Drappier : Grande Sendrée 2010

A quietly elegant Champagne, with a lovely soft, laciness to texture, and a minerally underpinning of smoke and saline accents. It displays a creamy mesh of crushed black cherry, grilled nut, kumquat and dried apricot and a refined, subtle finish. Drink now through 2030. 300 cases imported.

Aromas of ginger, dried pineapple, baked apple, nutmeg and toast. Rich and flavorful, with silky bubbles and zippy acidity. Spicy and gently toasty, with a lengthy finish. 55% pinot noir and 45% chardonnay. Unfiltered. Disgorged in April 2022. Drink or hold.

Red Delicious flesh and the crumb of oven-fresh rye bread open the nose. Air brings hints of rich shortbread and mellow apple flesh and a slight flickering of liquorice. The palate reveals a core of ripe Mirabelle edged by purest lemon. Creamiest bubbles smooth the way to a long, long finish. This is subtle, rich but defined, and supremely elegant.

(55% Pinot Noir, 45% Chardonnay, 12% vol. Alkohol, Dosage 5.5 g/l Fr. 84.-) Fine-boned, delicately mineral bouquet: grated apples, chalk, white flowers, brioche. An elegant, silky, refined palate with very well-integrated acidity, fresh, precise aromatics, a vigorous mousse, dense structure, strong aromatic intensity, and a long, full finish with subtle lingering echoes. 18/20 drink – 2040

Notes of cereals and dried fruits in this rather delicate aromatic range. Fine depth is brought by the Champagne’s lovely minerality. The palate is clear-cut and not particularly broad, but it remains precise and fresh.

A vibrant, sun-kissed nose of juicy fruit that feels like gazing up at the night sky. On the palate, an explosion of fresh red fruits, fleshy redcurrant, moving into drier, more concentrated fruit notes, all carried by a striking refinement that keeps you captivated through to a long, fresh, memorable finish.