For this non-vintage cuvée – their flagship wine, the introduction to the house style – the Déthunes blend 70% Pinot Noir with 30% Chardonnay from the limestone-rich soils of Ambonnay, and they incorporate a rather large percentage of reserve wine (from 30 to 50 percent) in the blend, lending the wine its signature depth and grip. It’s a forceful, textural, opulent style of Champagne. It’s a deep straw-gold in the glass, and it seduces with aromas of brioche dough, red fruits, crushed gravel and warm spices. On the palate it has a creaminess born not just of ripe fruit but of extended lees aging, the overall effect quite powerful, brooding. To me this isn’t an apéritif Champagne; this needs to be on the table with food, as all too few Champagnes are allowed to be. It would be a great cheese wine, a fantastic partner for richer seafoods, but really what I think about when I taste this wine is the ultimate in ‘high-low’ pairings: Fried Chicken. If you haven’t done the Champagne-and-fried-chicken thing, now is the time! Serve this well-chilled (but not *too* chilled) in regular white wine glasses (ditch the flutes here) and experience Champagne in a new way. It’s wine – treat it that way!