http://vinousmedia.com/multimedia/2013-champagne-a-first-look-mar-2014
What’s not to like about this guy? For anyone planning to buy Champagne from this variable vintage, his website is worth the price of admission for a year for this information alone!
Hmmm… I’m not sure I would call 2013 a variable vintage. Every vintage has variation from village to village and between grape varieties. 2013 in its early state looks to be quite nice and vintage worthy. Yes, the Cote des Blancs and the surrounding Marne and Montagne villages look to be the best, but outside of the Cote des Bars, no areas had big problems in this year. Again, yes their is variation, but it is more of a good vs. very good variation than a bad vs. good.
Overall, this looks like an above average year and a vintage one. There will be some awesome wines and some very nice ones, but I wouldn’t be worried about 2013.
Antonio did a good job with the video. The only quibble I would have (besides variability) is that he mentioned the Northern Montagne as a strong area in the vintage; I found it to be a weaker spot for most villages though Ludes and Rilly-la-Montagne fared quite well.