In the apparent reference book ‘Vintage Champagne 1899 to 2019’ by Charles Curtis MW, the 2017 vintage is one of the few that does not receive any stars. Almost every critic has written off this vintage. Vinous, in their infinite wisdom of processing vintages into a numerical rating, gives this vintage 89 points based on their tasting of an undefined number of champagnes.
Last week, I was at a tasting with Georges Remy and Marie Noelle Ledru. Georges Remy presented his new 2020 Quatre Terroirs first, which is his best one so far. While 2018 and 2019 were enjoyable, 2020 is on a different level. We were the first to work with Georges Remy, and among all the emerging talents, we believe he is the most promising. Marie Noelle Ledru, known as the Grand Dame of grower champagne, commands incredible respect from other growers. Although there is currently a lot of hype around her champagnes, leading to exorbitant prices for new releases, her champagnes from the nineties, if they come from her cellar, possess an incredible freshness. But let’s get back on track.
During the tasting, we tried Remy’s 2017 Mont Tauxieres, which in my opinion is a monumental champagne that is now starting to open up. One attendee couldn’t believe it was from the 2017 vintage, as that year was generally considered horrible by the experts. Both Georges Remy and Marie Noelle Ledru were astonished, as it was the first time they had heard of 2017 being labeled as a bad vintage. In their opinion, it was a very good vintage.
At the tasting, three employees from Moët/Dom Pérignon were present. When asked why 2017 was considered a bad vintage, the highest-ranking individual explained, ‘In 2017, there was nothing wrong with the quality of grapes; it was the yields. A grower producer can work with 4000 kg per hectare (which was the average wieght harvested), but as a maison, we need 7000 kg per hectare. For this reason alone, we consider 2017 a bad vintage.’ (In Burgundy, 35 to 40 hectoliters per hectare are considered acceptable.)
