NV Pierre Peters Blanc de Blancs L'Etonnant

This release of the NV Champagne Grand Cru Blanc De Blancs L'Etonnant Monsieur Victor Edition TB.17 is a blend of Reserve Oubliée coming from 2016 and Les Chetillons Cuvée Speciale from 2017. It pours a silver/yellow color and is precise and focused with aromas of green apple eau de vie, lime blossoms, shortbread, and sea spray. The palate is focused and medium-framed, with its mid-palate expanding and showing off the depth that’s underlying in the wine. It offers a pinpoint mousse and a compact and balanced spine of ripe acidity through a long finish. It demands time in cellar to show its best and will drink over the coming 20 or more years.

The NV L’Étonnant Monsieur Victor Edition TB.17, wearing the label designed by Rodolphe Péters’s son Victor (where two letters refer to the artist who inspired the design: TB for Tim Burton), originates from Péters’s historical blend combined with Les Chétillons from the 2017 vintage, selecting for inclusion wines with less trenchant personality. Disgorged in December 2023 with a dosage of four grams per liter, it combines the dimension of a mature Champagne with the energy of a young one. Soaring from the glass with a bouquet of marzipan, tangerine, hazelnut and spices, it’s layered, textural and precise. The wine finishes chalky and long, with ample amounts of racy acidity balancing its core of fruit. It is a bit tauter compared to the Réserve Oubliée cuvée, as the Les Chétillons component brings a kick and more energetic side to the wine. “It offers up complexity and balance that’s difficult to achieve with one vintage,” concludes Péters.

Based on the 2015 vintage, the NV L’Étonnant Monsieur Victor Edition MK 15 is a blend of the best vats of the Péters perpetual reserve with the best vats of Les Chétillons. It has long been Rodolphe Péters's intention to produce a blend that surpasses his vintage wines, yet I have generally preferred his vintaged Les Chétillons; in 2015, however, it is indeed the Étonnant Monsieur Victor that leads the portfolio. Unwinding in the glass with complex aromas of sweet orchard and stone fruits mingled with notions of spices, candied peel, freshly baked bread and toasted nuts, it's medium to full-bodied, racy and seamless, its deep core complemented by a pillowy mousse, concluding with a long, sapid finish.