Jacquesson Cuvée No. 737

  • Jacquesson Cuvée No. 737 - France, Champagne (12/30/2013)
    On the nose dried citrus peel, ripe apples and spices. Medium plus-bodied, softly creamy with dried lemons, minerals and grapefruit on the palate. Absolutely delicious and fairly priced! Among Champagne’s very finest entry NVs …

Posted from CellarTracker

Great note Barry - thanks. Have tried the 734, 735 and 736 and have found the quality only to go up. It is serious wine. Can’t wait to drink the 737.

A happy 2014 to you.

[cheers.gif] Andreas

Hi Andreas,

Cuvée No 737 comes from the 2009 harvest and reserve wines (30%). Grands and Premiers Crus in the Grande Valée de la Marne and the Cote des Blancs. Vinification on lees in casks, without filtration. 43% Chardonnay, 17% Pinot Noir and 30% Pinot Meunier. Disgorgement : June 2013 Dosage : 3.5 gr/ l

A Happy 2014 champagne.gif

Thanks for the note. Typically my household goes for the full-bodied, biscuity, caramel-type champagnes, but for whatever reason, the Jacquesson low dosage regime of late has been quite tasty. Really enjoyed the 736, will check out the 737 for sure.

Great info - thanks. What Champagne will you be drinking tomorrow? We’re having a Selosse Initial. [cheers.gif]

Hi Megan, all Jacquesson cuvées have been extra brut (less than 6g/L dosage) since 2000, although the Cuvée 736 was the first to display this on its label.

More info ; 2009 provides the backbone of the Cuvée n° 737; the reserve wines, comprising 30% of the final blend, come mainly from the great 2008 vintage to which they added some wines from the Cuvées n° 735 and 736 that was kept back specially for this purpose.

Selosse Brut Initiale - A special bottle of Champagne had it a while ago (the July 2008 dégorgement) …… For tonight New Year’s Eve white Burgundy and a NV Louis Roederer Champagne Brut!

A great Champagne it truly is and as others mentions the level just seems to be going up and up with the 36 and the 37’s so pure and focused - I have both in my cellar and plan on maturing some and keeping on collecting if the level stays like those two or keep getting better - I you like the style then I would also recommend the Camp Caiin 02 (quite a bit more expensive) which is one of their single-vineyard wines and it is simply gorgeous and within the narrow top of champagne for me:-)

Thanks for the great input Michael. Could you say a bit about the difference between 736 and 737 from your perspective (having tasted both)?

[cheers.gif]

The 737 is still quite fresh and primary but it seems a more broad style and a bit more creamy than the 736 which is crystal-clear and focused and with low dosage of only 1.5 g - The 737 is in my opinion a more broad style of vine and maybe showing the 09 vintage a bit more compared to the 08 in the 736 but both are gorgeous and will last a long time with the great acidity they both possess! I tasted the 728 from Magnum in June and it was a delight with mature notes but still alive and kicking with a long long finish and that was even with a high percentage of bought grapes compared to the recent 736 and 737’s that are mostly made with their own grapes with high selection-standards so one can only imagine how the recent ones will age champagne.gif

Mikael,

Thanks for the note. I haven’t had the 737 yet as I don’t think it has shipped over to the US yet, but I haven’t been a huge fan of Jacquesson for a while; hopefully this wine is better than some of the more recent releases. My biggest issue with them is the dosage regime that they have employed. While they were part of the group who made the move to significantly lower dosage in the middle of the last decade, they are one of the few who has stood their ground and, in some cases, continued to go lower. Most of the rest of the group has become more flexible and even increased dosage back to the 4-6 g/L range because they discovered that it makes better, more complex wine in the long run. While mineral flavors are great and low dosage helps bring these flavors out, you also need fruit for a balanced wine. Acidity alone is not what makes Champagne age and I don’t believe it is the main factor in the equation either. There are plenty of Champagnes with low acidity that have aged long and well and plenty of wines with high acidity that have fallen apart and matured quickly to become a high acid, dried out, fruitless mess.

