2010 Dom Ruinart Blanc de Blancs Brut, Champagne

Almost like a white, with a smoky and flinty nose. Dried lemons, cedar, smoked almonds, spiced apples, hazelnuts, salted butter and toast. Tangy and sharp, yet creamy and buttery, too, with fine bubbles. Hazelnuts at the end. Disgorged in February 2021. Drink or hold.

94 points jamessuckling.com

This is the first vintage of this cuvée that the house has opted to age under cork instead of crown capsule for the aging on the lees, sur latte. It pours a vibrant straw/green hue, and comes from five villages: Sillery, Avize, Cramant, Chouily, and Mesnil-sur-Oger. The 2010 Champagne Dom Ruinart Blanc De Blancs Extra Brut was raised, as it always is, without the use of oak, and saw 3 grams per liter of dosage. Highly expressive on opening, it’s layered with aromas of fresh baked croissant, key lime, melon, and honeysuckle. Rounded and long on the palate, it’s elegant and refined within its medium frame and takes on a remarkable silky chalk texture. Floral all the way through the finish, with long-lasting notes of lemon curd, it retains a springy freshness that is true to the house style but is quite elevated and impeccably well-balanced with layered depth. This would be a great addition to the cellar. Drink 2025-2045. Disgorged in June of 2022.

96 points jebdunnuck.com

Lightly burnished gold with a fine column of persistent bubbles, Dom Ruinart Blanc de Blancs 2010 Extra Brut is a Grand Cru blend with 90% Côte des Blancs fruit and 10% from Sillery in Montagne de Riems. It was fermented in stainless steel before aging a minimum of nine years under cork and finished with a four grams per liter dosage. Expressive from the start, it opens to complex aromas of toasty brioche, lemon tart, creme fraiche and subtle hints of smoke. Medium-bodied with a supple acid frame, it has an understated richness and a very creamy, vibrant and ripe yellow apple palate that finishes long and fresh. The bottle tasted was disgorged August of 2022.

94 points SM thewineindependent.com

Delicate nutty expressions of blanched almonds and warm biscuits on the nose, accompanied by notes of lemon oil, spring flowers, pastry, pear and exotic fruit. A hint of reduction in the form of a smoky element, attributable to the fact that the cellar ageing of this Champagne was carried out under cork rather than with the usual crown cap. On the palate, this Champagne is medium- to full-bodied and well balanced, with good textural vinosity, but there is also delicacy thanks to its pinpoint mousse. There is a mouthwatering touch of bitterness on the long, resonating finish. This is a Champagne with real ageing potential that has both the powerful character and elegance of a Burgundy grand cru wine. 100% Chardonnay sourced from Le Mesnil-sur-Oger, Avize, Chouilly and Cramant (90%) and 10% from Sillery, situated in the northeast of the Montagne de Reims sector. Dosage: 4g/l.

95 points YC decanter.com

The first vintage since the 1960s to see tirage under natural cork in lieu of crown caps, the 2010 Dom Ruinart Blanc de Blancs was disgorged in November 2021. It's showing nicely, over-performing for the vintage, displaying aromas of yellow orchard fruit, toasted nuts, spices, smoke, dried white flowers and iodine. Medium to full-bodied, pillowy and layered, with impressive concentration and chalky structure, it concludes with a long, saline finish.

94 points YC robertparker.com

 The year 2010 is characterized by a very cold winter, an early summer and a rainy August. During the base wine tasting after harvest, the oenological team realized the 2010 chardonnay was marked with an intense richness and showed the promise of a great vintage.