2015 Henri Giraud Argonne Grand Cru Wooden Box, Champagne

Golden color with intense aromas of lemon, tar, oak, bark, mushroom, and hints of salted caramel. Full-bodied and so powerful with an energy and drive as it spreads across the palate. It's like Batard-Montrachet with tiny bubbles. This is a very great wine for great dishes at the table. 100% new barrels from selected parcels of the Argonne forest. Drink or hold.

98 points jamessuckling.com

The 2015 Argonne very good wine in a challenging year. Tangerine oil, apricot, mango, spice, yellow flowers and a kiss of sweet French oak lend quite a bit of exotic beauty. But the 2015 is not a huge wine. There's terrific freshness and a good bit of nuance as well. Itʼs a Champagne that very much reflects the updated style at Henri Giraud – one the emphasizes freshness and verve more than in the past. Dosage is 6 grams per liter. Disgorged: July 2, 2023.

This is a strong set of wines from proprietor Claude Giraud and longtime Chef de Caves Sebastien Le Golvet. As I have written here previously, the house style at Giraud has changed quite a bit in recent years. That evolution was especially evident during my most recent visit. These used to be rich, textured Champagnes marked by opulence and strong oak inflections. Today’s wines are much fresher and more vibrant. Dosage has also come down. The wines are quite expressive but may surprise the domaine’s longtime fans. These kinds of transitions are very hard to navigate, as there is often a natural tension between staying true to an established style while also pursuing a desire to be contemporary. The focus seems to be squarely on the latter. I have little doubt the team will succeed, but I also see the wines as works in progress.

94 points vinous.com

A strikingly intense, vinous Champagne that explodes with roasted apricot, beneath which intriguing flavours of chocolate orange and chestnut honey emerge. There's plenty of bitter almond and brown pastry richness, but the oak never feels raw or unintegrated – it's an astonishingly happy marriage. Singular and possibly divisive in style, but unquestionably a wine of huge impact. A totally unique Champagne, with fruit from Aÿ fermented entirely in new oak from the Argonne forest, selected and toasted in-house.

94 points decanter.com

The first nose is very delicate, evoking vine peach. Then, as the minutes go by, the wine warms up and opens up with pastry notes of dried fruits and sweet spices. The chalky minerality of the Aÿ terroir is never far away, underlining the airy and delicateside. Finally,  notes of orange blossom and cocoa come through on this superb nose.
On the palate, the wine opens with a beautiful tension, then gives way to a creamy, delicate texture that carries notes of ripe fruit. The minerality is palpable, giving a unique character to this champagne.

Tasting Note, Caves des Sacre