France 
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5 min read
At Champagne Lallier, we believe that each vintage is a unique expression of nature’s artistry. The vintage date on our bottles signifies the year in which the grapes were harvested, a year that deserves to be celebrated and remembered.
This singularity of each vintage is reflected in every glass you pour. Our current vintage Champagne, Millésimé 2014, offers a snapshot of that year’s terroir, a symphony of flavors and aromas that cannot be replicated. It is a wine meant to be savored and appreciated for its individuality.
Many vintage Champagnes are prized by collectors and enthusiasts for their age-worthiness. With proper cellaring, they can evolve and develop in complexity for years, even decades. French law mandates a minimum aging-period of three years in the bottle before release, but many producers, including Lallier, choose to age their vintage Champagnes for significantly longer to unlock their full potential.
Sarah Durand, our global brand ambassador at Champagne Lallier says: “At Lallier, we age our wines longer than is required by AOC specifications. For Millésimé 2014 we age the wines at least seven years versus the three-year minimum requirement. This prolonged aging brings a beautiful silky texture, along with more intensity, depth, complexity and a delicate effervescence to our wines.”
What is Vintage Champagne
In the world of Champagne, each year’s harvest presents a unique opportunity to craft a new and potentially exceptional wine. After all, winemaking is essentially farming, and farmers are subject to the whims of Mother Nature. While the vineyards themselves remain relatively constant, various factors can significantly impact the quality and character of the grapes from one year to the next.
Weather conditions throughout the year play a crucial role in shaping the final product. The excellence of a vintage depends, in part, on the climate from April to the harvest, typically between August to September. The weather conditions during the ripening season and harvest determine the level of sugar and acidity, the level of phenolic ripening.
Dominique Demarville, our cellar master and general manager expands: “The best vintages are balanced, with a long finish and a very good potential of ageing. The decision to declare a vintage is taken by the Chef de Caves, based on the quality and balance of the year, and the potential of ageing of the wines. This is always a difficult decision to take, as we must anticipate the maturation of the wines during a long ageing. This is why experience is very useful.”
Characteristics of a Vintage Year
Every harvest marks the culmination of the year’s unique growing conditions, leading us to the moment when we pick each grape from the vine. Weather plays the starring role in determining if our wine will achieve vintage status. While our soils at the various parcels remain relatively consistent, the earth is a living entity, bringing subtle changes each year.
At Champagne Lallier, we don’t adhere to predetermined rules about how our wine should taste after harvest. “Each year we identify and assess the individual strengths of each plot, and how the vines have grown and thrived,” explains Sarah Durand. Our cellar master and winemaking team meticulously taste each of the clear wines to gauge power, intensity, and overall character. Wines showing exceptional promise are then set aside to begin their journey towards becoming vintage Champagne.
Vintage and Non-Vintage Champagne
Weather patterns can change drastically from one year to the next, leading to hotter or colder temperatures, varying rainfall, unexpected hail, and differing levels of sunlight. These weather conditions impact the way our vines grow and how the grapes ripen, resulting in wines that offer different characteristics every year. These variations are embraced in vintage Champagnes, but for a classic non-vintage cuvée, the aim is consistency of taste.
Non-Vintage Champagne
A non-vintage Champagne is a blend of several years, typically two to three years, and sometimes even more. This blending of different years allows for a consistent house style, ensuring that wine tastes and feels the same year after year, despite vintage variations.
“At Champagne Lallier, we understand that nature is at the very core of this process, enhancing the personality of each terroir during harvest. This means each new harvest favors the enriching of the vines to create new subtle notes every year,” says global brand ambassador Sarah Durand.
Champagne Lallier stands among the pioneers, and few, who departed from the traditional principle of Champagne Brut non-vintage with its emblematic Brut non-vintage cuvée Réflexion, prioritizing the expression of the base year over the consistency of a specific flavor profile.
This unique approach invites our consumers to explore the subtle nuances of each year’s blend while still enjoying the quality and character that defines our non-vintage cuvée, based on our signature style, the balance between four atmospheres: Purity, Freshness, Intensity and Depth.
Both vintage and non-vintage Champagnes hold their own unique appeal, offering distinct experiences for discerning palates. Vintage Champagnes provide an opportunity to explore the intricacies of a specific year, while non-vintage Champagnes usually showcase the timeless style and expertise of the Champagne house.
