2001 Vilmart Coeur de Cuvee

The 2001 Brut Premier Cru Coeur de Cuvee is another pristine, brilliant wine, here made all the more remarkable by the challenging vintage. This is a decidedly rich, structured style for Vilmart, with tons of fruit, phenomenal length and an exceptional, textured finish. Today, the 2001 Coeur de Cuvee is a touch inward, but another year or two in bottle should help the wine come to together. It is yet another superb Champagne from Vilmart and proprietor Laurent Champs. The Coeur de Cuvee is 80% Chardonnay and 20% Pinot Noir from Les Blanches Voies fermented in small neutral French oak and bottled with 8 grams of dosage. Only the ‘heart’ of the pressing, the middle 800 liters, is used for the Coeur de Cuvee, hence the wine’s name. This is Lot L0109, disgorged January, 2009. Anticipated maturity: 2011-2021. Proprietor Laurent Champs makes some of the most elegant, refined Champagnes readers are likely to come across. Every wine I tasted during my visit earlier this year was fabulous. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to taste any of the house’s roses for this article, but they are among my favorite wines of the entire region. Vilmart’s roses are made in small quantities and disappear virtually as soon as they hit these shores, so readers should be on the lookout for any opportunity to snap them up. All of the Champagnes are aged in oak, which plays an important part in the Vilmart signature, yet few growers are as skilled in finding the perfect balance of fruit, structure and oak. In short, I can’t say enough good things about Vilmart. Readers owe it to themselves to check out these brilliant wines. A Terry Theise Selection, imported by Skurnik Wines, Syosset, NY; tel. (516) 677-9300

(80% chardonnay and 20% pinot noir; disgorged February, 2009) Bright gold. Captivating, exotically perfumed nose offers singed orange, poached pear, powdered stone, botanical herbs, wisteria and iodine; no way I'd have guessed that this came from the (usually) justly maligned 2001 vintage. Dense, pure and precise, with lovely smokiness and sweetness and a fine-grained texture to its mineral, spice, orchard fruit and floral flavors. Offers terrific palate presence and finishes with compelling minerality and subtle hints of vanilla and nutmeg. Talk about transcending the year!

Very unusual! Pretty good but a bit more open than most vintage champagnes. OK, it’s better than any other 2001 champagne but it still doesn’t convince me this is a good vintage for champagne. (JR)