It’s here, the fruit mainly from Jacquesson’s 2012 harvest from Ay, Dizy, Hautvillers, Avize and Oiry. Winter was long and cold; spring and early summer were very wet and there were severe attacks of mildew. However, a superb end to the growing season gave the Chiquets a small crop of remarkable quality. The cuvée is completed with several reserve wines from previous 700-series Cuvées.
“Cuvée 740 represents on average 95+% of the Jacquesson production,” explains Jean-Hervé Chiquet. “It’s really the wine of the domaine so the percentage of grape varieties does not vary a lot: 50% + Chardonnay; 50% or less Pinots, half of each. Plus or minus a few percent every year. We have replaced the percentage of each grape variety by the name of the villages from where we source those grape varieties, because the blend does not vary a lot and also everybody uses Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Meunier, but only Jacquesson sources its grapes from Aÿ, Dizy, Hautvillers, Avize & Oiry.”
Jacquesson Cuvée No. 740 RRP $115
From the 2012 harvest and five locations in Champagne. The farming is now biological/organic, the winemaking decidedly low intervention. Indeed, the wines sit on lees in barrel for their life outside bottle, unfined and unfiltered. Sulphur addition would be on the very lower side for Champagne at 20ppm added and less than 40ppm total. Effectively, as natural-leaning as Champagne gets these days. All the info is on the label too. This is a super-dooper release too.
It’s a marriage of toasty-richness and bristling freshness here. Compact in the palate with undertones of brioche, marzipan, ginger biscuit, with a coursing vein of green apply, tangy fruit character and lively oyster-shell-like minerality. The bouquet is attractive, a mesh of patisserie, honey and apple/citrus character. It pulses through the mouth with refreshment factor and light, palate sticking fruit-yeast sweetness. It’s gulpable and yet fine. It’s stunning stuff. 94 points. Mike Bennie, The Wine Front July 2017