Years ago (like the 80s and 90s), there was a publication called Connoisseurs’ Guide had significant influence on people’s tastes. Besides being a pretty good source for finding obscure California gems, they also wrote some of the best pans when they didn’t like something. More to the point, every so often they would do a tasting of California sparklers and one particular quirk of theirs was that incumbent in those reviews they would have notes on the same bubbly in regular bottles and also in magnums. The magnums consistently scored higher. After much of our own ‘research’, we came to accept their axiom. While it is difficult to verbalize why exactly (and you know we’re not usually ‘lost for words’), somehow magnums seemed to present more layers of flavor and more refinement. We can’t explain the science of it, but we are believers.
We tell that story to tell this one. We have found a modest cache of magnum bottles from a long-time house favorite Jean Laurent. The estate is situated south of Epernay, in the outlying Côte des Bar region of Champagne. We’ve talked about the Bar recently as an emerging source for serious boutique producers but these guys were out in the market long before ‘the Bar’ had the cool kid vibe it has today.
Their vineyards are in the village of Celles‐sur‐Ource, with a few parcels in the neighboring village Landreville. They total 39 acres (30 of Pinot Noir, 6+ of Chardonnay, 3 of Pinot Blanc (a legal but not widespread grape in Champagne), and small plantings of Arbane (a historic grape in this Aube region but there is little remaining). The vines are planted in distinctive chalky soils, part of a band that stretches from Champagne to Chablis and all the way to the White Cliffs of Dover (where the Brits are making some sparklers of their own).
The vineyards average 25 to 30 years in age, with the oldest parcels at more than 60 years old. Jean Laurent was one of the earliest RMs we were exposed to (“Recoltant Manipulant” – the French term for Grower Producer) and we have since followed this genre of Champagne producers with great enthusiasm. Like the title says, Jean makes Champagnes exclusively from his own vineyards. You’ve heard us yammer on about the terroir aspect that grower Champagne has over the big houses and this is one of those special places where the juice comes from small, distinctive patches of vines farmed sustainably and is produced in a limited batch.
There are a number of other key points but the most important are that this is large format bottle from, according to the Wine Advocate vintage chart, the highest rated vintage in Champagne in the last quarter century. The Jean Laurent Brut Blanc de Blanc La Griffe de l’Ource 2008 Magnum is 100% Chardonnay from this legendary vintage aged 30 months in tank prior to bottling (no oak) and then seeing 8 years on the lees sur latte (on their sides) and 2 years on the lees sur point (cork down) prior to disgorgement.
Given the vintage and what we have referred to in past pieces as the riper, richer character of ‘the Bar’, this is an ample Champagne with notes of citrus, yellow melon, cherry, brioche, and honeylike flecks in the nose and finish. The mousse is refined, no doubt in part due to the bottle age, and the palate is both lifted and creamy. This is a fine and expressive bottle of Champagne to plan something around and, yes, the extra nuance that the ‘big bottle’ provides appears to be in full effect.
The Magnum format itself ostensibly adds a point or two to the review here that was done by Wine Spectator on the 750 ml bottle in December, 2019, “Creamy and well-knit, with good focus to the baked white cherry, honeycomb and ginger biscuit flavors. A harmonious version, framed by sleek acidity and a chalky underpinning, this is long and mouthwatering on the lightly spiced finish. Disgorged July 2019. Drink now through 2028. 375 cases made…93 points.”
Large format, epic vintage, this is a very special holiday treat. Only 20 magnums available at this writing.