Dhondt-Grellet - Les Terres Fines 1er Cru Blanc De Blancs Champagne NV (750ml)
Price: $75.00
| Producer | Dhondt-Grellet |
| Country | France |
| Region | Champagne |
| Varietal | Chardonnay |
| Sku | 2703 |
| Size | 750ml |
Wine Advocate: 94 Points
Disgorged in June 2021 the NV Extra Brut Blanc de Blancs Premier Cru Les Terres Fines (2018) offers up aromas of ripe citrus fruit green apple fresh bread peach and toasted nuts. Full-bodied ample and vinous it's fleshy and generous with lively acids and an enlivening pinpoint mousse. Seamless and complete it concludes with chalky grip. In Issue 250 End of August 2020 I devoted an in-depth article to Adrien Dhondt's Champagnes so I'll refer readers looking for more information on his methods and different cuvées to that piece. On this most recent visit I tasted Dhondt's recently disgorged releases which will be arriving on the market as this report goes to press. His cuvées based on the 2018 vintage are especially fleshy and demonstrative and this stands out as the most gourmand immediate set of NV wines he has released to date. Their upfront appeal means that I'm tempted to suggest readers approach them before the 2017s which are showing more depth and structure than they did late last year as they settle down on cork. Both are terrific vintages for Dhondt even if they're cut from quite different stylistic cloth.
Vinous: 94 Points
The NV Extra Brut Blanc de Blancs Premier Cru Les Terres Fines offers a striking expression of Chardonnay from Cuis. Smoke slate crushed rocks white pepper and lemon confit are all vivid in this striking wonderfully nuanced Champagne. Dosage of just two grams per liter is expertly judged in a Blanc de Blancs that really sizzles with energy. This release is 70% 2016 and 30% perpetual reserve going back to 1986. Disgorged: December 2018.
vfcJohn Gilman: 91 Points
The les Terres Fines bottling from Adrien Dhondt hails from the family’s vineyards in the premier cru village of Cuis with the vins clairs fermented in a combination of both stainless steel tanks and casks and undergoing full malo. The wine is from the base year of 2016 with thirty percent of the blend made up of reserve wines from their perpetual cuvée with the vins clairs bottled in May of 2017. The wine was disgorged in March of 2019 with a finishing dosage of two grams per liter. As the name of the cuvée implies this is a classic expression of the very elegant terroir of Cuis offering up a superb bouquet of golden delicious apples pears bread dough chalky soil tones and a lovely topnote of white flowers. On the palate the wine is bright full-bodied and refined in profile with a good core fine soil signature pinpoint bubbles and a long complex and very nicely balanced finish. This is more high-toned in style as befits a bottling from Cuis fruit and is a lovely example of Blanc de Blancs. 2020-2040. 91.
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