The 2014 vintage

“2014 was one of those years with clear extremes,” Lécaillon said. “We had a beautiful, dry, continental spring; we had a very oceanic summer with lots of rain, twice as much than usual, mainly in the Côte des Blancs and the Vallée de la Marne, much less rain in the Montagne de Reims. Then we had this beautiful September which changed everything. Finally, thanks to beautiful weather at the end of August and all of September we had a real summer and we had ripeness.

“It was important to pick as late as possible to benefit from the sunshine of the last moment. North-easterly winds dried the atmosphere, so we had beautiful concentration of flavours which we waited for. We delayed harvest and picked Cristal as late as possible: we wanted the extra concentration, the extra ripeness, the extra dry extract that is so important for the texture of Cristal.

“Alcohol levels were perfect, more than 11% for Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, so no chaptalisation, just natural balance that goes through fermentation. Then of course no malolactic fermentation because we had ripe balance and I wanted to keep as much freshness and energy from the malic acid.”

The wine

Lécaillon noted that 32% of the wine had been fermented in oak, and that the traditional composition of 60% Pinot Noir and 40% Chardonnay had been kept – as a reflection of the planting of the estate which has roughly this varietal split. “In 2014,” he said, “out of the 45 [dedicated] plots, only 39 made Cristal, we eliminated three plots in Aÿ and three in Avize that were not up to our expectations.” He then summed up the wine: “In 2014, we have lots of everything: proteins, organic acids, dry extract, phenolics. Together with a low pH – we are at 3.0 – everything is built for ageing. 2014 catches this extreme dry extract with extreme freshness. I think this is a vintage of energy and of intensity.”