness you might expect from a champagne of this calibre where harmony and completeness exist. It’s spicy and saline with an overriding profile of Tarte au Citron where there’s a sense of concentrated sugar, melted butter and mouth-watering lemon zest. On the finish, flavours of sourdough crust, lending a reductive, tangy and sour edge which provides the strongest indicator of its 1996 origins. In coming together, it makes a powerful and deeply concentrated wine, with a driving freshness, that is absolutely delicious and exciting to drink. This is one of the leading examples of champagne from this vintage, which is now complete in the fullness of time.
