67% Pinot Noir and 33% Chardonnay

Though Goutorbe is labeled as Vallee de la Marne and runs with its friends of the Marne Valley with great pride, these wines cannot hide a striking resemblance to those of the Montagne de Reims and this is because Ay is made up of soils more akin to Montagne de Reims and even the portion of Pinot Noir reflects this in turn as it is so often greater -and sometimes the cepage remains, as in this case, completely free of the Marne’s Meunier.

Pinot Meunier really only makes up 3% of the estate’s plantings… and it shows: Alive, compelling and ripe with a full bodied presence and a full flavored palate, this has all you want from champagne in spades. Which from my chair is a fine bead, an engrossing but delicate bouquet of biscuits and pastries, the scents of lemon peels, the zing of lemon curd, and a gentle orchard fruit that washes over your palate and washes away the day’s concerns, restoring ones spirit as if life were simply a picnic beneath a stately oak planted by your great grandfather at the edge of a broad now sun soaked meadow and you’ve nothing to do but enjoy being.

All this and more awaits you in the first sip of this exceptional vintage champagne.

Wine review by Nicholas D. Livingston, November 2012