Vintage Champagne is the perfect way to start a new year, new adventures or just to enjoy on a random work night.
A little about vintage Champagne and a brief background on Moët & Chandon.
Vintage Champagne
Vintage Champagne does not actually mean that it is just an older Champagne. It means that the wine was made from grapes exclusively harvested during a single fantastic year. By law, these wines must age for a minimum of 3 years, but most age for a longer period of time.
A non-vintage Champagne is one that can be made from a blend of vintages. Ever wonder why every single time you pop a bottle of your favorite champers and it tastes the same year after year, well that is the science/magic behind blending vintages.
If we circle back to vintage Champagne again, the flavor profile of the wines will be different each vintage that is released and won’t taste like the same brands non-vintage options. These wines often show the truest expression of the terroir and make them truly special in my opinion.
Because these wines are made using only one vintage of grapes, the wines develop special characteristics due to the temperatures that year, the length of harvest, the sunlight and rain, etc., as well as the various winemaking techniques used. This makes each vintage that is released completely different from vintage to vintage. It is why you should try a vintage Champagne sometime soon and then again and again. If you want to nerd out and learn about the best vintages check this rating page from Wine Spectator. It will give you details about vintages and which particular wines from said vintages scored the best. One piece of advice, your taste will differ from the person giving out ratings, take them with a grain of salt.
2013 Grand Vintage Rosé from Moët & Chandon
This 2013 vintage is the Champagne house’s 44th vintage rosé that has ever been released. The breakdown of grapes is 44% Pinot Noir, 35% Chardonnay and 21% Pinot Meunier. Pinot Noir adds tbody and berry notes to the blend. Chardonnay adds acidity, citrus and floral notes, while Pinot Meunier adds balance and consistency.
This particular vintage was harvested later in the year than typical. Chardonnay was the grape that really shone this year, which added a lot of character to this rosé blend. Typically a rosé Champagne from Moët does not have as much as 35% from Chardonnay, but this particular blend worked well for the house this vintage. The Champagne was aged for 7 years in their epic cellar and then after disgorgement it aged for a minimum of 6 months.
The wine is a stunning salmon pink with orange hues. The aromas and flavors are an exciting mix of raspberry, strawberry jam, orange, pink grapefruit, baking spices and even some earth notes reminiscent of dry crunchy forest leaves.
The flavor is something I never have had before in a rosé Champagne, it really is unique and something I would be excited to have again.
A very brief history of the House
Claude Moët established Moët & Chandon in 1743. With the help of his grandson, Jean Remy Moët, they laid the bricks that made the Champagne house the international brand it is today and the biggest Champagne producer in the world.
Moët is the largest estate in the Champagne region. With over 1,190 hectares of vines planted in limestone soil. They produce so much wine, that this only roughly covers 25% of the grapes needed for production.
Roughly 30 million bottles were produced last year alone.
This is an absolutely staggering amount of Champagne, the next house on the list is Veuve Clicquot which produced 19 million bottles last year.1 They blow other producers out of the running in terms of volume produced.
50% of Moët’s vines are classified as Grand Cru, while 25% are Premier Cru. Cru translates to growth, but in this context refers to a vineyard or group of vineyards. The Champagne Cru classifications started in 1919 and mostly had to do with money, shocking right? A riot of vineyard owners was threatening in Champagne as the small farmers were given unfair prices for their grapes in comparison to the bigger houses. But, in the end the system hierarchy didn’t just have to do with money, it also took into account the slope of the vineyards, the terroir, soil, quality of the grapes, etc.
Is this the most incredible underground labyrinth in the world?
Yes, it is in my book. A fun fact about Moët is their underground cellar (cave) is over 17 miles long (if it were in a straight line). However, it is actually more of a labyrinth of perfect humidity and temperature for their wines to age to perfection. If you ever get to the region, I have heard this is a must take tour, and this is coming from someone who avoids tours, however, winery and cellar tours are a very different story.
And to end on a few more fun facts let’s start with this one, Dom Pérignon is made by Moët. It was named after a monk from the 17th century, Dom Pierre Pérignon who was a cellar master at Abbey of Hautvillers. All Dom Pérignon wines are vintage, they only ever use grapes from the same harvest year. Technically none of their Champagne’s have a Grand Cru classification because each blend includes grapes from the original Abbey of Hautvillers land which is in a Premier Cru.
If you wouldn’t mind taking a minute to vote on the poll below, it would be very much appreciated.
Veuve Clicquot is part of the LVMH conglomerate.
I had no idea how vintages worked; thank you for sharing!