01 March, 2000

Long prospects for vintage 2004


The still wine - no bubbles - is promising.

The still wines are ready in their tanks and barrels and they are promising. They express the special features of each type of grape and the special characteristics
of the area, the balance between acidity and sugar is with a content of sugar close to 9,7 percent close to perfect.

These are indeed promising parameters of a great and probably not blended vintage of 2004. However, the prospects are pretty far in the future.

Long aging
A champagne must always taste the same. If the grapes are not good enough to reach the right taste, you will blend the wine of the year with wines from other years to achieve the targeted taste.

Grapes from very good years such as 2004 can make a great champagne on their own. They are not blended with other years, and they carry the special grading Millésime. This word is written on the bottle with the year.

These Millésime-wines have a greater and more interesting potential than the blended champagnes that are ready to drink straight away. The vintage-champagnes develop more with time, and this is why they are matured longer. They must pass at least three years in the caves before you - according to the AOC-rules (Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée) - can put your Millésime on the etiquette.


Chardonnay is the big crop in the Côte de Blancs.

But do not count on tasting the great grapes from vintage 2004 before around 2010 or even later. If you are able to wait the results are promising.

Typically Chardonnay and Pinot
This kind of positive bulletins have arrived one after the other during the last six months from changing and still more representative sources. Now it is oenologue Luc Chamourin from the winegrowers association, Syndicat géneral des vignerons de la Champagne (SGV), who in the local paper l'Union describes the really great grapes of last year with each type developing the best of its potential in the young wine.

The white Chardonnay-grape has its fine and elegant notes of white flowers and white fruits: White cast iron and acacia, apple, pear and citrus fruits.

The Pinot Noir contributes with red fruits, body and power and with the years a great complexity. Pinot Meunier has its desirable soupleness and notes of red fruits too.


Pinot Meunier is the king in the Vallée de la Marne.

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