Dom Ruinart Blanc de Blancs

Dom Ruinart is the Champagne in which the Reims house (pronounced rans) shows Chardonnay from a single vintage. 2013 was cool and rainy: the first half of the year was the coldest in 20 years, and the harvest was pushed back to the end of September. Frédéric Panaïotis, chef de cave at the time, writes that the late harvest gave the wine more freshness and toasty notes.

70% of the grapes come from the Côte des Blancs (pronounced koht day BLAHN) (Le Mesnil-sur-Oger pronounced luh may-neel syoor oh-zhay, Avize pronounced ah-veez, Chouilly pronounced shwee-yee, Bergères-lès-Vertus), and 30% from the Montagne de Reims (pronounced mohn-TAN-yuh duh RANS) (Verzenay pronounced vair-zuh-nay, Sillery, Taissy, Villers-Marmery). The grapes are picked by hand, and the wine ferments in steel tanks and goes through malolactic fermentation. The bottles mature for at least nine years under cork; Ruinart returned to this old method with the 2010 vintage, and 2013 is the second Dom Ruinart made this way. The sediment is removed by hand, the dosage is 5.5 g/l, and twelve years pass from harvest to release.

According to the house, toasty notes, almond and ripe grain dominate the nose, along with hints of pastry, juicy citrus, spring flowers, chalk and a touch of smoke. On the palate the wine has a compact, well-defined structure and crystalline freshness. Citrus moves into fruity and spicy notes, and pepper lengthens the finish.

Valérie Radou, Ruinart's chef, serves it with vegetable dishes, for example with parsnip, and with firm-fleshed fish and seafood: turbot or oysters. The house suggests serving it at 10-12 °C.