2011 Comtes de Champagne Grands Crus · Blanc de Blancs in Gift Box

Taittinger's Comtes Blanc de Blancs 2011 displays the classic signature of its house, vintage-driven, elegant and complex, with impressive freshness, already captivating, yet with enough potential for long maturation in the bottle

Colour and Perlage:
sparkling gold with greenish reflections and the finest, continuously rising bubbles

Aroma:
the nose marries fragrant notes of white flowers, mineral hints and lush aromas of Anjou pears and sultanas, underpinned by a hint of anise and smoky notes

Taste:
lively and full-bodied on the palate, the aromas first evoke ripe lemons with fine salty-mineral notes, then increasingly complex with a perfect balance of racy freshness, ripeness and richness, finely structured, tense through to the long finish with fresh acidity and fine toasty-nutty notes and hints of salted butter

Info:
Only in great years does Taittinger transform the specially selected best Chardonnay grapes from the specially selected best sites and parcels in the five Grands Crus of the Côte des Blancs into a single-varietal vintage champagne of unique finesse: Comtes de Champagne Blanc de Blancs, the noble prestige cuvée of the house. The family has always had a certain penchant for Chardonnay. And still does today. General Director Pierre-Emmanuel Taittinger leaves no doubt about this: "We define ourselves as a Chardonnay house. Not only, but also and above all in champagne, the white grape stands for the perfect balance of fragrant elegance and longevity and is at the same time a perfect ambassador of its origin, its vineyard as well as its cellar, when it expresses the unmistakable elegance of the Taittinger house."

 
The first Comtes de Champagne was created by the brothers Claude and François Taittinger in the 1950s. The elegant Blanc de Blancs harmonised perfectly with the then genuinely new 'Nouvelle Cuisine' and its refined, distinctly lean recipes. Sophisticated, exquisite and at the same time endowed with unique potential, Taittinger's Prestige Cuvée became the quintessence of the still unmistakable style of the Taittinger house. Comtes de Champagne Blanc de Blancs is only produced in years when winemakers and cellar masters are equally convinced of the outstanding quality of their grapes and wines. The Chardonnay comes exclusively from the Grand Cru sites of the Côte des Blancs, only wines from the first pressing are used, and the champagne is matured for at least five, usually up to ten years, in the long, dark chalk cellars of the former Abbey of Saint-Nicaise, which today belong to the Taittinger winery in Reims.