As for the 736, I found the wine to have great raw materials, but why in the world Jacquesson would choose an extremely low dosage (even for them) of 1.5 g/L for the high acid 2008 base vintage is beyond me. I was excited for this wine before tasting it as I had hopes of a dosage around 5 g/L to help balance the wine out, but instead I got something that tasted more of lime and salt laced mineral water. I do think this will show some improvement in the near term, but I believe it would be so much better right now and have much more potential with a higher dosage. I would even go so far as to saw that their winemaking ruined the wine in my eyes. The fact that they dosed the 737 at 3.5 g/L is even more confusing as this is a much more fruit forward vintage where you can make the case it demands less dosage than the 2008 to balance out. Jacquesson has done this in the past as well - I just don’t get what they are doing with dosage (or pricing, but that is another discussion and if they can get it, more power to them). Jacquesson has great raw materials and takes wonderful care of their vineyards they also make a fun, unique Champagne in their Dizy Terres Rouges Rose

I do understand the attraction of these wines and they certainly have their fans as shown by the entire range selling well at 2-3 times their old price points (when I think the wines were much better). Guess these wines just aren’t for me and I do respect that others really like them, but give me a well stored pre-low dosage regime Jacquesson vintage or NV any day over the new stuff. I look forward to trying the 737 and I hope I like it more than I expect.

Thanks for your post Brad and sorry for my late reply but here goes my thoughts - I wouldn’t say that they have destroyed the 736 and I have had it several times and the one thing that stands out about it compared to the 735 and probably the 737 is the amount of air it needs to really open up - the best glasses of it I have had have either been decanted several hours ahead of drinking or even better from bottles that have been open 1-2 or 3 days with a closer on so the wine needs air and probably best would be several years in the cellar - On the subject of dosage one of the brothers Jean-Hervé agreed that it was a bold move to go so low on the 736 but he was happy with the result and I agree with him so guess that our palates differ and of course none of us knows but it would be funny to taste the wine with different levels but that will probably never happen:-)
I like their wines and I really like how the flagship is a wine with differences from year to year and I will follow the 735, 736, 737 and further on to see if my guess is right about the ageing- and also of course the brilliant Dizzy Terres Rouges if I am able to get my hands on some:-)

Mikael,

Thank you for the reply. I have no doubt that a number of folks like the 736 and I have had it with air and even over a couple days. There is some improvement that happens, but I still find it to be a wine that lacks the essentials to reach all of its potential. Another worry with very low dosage wines is how well they travel and handle the retail distribution channel and non-perfect storage. There is concern among a number of folks (including top notch smaller producers) that very low dosage wines are more susceptible to damage especially when it comes to overseas distribution. 1.5 g/L is in the range where some folks say that the risk isn’t worth it.

As to the NV 7xx showing year to year differences, all producers’ NVs show year to year differences and most will change their blend proportions (grapes, reserves, oak usage, etc…) each year. What Jacquesson did was tell us what was in the bottle (which I love) and capitalize a bit on the concept that their NV changes each year. Good thinking on their end and I applaud them for it, but all marketing. They are simply telling us a truth amount NV wines that most producers still would rather not talk about.

Jacquesson has its fans and I applaud them for their direction which has made people more passionate about their wines. They are really showcasing themselves as a top notch, small producer that is bunched in with the highest quality " cult growers" in Champagne. My issue is that it all seems too marketing related as most of their changes have been recent and more of a trend follow in my eyes - dogma based on low dosage, site specificity, and high prices. To me, the wines were better before they went down this path, but more power to them if they are following their heart - the wines don’t seem to have a problem selling.

This. Well said!

Thanks again Brad it is always nice to hear from people with both different opinions and a good deal of information and tasting-notes! I must say that I have only had the 1988 which was ok but not great and the 1997 Rose vintage that was quite nice so I have no real experince with the old style and sadly so -
When you refer to NV champagnes do you then think of the whole bunch including the grand marques, growers and all in a mix because then I think you are wrong - the big brands fx are so good at mixing and they have so great stocks of old wines that they almost every year are able to make their NV taste exactly the same and on that account I do not just see the Jacquesson 7xx-series as an ordinary NV that have been marketed better than the others but again that’s just my opinion?

