Following the terrific 2015 season, many Champagne houses did not release a 2016 or ’17 vintage, preferring to hold it for their upcoming non-vintage offerings. Although many domains age their Champagne for a longer period prior to release, a handful of top-tier houses are now sending their 2018 vintage Champagne to market. A generous season that was equally good for Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, 2018 is noted for its freshness and generosity on the palate. “The 2018 growing season was a study in contrast characterized by a particularly rainy winter followed by a long, warm, and sun-drenched summer,” says Veuve Clicquot cellar master Didier Mariotti, whose La Grande Dame 2018 is drinking beautifully right now. A blend of 90 percent Pinot Noir and 10 percent Chardonnay, this vintage Veuve has exquisite notes of citrus, ginger, and pastry crust with touches of salinity.
Mariotti attributes the balance of density and freshness to ideal seasonal conditions, which “delivered one of the finest harvests in recent memory,” he says. “The result is a vintage marked by a Pinot Noir showing exceptional balance between tension and aromatic complexity. The northern vineyards bring energy and structure, while the southern vineyards offer softness and depth, creating a cuvée of remarkable harmony and elegance.”
After skipping the 2016 and 2017 growing seasons for a vintage bottling, Champagne Nicolas Feuillatte has two releases from 2018: Blanc de Blancs, made with only Chardonnay, and Brut Millésimé, a blend of equal parts Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Meunier. Chief winemaker Guillaume Roffiaen says 2018 was “an early, very healthy, sunny, and productive vintage,” resulting in “wines of great elegance and finesse, supported by soft, mellow acidity.” Nicolas Feuillatte sent the Blanc de Blancs to market first and is just releasing Brut Millésimé now because the Pinot Noir and Meunier required a longer period of aging on the lees than the Chardonnay, Roffiaen tells us.
Champagne Palmer is just beginning the rollout of its Palmer & Co 2018 Blanc de Blancs, which will be fully available across the country by summer. Managing director and winemaker Rémi Vervier cites not just “near-perfect climatic conditions” but also the location of Palmer’s vineyards for the quality of this bottling. “Our cooler terroirs on the north face of the Montagne de Reims played a key role in preserving freshness and energy, giving the wines a vibrant backbone that lifts the blends and enhances their elegance,” he tells Robb Report. Palmer also released versions of its Blanc de Blancs in 2016 and 2017 but in much smaller quantities due to severe weather that limited yields.
While the previous vintage of Veuve Clicquot’s La Grande Dame was 2015, some houses waited even longer between their vintage releases. Case in point: Charles Heidsieck 2018 Champagne Brut Vintage and Charles Heidsieck 2018 Champagne Rosé Vintage; the previous Brut Vintage bottling was 2013 and the prior rosé was 2012, both of which came to market in January 2023. Cellar master Elise Losfelt explains that the warm 2018 vintage allowed for “remarkable maturity during tastings,” so the 2018s are ready for release now rather than waiting a few years. “After spending five years on the lees, we decided that it was the perfect moment to release them, as they have developed an impressive level of depth, complexity, and concentration,” she says.
This brings up an important point: While seasonal conditions determine which harvests are destined for vintage bottlings, time alone decides when the bottles are ready to be sent to market. By law, vintage Champagne must age for three years in the cellar and at least one year of that must be on the lees. However, we cannot recall a single incidence of vintage Champagne being available just three years after harvest, and the average timespan seems to be between nine and 10 years, with a few outliers in either direction. In the case of 2018, the exceptional quality of the season led to quicker maturation and the seemingly simultaneous release of bottles from quite a few houses. While La Grande Dame typically spends a minimum six years aging in Veuve Clicquot’s cellars, Mariotti says that “taste is the sole factor that determines when it’s ready.” Showcasing the best of the maison’s Pinot Noir, La Grande Dame is the ultimate expression of Veuve Clicquot. “The 2018 vintage was incredibly special and has produced an even more special wine,” he says.
Champagne Delamotte was slightly ahead of the rest of the pack, sending its 2018 Brut Blanc de Blancs forth in late 2023. Cristian Rimoldi, export director at Champagne Salon and Champagne Delamotte, explains that although six years is usually the minimum amount of time that Delamotte ages its vintage offerings, “for 2018, five years on the lees was enough to reveal a wine that is not only ready to drink, but also with an ageing potential of over 15 years.” Sourced from Grand Cru vineyards in the Côte des Blancs, Delamotte’s prior Blanc de Blancs vintage bottlings were 2007, 2008, 2012, and 2014.
Veuve Clicquot launched 2018 La Grande Dame with a gala at the Gallery of Mineralogy and Geology at Paris’s Natural History Museum, the location throwing a sly nod to the inherent minerality that the region’s limestone soils bring to Champagne. With the 2015 vintage barely in the rearview mirror, the majority of the 2018s are headed to wine lists and store shelves with little fanfare, but Veuve Clicquot’s bold move alerted international journalists and sommeliers to the presence of this stunning vintage. In addition to the bottles mentioned above, keep an eye out for Champagne Ayala A/18 Blanc de Blancs and a pair of releases from Champagne Mandois, Blanc de Noirs and Blanc de Blancs Premier Cru. The ostensibly early release from a year that’s been hailed as the vintage of the century offers Champagne lovers a wide variety of expressions to celebrate life’s special occasions.
Previously published on Robb Report USA
Photos courtesy of Veuve Clicquot
