Drappier : Blanc de Blancs

Lovely flavors of ginger and apple, with hints of yeast and toast. It’s a bit off-dry and therefore not quite as refined as some of the best, but it’s tasty and well made.

The NV Brut Blanc de Blancs is another correct, well-made wine from Drappier, even if it isn’t particularly exciting. Ripe, varietal Chardonnay fruit comes through on the finish. Disgorged: January 2009.

Some very fine pastry and flinty peaches and lemons in a lightly reductive style. The palate is open and fleshy, built on a core of ripe, sweet peach and lemon-curd flavors. Drink now.

The NV Brut Blanc de Blancs is another correct, well-made wine from Drappier, even if it isn’t particularly exciting. Ripe, varietal Chardonnay fruit comes through on the finish. Disgorged January 2009.

With 30% of the profits from the sale of this wine donated to charity for Africa, the NV Champagne Blanc De Blancs Brut is from the base vintages of 2019 and 2018 and includes the addition of about 10% Pinot Blanc. Pouring a pale yellow, it is classic and open on release, with aromas of shortbread, lemon curd, and poached pear. Full-bodied and rounded, it gains in intensity and ripeness through the mid-palate, with candied citrus and a creamy mousse. Long on the palate, it’s already in a very generous place and will drink well over the next 10–12 years.

Winey, flavorful, with notes of fresh butter and limestone, and a beautiful, deep length. A singular success for this Pinot Noir specialist.

Suave and round on the palate, the blanc de blancs is always delicious, caressing, and brioche‑tinged on the finish.

(disgorgement: 11/2020) The nose is fruity, fresh and taut. It reveals notes of fresh nectarine, fresh brugnon and, more subtly, lemon, combined with small touches of fresh white grapefruit as well as fine hints of lemon, chalk, fresh lychee and an imperceptible touch of almond blossom. The palate is fruity, balanced, elegant, tense, precise and offers energy, a slight fruit pulpiness, an elongated/linear profile, lovely definition and some pep. The effervescence brings fine texture and dynamism. On the palate, this Champagne shows notes of fresh lemon, juicy/fresh brugnon and, more lightly, pulpy/fresh apple, combined with touches of crunchy vineyard peach, mesocarp, almond blossom, as well as fine hints of toasted almond, toasted oak and an imperceptible almost vanilla-like note. Good length. A lovely Champagne! Note (Score): 16.5+/20

From chalk soil in the southern Côte des Bar region, this wine is intense and well balanced. The blend of Chardonnay with a touch of Blanc Vrai (Pinot Blanc) offers ripeness as well as a soft touch at the end. Drink the wine now.