Type: Sparkling

Vintage: 2018

Grape variety: Chardonnay

Country: France

Appellation: Champagne

100% Chardonnay from Vertus 1er Cru. Planted in 1956, Clos de l’Abbaye is a 0.5ha clos worked biodynamically just behind the Doyard estate. 48 months sur latte. 2016 was a very difficult vintage with hail, rain and frost destroying some of the yields. While Pinot Noir struggled this year, Chardonnay had no issues to ripen fully thanks to a good end of the season.
"Offering up aromas of crisp stone fruits, pear, buttered toast, musky peach and smoke, the 2018 Extra-Brut Premier Cru Clos de l'Abbaye was disgorged this year with two grams per liter dosage. Medium to full-bodied, pillowy and precise, with a nicely concentrated core of fruit, racy acids and a long, chalky finish, the 2018 is quite a fine-boned, elegant rendition of this bottling. As readers will remember, this cuvée derives from a walled 0.4-hectare plot of 60-year-old cordon-pruned vines (including some "muscaté" selections of Chardonnay) just behind the winery in Vertus, and only the first and second "serres" of the press are used."
95 pts, William Kelly, Wine Advocate