2008 Jacquesson Dizy Corne Bautray

The 2008 Extra Brut Premier Cru Dizy - Corne Bautray is showing brilliantly, unwinding in the glass with a youthful bouquet of citrus oil, clear honey, preserved rhubarb and subtle hints of fresh pastry. On the palate, it's full-bodied, layered and multidimensional, with an incisive spine of acidity, considerable concentration and a long, reverberating finish. This is an unusually tensile, racy rendition of this cuvée, and Jean-Hervé Chiquet observes that, in the 2008 vintage, this typically rich wine has embraced its Chardonnay origins more wholeheartedly than usual. It's a terrific wine that will delight Champagne purists. All 5,488 bottles and 304 magnums were disgorged without dosage in April 2018. As readers may know, the Corne Bautray is a southwest-facing parcel planted in 1960 that's characterized by gravel and marl soils over a base of Campanian chalk.

Disgorged April 2018. From a one-ha vineyard planted in 1960. 9,000 vines. This Chardonnay is ostensibly in the wrong place because it’s not in the Côte des Blancs. No dosage. Smells like a still wine! Rather rich fruit with some undertow. Not very much mousse. Bit broad in the beam. (JR)