Like gold dust, today’s offer is scarce, highly valuable, and one of a kind. Driven by Grand Cru Pinot Noir from legendary Bouzy, this luxurious, infinitely layered Vintage Champagne is fit for the decadent meal of a king. In other words, this is no apéritif, but a powerful gastronomic Champagne that shines brightest during a special dinner as opposed to before it. This Grand Cru rarity may already be a decade old, but I assure you it’ll easily keep for another. Of course, you might already know this, because Jean Vesselle’s soaring “Prestige” is one of our best selling vintage Champagnes, period. But, we’ve never offered a vintage with as much glowing critical praise and widespread acclaim as today’s 2012. This is truly legendary wine, and given the company it keeps with other blue-chip bubbles, the price remains extremely reasonable. Grab some quick so you can have it for the end of the year!
Anyone who loves great Champagne, and Pinot Noir, recognizes Bouzy as ground zero for the region’s most profound expressions of the variety: the village’s star-bright constellation of producers includes Pierre Paillard, Benoît Lahaye, Camille Savès, André Clouet, Paul Bara, and of course, Jean Vesselle. The Vesselle surname is attached to several different properties within Bouzy, which can get confusing, but Delphine and David Vesselle have distinguished themselves by producing some of the most distinct bottlings of all. The family’s 15 hectares of vineyards are planted to 90% Pinot Noir and 10% Chardonnay, a ratio that mirrors Bouzy as a whole. Across the entire Vesselle lineup, Pinot Noir is the luminous star.
That said, today’s 2012 “Prestige” does contain 30% Chardonnay, which is also sourced from their Grand Cru holdings in Bouzy, and it adds a lovely core of chalky, saline minerality to the red-fruited power of the Pinot Noir. The Vesselles have a certification in sustainable farming and, as is law in Champagne, their grapes are harvested by hand. In the cellar, the juice ferments spontaneously in stainless steel tanks. This specific batch was transferred into bottle in the Spring of 2012, where it then matured without being disturbed for over a decade before disgorgement and a four-gram dosage finally occurred earlier this year.
The patience employed by Champagne Jean Vesselle is definitely a virtue: there are layers upon layers of complexity in their 2012 “Prestige.” In the glass, it pours a lustrous straw-gold with coppery highlights and ultra-fine, indefatigable beads of carbonation. The aromas are deep and unfolding: ripe apricot, honey-baked apples, Meyer lemon curd, brioche, roasted Mirabelle plum, baking spices, blanched almonds, dried mushroom, crushed rock, forest floor. As usual, it’s a Grand Cru Champagne with substantial body, impact, and length—and it’s just getting started. I expect it will still be going strong in 10-15 years, even more. As I so often say, don’t drink this from flutes at cocktail hour. Instead, pour it into all-purpose stems and let the temperature come up to ~50 degrees to really unleash its considerable complexities. Pair with a decadent holiday dish like the recipe for lobster pasta below.
