2009 Cazals Millesime Grand Cru Champagne Blanc de Blancs

Epicenter of Great Vintage Champagne

The Champagne region’s most coveted concentration of quality might just lie in a tiny strip of villages in the prestigious Côte des Blancs. This is where five of Champagne’s 17 Grand Cru villages are clustered, and where, just above the sacred soils that produce Salon and Krug’s most priceless wines, sits the tiny hamlet of Oger. Every drop of the 2009 Cazals Millésime Grand Cru Champagne Blanc de Blancs comes from the ripe and energetic fruit of this Grand Cru that “finds its way into the top blends of virtually all the major houses,” according to Peter Liem’s book Champagne. After maturing on the lees for six years in the Cazals cellar, the 2009 not only hums with the legendary Côte des Blancs energy, but bursts with the hallmark ripe apple, marzipan, and toasted notes of great vintage Champagne.

What makes the village of Oger unique, even in the Côte des Blancs? The answer is in the story of one of the region’s most celebrated producers, who was confounded by how the wines from his newly-purchased vineyards in the Grand Cru village of Oger were proving tricky to blend: What made them different than his wines from more northerly villages? What was he missing about this Oger wine?

The answer is its trademark ripeness. The vineyards of Oger enjoy an uncommon amount of warmth, not only due to their eastern exposure, but to the way their collective concave shape traps heat. The wines that result not only have the stout, chalky backbone that is telltale of Côte des Blancs bubbly, but also a ripeness and fragrance that shows why Oger fruit is valued in so many top blends.

Founded in the Côte des Blancs in 1897, Maison Cazals is now a 22-acre, 10-employee operation led by fourth-generation Delphine Cazals. Although the maison was founded in and still is operated from Le Mesnil-sur-Oger, it speaks volumes that the family’s showpiece vineyard, Clos Cazals, is in Oger, and that Oger fruit comprises their 2009 Millésime. These blessed plots in the Côte des Blancs are widely coveted. This is a fantastic chance at a single-village vintage Champagne, without the princely price tag.

• Fruit Intensity
• Oak Intensity
• Body
• Sweetness
• Acidity

• ABV 12.50%
• Enjoy right away
• Drink Up
• % Chardonnay
• Serving temperature – 45°
• Cork