2013 Champagne: The Vins Clairs

The 2013 vintage was extremely challenging throughout France, but most of Champagne was spared the worst. In the Côte des Blancs in particular the best Chardonnays are drop-dead gorgeous.

I recently spent a week in Champagne tasting through the young vins clairs, something I have done for a number of years. I visited a number of estates, both small and large. Champagne is fascinating for so many reasons, among them the parallel existence of two very different and complementary cultures. The big, luxurious houses aren’t too dissimilar from what one often sees in Bordeaux, while the typical grower’s cellar could be easily mistaken for something right out of Burgundy. Large houses offer the best global perspective on vintages because they make wines from a large number of villages across the region. Tasting at smaller growers, on the other hand, often provides greater insights as to the performance of a single village and/or grape. My initial thoughts are based on tastings of 2013s at Bereche, Ulysse Collin, Henri Giraud, Jacquesson, Georges Laval, Moët et Chandon, Philipponnat, Pierre Péters, Jerôme Prévost, Roederer, Ruinart, Savart, Camille Saves, Taittinger and Tarlant. A few houses I visited rarely show vins clairs (Dom Pérignon comes to mind), but I tasted plenty of compelling wines I will be sharing with readers shortly. Below are some of the many highlights of the week I spent tasting the 2013 vins clairs. Reviews of new releases will follow in about two weeks’ time.

The 2013 Growing Season

In 2013, the most critical part of the year was the flowering, which took place later than normal under cool, damp conditions. Vineyards that flowered during the worst weather were severely affected by coulure and millerandage, while plots that flowered outside of that band set a normal crop. Paradoxically, vineyards with no issues during flowering had a very hard time ripening their crop because the rest of the season was cool and very long. On the other hand, vineyards where yields were naturally lowered by the poor flowering had a chance to ripen. In most parts of the region the summer was uneventful, as Champagne emerged largely unscathed from the violent storms that devastated so many vineyards in the Loire, Burgundy, Bordeaux and other regions in France. The Aube, which is actually closer to Chablis, is the exception, as the weather was especially challenging in this district. The harvest took place in late September and early October, virtually unheard of by today’s standards. Vineyards that struggled to ripen became susceptible to outbreaks of rot as the season progressed into the fall.

Roederer: Chardonnay from the Volibart lieu-dit in Le Mesnil-sur-Oger

The Wines