2018 Ayala Blanc de Blanc
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The 2018 Champagne Blanc De Blancs A/18 Extra Brut is 100% Chardonnay from Chouilly, Cramant, Oger, Mesnil-sur-Oger, Bisieul, and Cuis and spent six years in the cellars. A floral vintage, this wine boasts elegant notes of white peach, pear, fresh pastry, lemon candies, and fresh almond. Approachable and medium-bodied, the palate is more rounded, with a creamy mousse and lasting suggestions of fresh custard on the finish. Drink 2026-2040. 5 grams per liter dosage. Founded in 1860, Ayala is based in Aÿ with a focus on Chardonnay. In November 2022, Julian Gout was promoted to cellar master after a four-year tenure as deputy cellarmaster, succeeding Caroline Latrive, who has moved to Deutz. All the wines are vinified in small stainless steel tanks and undergo malolactic fermentation, receiving relatively low dosage levels ranging from zero to seven grams per liter. In 2018, they constructed an additional winery, which increased their capacity by 3,300 hectoliters.
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Julia Harding MW, jancisrobinson.com
Jeb Dunnuck
Altre recensioni e punteggi
Vinified entirely in steel and disgorged in July 2024 with a dosage of five grams per liter, Ayala’s 2018 Le Blanc de Blancs A/18 is sourced from the villages of Chouilly, Cramant, Le Mesnil-sur-Oger, Oger, Bisseuil and Cuis. The wine rises from the glass with a flamboyant bouquet of pear, peach and grapefruit zest mingling with quince and cherry plum. On the palate, it is full-bodied and broad-shouldered, ample and textural, defined by a powerful musculature and a generous fruit core underpinned by ripe acidity, concluding with an enveloping finish. As is often the case in this vintage, a touch more tension would lend greater balance, yet its open-knit profile delivers immediate charm and promises a generous drinking window.
Always coming from the Grand Crus of Côte de Blancs, the 2018 Champagne Le Blanc De Blancs A/18 Extra Brut includes fruit from the Montagne de Reims. This was Julien Gout's first vintage with Ayala as Chef de Cave, and he added the extra fruit to give the wine a bit more depth. On the nose, it’s delicate and floral with its notes of white flowers, baby powder, fresh pear, and lemon candies. Medium-bodied, it has more intensity but remains all about finesse and elegance, with a delicate, rounded mid-palate, a pillowy, fresh mousse, a delicate structure that frames the wine, and a clean, stony finish, closing with a hint of spice. It’s another step in the right direction for this estate and very nicely done. Drink over the coming 10-15 years.
A relaunch of this cuvée made from Chardonnay from grands and premiers crus from the Côte des Blancs and, for the first time, incorporates grapes from the Montagne de Reims: Chouilly, Cramant, Le Mesnil-sur-Oger, Oger, Cuis, Bisseuil. Six years on the lees, dosage 5 g/l. Excitable and fine mousse. Pure, fragrant citrus aroma with very subtle yeasty autolytic character and the focus is still the citrus fruit – clementine and grapefruit. Nice chalky texture is the foundation for crisp, pure citrus, lots of freshness and tension and just enough creamy texture to balance. Not particularly intense on the mid palate but harmonious and, it seems, deliberately fruit-focused. Tastes almost sweet on the finish even though it is Extra Brut. (JH)