2005 Jacquesson Ay Vauzelle Terme

The 2005 Aÿ-Vauzelle Terme is the most polished of Jacquesson's 2005 single-vineyard Champagnes. Silky and nuanced on the palate, the Vauzelle Terme highlights the more understated side of the vintage. Hints of chalk, red cherry, plum, mint and wild flowers are laced into the highly expressive finish. Today, the Vauzelle Terme comes across as a bit weightless to the point of being a bit on the ethereal side. It will be interesting to see if the wine acquires a bit more depth in bottle. Disgorged October 2014. Dosage was 2.5 grams/liter.

From a tiny 30-are plot that Jean-Herve Chiquet calls their best terroir (although its very sensitive to botrytis and does not get its grapes to full ripeness very often), the very rare 2005 Extra Brut Ay Vauzelle Terme opens with a very clear and intense, but also delicate sweet cherry bouquet intermixed with chalky and iodine flavors. The wine was opened four hours before and offers a lovely, fresh and fruity taste and a chalky/dusty texture along with white and red fruit flavors, as well as some dashes of lemon juice. This is a fascinatingly firm and very mineral Champagne full of vibrancy, finesse and delicacy. A serious and expressive terroir wine indeed and one of my absolute favorite Champagnes of 2015. Mar 2016, www.robertparker.com