NV Henri Giraud Code Noir Brut

The NV Code Noir is a classic Claude Giraud Champagne built on texture, power and richness. Honey, apricot jam, mint, herbs, wild flowers and chamomile are some of the signature notes in this voluptuous, flamboyant Champagne. Here too the style is quite unctuous and forward. Disgorged March 18, 2015. Dosage is 7 grams per liter.

A pure Ay Pinot matured in new Argonne barrels for a year, Giraud NV Brut Code Noir Disg. 3/2012 is named for the cracking of vitis vinifera’s genome, in 2007 – utilizing Pinot – by a team of several dozen scientists, some half of whom were French. A lovely nose of sour cherry and ripe tomato leads to a luscious palate laced with bittersweetly invigorating citrus oils and saliva-liberating salinity. At once robust and vivacious, this energetic expression of its grape, village, and author isn’t the least encumbered – or, indeed, in any obvious way even influenced – by its new oak, a tribute Giraud would no doubt credit to that wood’s provenance (or should I say its terroir?). I would plan on following this bottling for at least several years. Claude Giraud – with whom I have corresponded but have yet to meet – farms 22 acres in Ay, supplemented by purchased fruit. He has become a vocal champion of wood from the local forests of the Argonne, although oak of diverse origins fills out his extensive barrel regimen. Rich, at times positively sumptuous; forceful, sometimes downright powerful; Giraud’s Champagnes make a bold statement that won’t resonate with every lover of this appellation’s wines. And given their prices, even if they weren’t scarce, only a small percentage of wine lovers would be able to access them. To me, they are not just impressive – at times exceptionally so – in their own right, but illustrate the glorious stylistic malleability of Champagne’s grapes and terroirs. I’ll look forwarding to visiting Giraud next year and reporting in much more detail on his stylistic vision and projects as well as his individual cuvees. (I did not taste any recent releases from Giraud’s “Esprit de Giraud” series of tank-raised cuvees.) Imported by Great Signature Wines LLC, Atlanta, GA; tel. (404) 984-8700; and Old World Wines, Miramar Beach, FL; tel. (850) 225-0663

Dosage 9 g/l. 2006 base. Very deep gold. Very dense and slightly oaky on the nose. Quite rich and off dry. Awfully expensive for what it is! Not quite the follow-through. (JR)