NV Nicolas Maillart Platine Brut

Based on the 2015 vintage, complemented by fully 50% reserve wines, the NV Brut Premier Cru Platine ferments in recently used barrels with native yeasts and sees more than six months on the lees before tirage. Offering up aromas of crisp yellow orchard fruits, beeswax, almond paste and white flowers, it's medium to full-bodied, vinous and concentrated, with lovely depth at the core, brisk acids and a long, sapid finish. It was disgorged in November 2019 with six grams per liter dosage.

Nicolas Maillart is technically a négociant (NM) house not a ‘grower’, but buys grapes only from his family, and cultivates all the domaine himself. Replanting is mass selection from the estate, not bought-in clones. Quite a far-flung domaine, 18.5 ha (46 acres) in total, based in Écueil but in Bouzy and Villers-Allerand too. An emphasis on sustainability and certified HVE (Haute Valeur Environnementale). Winemaking with stainless steel and oak. Barrels come from the Bize-Leroy Domaine d’Auveney in Burgundy. Production about 150,000 bottles and no fruit sold to houses. Founding member of the Artisans de Champagne group. This is 70% Pinot Noir, 24% Chardonnay, 6% Pinot Meunier. Base 2012, 37% reserves. 50% barrel fermented. Partial malo. Bottled 2013. Disgorged November 2016. Dosage 6 g/l. Mid straw. Really dense and throbbing. Much less austere than most. Flattering without being sweet. Good length. GV ? (JR)

Opulent and finessed. SF: Fulsome colour and temperamentally big-boned , this is an impressive example. The six grams of residual sugar finely knit into a texture of ripe, red-berried fruit. The finish has an ethereal poise, brought down to earth by just a hint of spice. TH: Immediately vital in the mouth. Very chewy and demanding, a serious champagne but pretty exciting. Citrus character but with complex fruit and a pretty lingering finish. I like this!