2015 Champagne – First Thoughts

Tasting Champagne’s vins clairs is one of my favorite moments of the year. Vins clairs are Champagne’s still wines before they are blended and put into bottle with sugar to become Champagne. For a few months between the end of the year and the following spring, when most wines are bottled, the vins clairs offer the most pure expression of site, variety and vintage. The following observations are based on one week of tastings at both grower estates and large houses concentrated in the central areas around Reims and Epernay.

Tasting vins clairs at Savart, Ecueil

Harvest began at the tail end of August, following an exceptionally hot and dry summer period between June and the middle of August. Rain towards the end of the season did not appear to cause major issues. Potential alcohols came in between 10.5-11.5% on average, which is high for Champagne while acidities were on the lower end, in the 6-7% range. But wine is seldom about numbers alone. What impressed me most about the 2015 vins clairs is the balance I saw in so many samples.