2005 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.  2005 saw a cold and dry winter, a tranquil and warm spring, a hot and humid summer but with a very fine end to the season. The grapes were picked on 22nd September 2005. The wine spent eight years on lees before disgorgement with 1.5g/L dosage in December 2014.

October, 2015

Tyson Stelzer

The Champagne Guide 2016-2017

96 points

Jean-Hervé has no idea why his father planted Chardonnay in Dizy, but a half a century later these old vines have tapped so deep into the terroir that the voice of the soil speaks above the tones of the fruit and the expression of the barrels. The chalk mineral impression of this cuvée is inexplicable, though irrefutable in all recent vintages, from a site no less than 2.5m under the surface, in a village unrecognised for Chardonnay of structure. Grapefruit and lemon zest are backed by the subtle almond-meal notes of long lees age, finishing structured and scaffolded with impressive energy and drive, a standout wine from a difficult season. A bottle tasted in Sydney showed more development of coffee bean, cocoa and blood orange flavours, with some bitter orange-zest grip on the finish.

March, 2016

Stephan Reinhardt

The Wine Advocate

94 points

A really complex and fresh brioche and vanilla bouquet with refreshing lemon flavors opens the 2005 Dizy Corne Bautray Extra Brut. This wine is sourced from a steep, one-hectare, southwest-facing Premier Cru Chardonnay vineyard that was planted with 9,000 vines per hectare in 1960 on Campanian chalk, with a two- to three-meter thick, gravelly structured clay and silt layer. This is a rich, explosively fresh and very complex, highly mineral Premier Cru with a long and fascinatingly salty and grippy finish. With 11.3% alcohol and 7.2 grams per liter of total acidity, this is a very expressive Champagne and has great character. The 2005 was the first Corne Bautray that was disgorged with a minimum of dosage (1.5 grams per liter). The wine was been produced in 1995 for the first time, then again in 2000, 2002 and 2005, and we should be happy waiting for 2007, 2009, 2012, 2014 and "most likely" also in 2015.

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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."