2018 Delamotte Blanc De Blancs, Champagne

The Delamotte 2018 Blanc de Blancs is showing well today, evoking a gourmand, complex bouquet of pastry, almonds, ripe orchard fruits, spices and spring flowers. Medium to full-bodied, layered and chiseled, it’s enveloping and round with a fleshy core of fruit, though not as fleshy as the 2012, concluding with a tense and long finish.

93 points Yohan Castaing robertparker.com

Chilled but never cold (around 8°C) and served in a tulip-shaped wine glass. 

Its pale gold colour, glinting with emerald, illuminates the fine necklace of bubbles rising to the surface of the disc in the glass. On the nose, the wine’s noble origins are unmistakable in the energy of its bouquet: pure, direct and deep, a strong personality. Its lively attack, palate freshness and mouth-watering minerality are a delight.

Each village has its own style. Le Mesnil-sur-Oger (20%): acidity, purity and chalky minerality. Avize (20%): balance and structure. Oger (20%), warmth, body and generosity. Cramant: smoky minerality. Chouilly: robustness and length. And finally, Oiry: acidity and roundness. To reprise the musical analogy, each territory has its own score and, when they are all played together to create Delamotte Blanc de Blancs 2014, each one can be heard in its own right. It is left to age over six long years. Not much, given the powerfulness of this wine. Its richness is equalled only by its concentration, and yet it remains light on its feet. It can even be generous…Such is the supreme elegance of a wine with ageing potential!