2002 Champagne Jacquesson Dizy Corne Bautray Blanc de Blancs

Jacquesson

France / Champagne / Jacquesson

Corne Bautray is on a steep slope at the top of the hill facing south-west. The soils are rich in clay with plenty of millstone grit gravel, with Campanian chalk underneath. It has 9,000 vines of Chardonnay planted on 1 ha in 1960. The site sees Chablis pruning, cover-cropping between rows and no fertiliser.
The 2002 vintage was characterised warm and sunny summer, with cool nights, resulting in a generally dry year, very similar to 1976. The grapes were harvested on 18th of September 2002 and the must vinified in a 40 hl oak cask, with lees stirring and full malolactic fermentation. The wine was racked twice before bottling without filtration on 3rd June 2003. Jacquesson produced 4,684 bottles and 306 magnums. The wine spent eight years on lees before disgorgement on 9th February 2011. It received no dosage.

October, 2013

Tyson Stelzer

The Champagne Guide

97 points

This is one of the most profound chardonnays of the Vallée de la Marne, yet from a site where no one believed good chardonnay could be grown, discovered only by the Chiquets when a 1995 vin-clair stood out. The mineral impression of this wine is inexplicable, from a site with chalk no less than 2.5 metres under the surface, in a village unrecognized for chardonnay of structure. Its violent, deep, frothing, salty minerality fills the palate with immense texture, drawn out with incredible persistence by super-focused acidity. Such is its aromatic intensity that I could smell it the moment it was poured on the table before me. Wonderful layers of yellow summer fruits leap out of the glass amid nougat, brioche and almond aromas. Its mineral structure and lively acidity control this intensity on the palate, propagating a finish that does not stop.

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About Jacquesson

Jacquesson has an impressive history. It was founded in 1798 in Châlons by Memmie Jacquesson, son of a wine trader. The house rapidly rose to fame, aided by the fact that Napoleon was a fan. However, everything that we today value about Jacquesson began in 1974 when Côte des Blancs winegrower Jean Chiquet acquired the brand and vineyards and moved the domicile of the house to Dizy. His sons Jean-Hervé and Laurent Chiquet are the present custodians of the Jacquesson trading house, which manages to cover almost 90% of its grape requirement from its own vineyards. These are located in the Grands Crus Aÿ, Avize and Oiry, and in the Premiers Crus Hautvillers, Dizy and Mareuil-sur-Aÿ. Additional grapes are only bought from growers who follow exactly the same methods as the Chiquets. The fruit is pressed by Jacquesson itself in its four presses, three of which are located in Dizy and one in Avize.


About

Laurent and Jean-Hervé Chiquet see themselves primarily as winegrowers who cultivate the land and do everything with the aim of obtaining the best possible grapes. And from there, the brothers have been ready to break with convention in order to deliver the best possible wine every time - hence the decision to introduce the 7-series non-vintage wines instead of the traditional house NV. In his 2018 article entitled Champagne’s Top Five Movers & Shakers, Tyson Stelzer summed up the approach pretty well: "It’s been 40 years since Jean-Hervé and Laurent Chiquet’s family purchased Jacquesson, 30 years since the brothers took control, 20 years since they turned champagne’s non-vintage concept on it head with their controversial ‘700 series’ cuvée, and ten years since they pulled their most cunning stunt of all by slashing production to ramp up quality. And ramp up it has."