When it comes to NV wines, producers want you to think that the wine is the same from year to year and they try hard to make it consistent, but the only thing consistent from year to year IMO is a style. Every producer has a style. With larger producers and many non-family owned smaller ones, it tends to be a consistent one that is influenced by the vineyard team and winemakers, but a common thread is always there. With many smaller wineries especially family owned ones, the style can be more linked to the lead family winemaker/vine grower and can change quite a bit from generation to generation. A few examples of actual producer style change would be JL Vergnon which was very different before Christophe Constant took over the winemaking and vineyards, Hure in Ludes where Francois Hure has revolutioned things, and Selosse where Anselme changed things a lot from what his father Jacques did. Still, in each of these cases there is a consistent style. It may change when someone leaves or a new generation comes in, but consistency is likely going to be there for decades.

The more land you own, grapes you have access to, or reserve wines you have, the more options you have, but each blend of a NV wine is its own animal that is unique just like each vintage wine is unique. More than trying to make the wine taste the same from year to year, large producers are trying to capture a style or feeling with the NV. With Roederer it is finesse filled, zesty, lively, mineral laced Pinot Noir. Clicquot is about fuller, dough, fruit salad. Krug is spicy, slightly nutty elegance with red fruits. Pierre Peters is bright, juicy citrus, cream, and electric minerality. Chartogne Taillet is fuller, bready, tropical fruit. Jacquesson is lean, precise, saline, citrus, and mineral kissed by touches of apple pie and cinnamon.

These styles are consistent from year to year though some years may bring out more of one element than another and do a better job of expressing the style. Jacquesson’s 7xx series is no different from any other NV except that they tell you what is in the bottle. The house style is still there from year to year. Almost all producers worth noting change the grape ratio, vineyards used, and reserves used from year to year. The best also play with different aging vessels, malolactic, growing techniques, dosage, and more. Jacquesson does play with a lot of these variables, but not even as many as Roederer and Clicquot do. Also, just like Jacquesson, big guys like Roederer and Clicquot try to produce the best NV they can each year while capturing the style of the house. Selosse, Margaine, Vilmart, Laherte, Bereche, etc… all do this too. Off the top of my head, I can’t think of anyone who throws out the rule book each year and just does whatever they want to the NV. I can think of a few cases where wines came off this way, but not intentionally.

One of my disappointments or let downs with the 7xx range is that Jacquesson billed it as and still bills it as a a unique, different approach to NVs where each year is a different beast. Each year is different, but the house style is very strong and this no different at Jacquesson than at most other producers. I actually think Krug does a better job of having the Grande Cuvee change from year to year than Jacquesson does with the 7xx series, but, again, that is my personal opinion.

As to the other wines, you mention, which 1988 did you have, the Perfection (basic vintage), Signature, DT? I’m a big fan of the Signature, but not that big on the DT version of the Signature or the Perfection. The DT Version of the Signature is just weird and the Perfection was not much better than the regular NV Perfection.

The 1997 Rose is actually one of the wines of the “new” Jacquesson which to me began with some of the later disgorgements of the 1995 Signature that coincided with the release of the 728. I do/did like the 1997 Rose though I think it was best on its release and a couple years after.

It was the Signature Dégorgement Tardif and I must say I found it quite strange and reading through my notes I did not really like it - the rose on the other hand I did like but it was not a broad style of Rose and I guess it did not have that high of a dosage so sounds possible that it is within the new style!
On the subject of style it sounds plausible that the choice is more on style though but a higher part of vintage-grapes in a NV should although create a more diverse wine year after year but if this gets overwhelmed but style I do not know! I really like the Krug Grand Cuvee but I find it really tough to taste in its youth because of the somewhat sharp edges and the massive citrus-notes that I have found again and again but with age they really develop into something special I will agree on than for sure :slight_smile:

Gentlemen, 736 is tasted blind here. Scroll down to Blind Chamagne tasting>

http://www.wineanorak.com/wineblog/

Price is getting up there for an “entry level” Champagne…

Bob,

Thanks for the link. They called it as an English bubbly and neither enjoyed it that much in comparison to the other wines with comments along the lines of dry, acidic, precise, tight, focused, not all that expressive. I don’t disagree with their take on the wine though folks obviously enjoy this so more power to 'em.