Cuvée des Caudalies Blanc de Blancs Extra Brut Flaschengärung

-- Parker: The intensely citrus colored NV Cuvée des Caudalies Grand Cru Extra Brut is 100% old-vines Chardonnay from Avize. (This edition is based on the 2013 vintage, with 50% of the perpetual reserve, and was bottled in April 2014 and disgorged in October 2017.) The wine opens with an intense, concentrated, still yeasty and toasty bouquet with lots of brioche and matured "réserve" aromas. Pure and linear on the palate but also rich and intense, with a charming roundness (dosage of five grams per liter), this is a still terribly young but well-structured and expressive Cuvée des Caudalies, and the finish reveals remarkable salty purity, complexity and mineral tension. I would surely enjoy the 2010 Millésime earlier than this reserve-dominated NV cuvée, as the aging potential should be excellent. Tasted in Reims, April 2018. 94+/100

-- Suckling: Old chardonnay vines from Avize, fermented in oak and a reserve wine solera blended in. This has a very focused and subtly complex personality with a deep-set, rich, peach, lemon and grapefruit presence. It delivers a long, salty mineral thread at the finish. Super concentrated and distinctive. Drink now or hold. 95/100