‘Tête de cuvée,’ or ‘prestige cuvée,’ is the term used to describe the very top offering of a Champagne house. They are typically sourced from the region's most distinguished Grand Cru villages (there are 17 in Champagne), and aged for extended periods.
Style, and quality, varies from house to house, but one thing is generally true of all prestige Champagnes: they are pricey, and rightly so, due to costs of premium fruit and the commitment to not see a return on investment for many years the wines are left to age in their cellars (12 years in this wine’s case). I can’t defend the price of every prestige cuvée, but I most definitely can with “Cuvée des Enchanteleurs.” It is brimming with rich, developed fruit and was built to compete with the best aged wines the region has to offer. And while I am a big advocate of drinking Champagne for any occasion, today’s offering is not built for daily drinking. This is one to celebrate and admire with the closest of friends and family.
The Henriot family first inhabited Champagne in the mid-17th century as merchants. Textiles were their main business, but wine also exchanged hands, leading to the acquisition of vineyards as time went by. Nearing the advent of the 19th century, Nicolas Henriot married Apolline Godinot (who owned vineyards in Montagne de Reims), both of whom continued expanding their holdings and love for Champagne until his death in 1808. Apolline responded by founding Veuve (widow) Henriot Ainé and immediate success followed. At eight generations and counting, the house has remained in family hands ever since.
Henriot, like most Champagne houses, relies heavily on purchased grapes from growers. While they do own 35 hectares (roughly 87 acres) of ‘estate’ vineyards, the bulk of their production—nearly 70%—is sourced from around the region, which is the norm. And why wouldn’t it be? Purchasing an acre of vines here can make an acre in Napa look like chump change. For “Cuvée des Enchanteleurs,” equal parts Pinot Noir and Chardonnay were sourced from six of Champagne’s 17 Grand Crus. For Pinot Noir: the villages of Mailly, Verzy, and Verzenay, all on the chalk and limestone-rich marls of the Montagne de Reims. For Chardonnay: Mesnil-sur-Oger, Avize, and Chouilly, within the all-chalk ridge that is Côte des Blancs. As for the vintage of 2000, it is one that is showing perfectly right now. Krug labeled it gourmandise orageuse (stormy indulgence) due to sporadic weather conditions. The season ended on a warm and dry note, leading to bulbous, ripe, concentrated grapes—which shows in the wine.
Henriot has historically aged their Champagne much longer than the regional laws require. For a vintage Champagne, law requires a minimum three years of aging, but the 2000 “Cuvée des Enchanteleurs” rested for over 12 years in Henriot’s dark, 60-foot-deep cellars that holds a steady temperature in the low 50s. After disgorgement, a dosage of 8.5 grams/liter was added in order to mirror the vintage and opulent style of the house, but now at 17 years of age, there is no perception of sugar. It has all been infused into the fruit and secondary notes.
In the glass, the wine shows a deep, concentrated yellow core with dark golden reflections leading out to the rim. It’s visually beautiful and hints at a drinking window that’s already opened. The nose reveals its seductively ripe style, showing yellow apple, apricot, burnt honey sauce, toasted brioche, yellow flowers, white mushroom and truffle, grilled pineapple, hazelnut, and lemon curd. It’s a full-bodied, creamy Champagne with soft accents of acidity and a lingering minerality that can be largely attributed to the Côte des Blancs Chardonnay component. The ripeness of fruit from 2000 and the sheer length of aging has allowed the wine to survive all this time, and while I do believe it will show over the next 3-5 years, this Champagne is fully ready to consume now. Drink out of a wide-tulip glass or simply in a universal white stem. Serve around cellar temperature, or a hair above, and you’ll lose yourself to the intense aromas that ooze from the wine. As much as it would make an extremely impressive apéritif, it also has ‘main-course’ capabilities. It’d be a great choice for the “high-low” food-and-wine pairing of the moment: Champagne and fried chicken. Try it and you’ll see that it actually makes a lot of sense. Cheers!
