The level of craftsmanship and history you can get from Champagne in the sub-$100 range is simply astounding: Take Lancelot-Royer, for example: If ever a producer embodied “artisanal” production, it’s this one. With proprietor Michel Chauvet at the helm, Lancelot-Royer has dedicated itself to the manual labor of wine: from harvest to riddling to disgorgement to bottling, Chauvet literally has his hands on everything. His flagship “Cuvée des Chevaliers,” is in regular rotation in our offers, but it’s been many years since we got our hands on the rare vintage bottling. Sourced from Grand Cru vineyards in the Côtes des Blancs village of Cramant, this soaring 2016 challenges one’s perceptions as to what a blanc de blancs wine is capable of; if you’re thinking “light and lemony,” think again—this is a powerful, laser-focused expression of Chardonnay, and soil, that happens to be sparkling. Just, wow!
Not only is this wine 100% Chardonnay but its home village, Cramant, is nearly 100% planted to the variety. This is the heart of the Côte des Blancs sub-zone of Champagne, and one of its Grand Cru-designated vineyard areas. Lancelot-Royer farms 12 hectares of vineyards here, all of it Chardonnay and 100% Grand Cru, with an average vine age of 30-40 years. The property, one of Cramant’s smallest, was founded in 1960 by Pierre Lancelot, who turned over management to his daughter, Sylvie, and her husband Michel Chauvet, in 1996. Working in their rustic, hand-excavated caves, their only allowance to modernity are his stainless steel fermentation vessels, which line the damp, chisel-marked walls. The hand-harvested fruit is pressed by hand in an upright, wooden press, then fermented using only indigenous yeasts.
All of Pierre Lancelot’s cuvées are aged longer on the lees than what is typical for their categories, and this is 100% the case for his tiny production, top-of-the-line “Millésime.” For the powerhouse 2016 vintage the wine was bottled in the early winter of 2017 and was disgorged in May of 2023; that’s a whopping six years plus a few months of lees aging, which adds incredible depth, complexity and an elegance of texture that is off the charts. Oh, and the perlage (that’s the thin bead of bubbles) is super tiny and super persistent.
In the glass, the 2016 Millésime is a bright yellow-gold extending to the rim, with heady aromas of green apple, pear, peach, citrus pith, cream, brioche dough, dried white flowers, and a pile of crushed stones. It has the creaminess you’d expect from such long lees aging, but also a very full-fruited personality and a strong, balancing saline mineral component. It’s one of the more mouth-filling blanc de blancs Champagnes I’ve had in some time, with a beautifully refreshing blast of ripe green apple fruit on the palate. It has plenty of backbone and heft for extended aging, but at this price I’ll be popping a few soon; serve this in large Burgundy stems at 50-55 degrees and pair it with a rich grilled oyster preparation as in the attached recipe. It will be so, so good. I can’t wait to try it myself. A toast to great vintage grower Champagne!
