I posted about this in the “What Champagne are you Drinking” thread, but it struck me that there’s a topic here of its own around the aging of NV champagne and the effect of lower dosage on champagne aging – a whole slew of topics, actually. Many of us seem to agree that most NV champagnes benefit from a few years in the cellar and that some – Krug Grande Cuvée being the poster child – can improve for decades. But where’s that sweet spot? Are there other NVs that benefit in particular? How do the grape varieties impact the aging, if at all? Time on lees? Particular fruit sources? Certainly personal taste factors into the equation as well.
Anyway, I thought I’d start something for a pretty open ended discussion with my recently posted story:
I opened a NV Francis Boulard Champagne Les Murgiers Extra Brut the other night with Hokkaido scallops over spinach with a truffle vinaigrette (see the What did you Cook Tonight thread if interested), as well as one a week or so ago, both of which showed beautifully mature and still firmly structured and just a great pleasure to drink. This wine is 2007 base, Jan 2015 disgorgement at 5 g/L dosage, and is a blanc de noirs blend of pinot meunier and pinot noir, with the lion’s share being pinot meunier. I believe it is now generally done as a brut nature and spends less time on less – looks like roughly 3 years for more recent releases.
This parcel has been fascinating to watch. We made a large purchase in France in 2015 when the Euro was in a very favorable place and growers like Boulard remained quite affordable. We’ve been drinking them now over 6 years, so have had the opportunity to observe aging and bottle variation. For the first few years, pretty much every bottle was perfect - youthful and energetic, despite the soft base vintage. My notes say things like “great bottle, as always” over and over. Changes in color crept in around 2018/9 as well as mature notes over the course of the next two years. Starting in late 2020, we started getting some dull bottles, some showing over the hill, while others were still brilliant. Recently, the hit rate deteriorated and approached 50/50. That might sound disappointing, but when you consider that it is now a 15 year old NV from a softer vintage, and we got them for a song, I have no problem whatsoever with some fading in the last couple of cases. Now I just pull 3 instead of 1 when I go to the racks!
I wonder what impact the reduced dosage will have on the aging curve of this cuvee and other NVs. I’m very curious about this in general, how the trend towards lower dosage will effect again. Both John Gilman and William Kelley have written on the subject, including on this board.
What have Gilman and W. Kelley’s ideas been? I agree this is a great topic. In the interest of getting discussion going, here is my very uninformed guess. When we talk about long-aging white wines, some residual sugar plays a role in ageability (think Riesling, even GGs, which legally can have up to 9 g/l, Chenin Blanc, etc.) I would think lower dosage means less aging in many cases. Note, I say less aging, not no aging.
I’ve long been an advocate of aging NV wines, finding that B-S brut rosé improves dramatically. Krug MV of course improves.
I don’t have the experience, money, time, or liver to explore all the variables Sarah lists—dosage, cépage, and others. I’ll listen to what others say. Great topic, very broad, subject for a lifetime.
IIRC, John more poses the question, is unsure of how the low dosage champagnes, NV or vintage, will age. And i do mean how, not if. He also feels strongly that the very low or zero need a few years before they are good to drink.
Again, IIRC, I believe William Kelley also wondered about what notes will develop without the sugar necessary for the maillard reaction.
Well it’s not like low dosage wines are a new thing. I’ve been buying them for 20 years almost!
These days I tend to drink zero dosage wines young. Not better or worse but different and enjoyable for the crisp vibrancy.
Let’s not assume that ‘traditional’ dosage wines age uniformly and consistently. After 20 years everything gets much more variable! Even ‘great’ wines like 88 Krug are getting patchy, the 82 even worse.
Sure, it’s not brand new, but it’s certainly getting more and more common I’d say.
I am in the camp of enjoying mature champagne flavors. And I was okay with the aging curve of the Boulard Murgiers example I gave. Just wished I’d drunk a few more earlier.
It’s a small sample size, but I purchased a case of Laherte Brut Nature BdB about 5 years ago and the entire case had 2013 disgorgement dates. I drank those and most of the recent disgorements of the same wine (e.g. 2018 or 2019) have lacked the depth and roundness of those earlier bottles. I hope I can leave my hands off my other bottles for a few years to recreate some of that magic, but it’ll be tough.
Great post, Sarah. I’m personally skeptical that my non-dosed wines will be long haulers, but 5 or less hasn’t seemed to have hurt them. I think some level of dosage is necessary. My old Philipponnat Goisses do really well at 20+ with low (but some) dosage.
Brad Baker has written that in his opinion, the most important factors for aging are phenolic maturity and appropriate dosage to balance the acidity. Hopefully he and as well as our own seasoned board members will share more of their experiences and opinions here.
Cheers,
Warren
I don’t purchase a lot of Brut Zero/Nature wines, as I am not a big fan, so not much to add. I am interested in the discussion, but don’t have enough data to contribute.
That said where is the line for “lower” dosage? Under 4 grams? Under 2?
I think, by definition, it used to be brut at up to 12 grams of residual sugar per liter. Extra brut, at <6 gms RS/L. Brut nature less than 3 grams. Nowadays, when I see brut nature, non-dosé or brut-zero, I’m thinking 0 gms/L. That’s my interpretation and it may not be accurate.
I am probably in the same range as some others and consider under 5 or 4 to be pretty low. Zero dosage isn’t my favorite usually, but there are exceptions. I’m tolerant of most levels if the wine is in balance.
