Ian - Knowing the reputation of the folks at RWC, I suspect they sourced something other than the current release. The disgorgement date on the bottles I received would seem to support this too. Also, when they sold these bottles, they were featured in the newsletter and specifically cited the 95,96, 97 vintages. They’re top notch guys so I suspect I got what was advertised. 
I’ll pop one soon and report back!
Cheers!
I just exchanged emails with Jean Francois Clouet about the 1911 and with it being evening in France and Christmas Eve tomorrow, we are going to set aside some time to talk via phone about the 1911 and what each cuvee is after Christmas and before the New Year.
His reply to me via email was that while he could supply a simple list of Cuvee X is made up of XYZ vintages, a simple list didn’t tell the whole story or let you see the vision that went behind each release. He did say that, yes, the 1911 has an interesting story across its releases and isn’t the easiest wine to always understand/differentiate across releases.
If anyone else has any insight or has talked to Jean Francois about this already, please post it.
Thanks Brad
John,
We have some of this in the back room at the store. I’m curious to look into it now. I’ve always been a fan of Clouet. We need some on the floor.
Just realized that I never responded to this thread and as I am sampling the Cuvee 21 and 22 release right now, figured I should give a long overdue response.
What Jean-Francois Clouet told me is that he produces 1,911 bottles of this wine each year, but that the Cuvee # is associated with a particular release. So, a cuvee # could correspond to a base vintage change, a disgorgement change, or just a release change (though the release change is the least likely; normally at least the disgorgement changes).
Currently, the wine is based on the 2002 vintage with a Solera that dates back to the end of 1990s (either 98 or 99) although upcoming releases will be a blend of 2002, 2001, 2000 done in a Solera style. The “famed” 97/96/95 blend has not been released for quite a while although Jean Francois would not say whether he had any bottles left - makes me think he has at least a few.
Bumping this thread. I have several bottles of Cuvee 27(!) now, and I’m wondering if anyone has yet figured out a better way to figure out the blend (besides getting Brad to call the grower himself!).
has anyone solved this mystery?
No. I met Jean-Francois Clouet in late May at his estate in Bouzy and asked him. There is no formula for discerning the blend from the cuvee number, disgorgement date, or any other information on the label. Apparently it’s all in his head and/or records. He told me to email him when I got home, but he hasn’t responded yet. (He’s a bit disorganized, to put it charitably.)
Bump…since we are discussing cuvée 94 now in the
What champagne are you drinking thread