This is the new Vintage cuvée from Veuve Clicquot, and it’s really good. It’s a fresh, quite complex wine with lovely focus.

This is the first vintage made by current chef de caves Dominique Demarville, and the combination of his skill and the good raw material he’s working with has resulted in a really lovely wine. The blend here is 61% Pinot Noir, 34% Chardonnay, 5% Pinot Meunier. A small amount (5%) was fermented in large oak, and dosage is 8 g/litre.

Champagne Veuve Clicquot Vintage 2008 France
12% alcohol. Fresh, lively and detailed with a hint of grapefruit pith and white peach. The core, though, is the lovely lemony fruit. Taut and linear with some toastiness and a hint of cherry, but very compact and linear with potential for future development. Nice precision here. 92/100

Here’s a short film of me tasting it: