Champagne Paul Déthune Blanc de Blancs Millésime Brut Grand Cru 2015 Ambonnay is traditionally pinot-country in Champagne… and yet, this 100% chardonnay in the hands of some of our favorite growers has become a staff favorite!

Pierre Déthune is the latest in a long line of vintners going all the way back to 1610. Like each of his forebears, Pierre has created his own style of Champagne – rooted in tradition, yet ever-evolving – the one constant being the rolling grasslands of Ambonnay. 

Faithful to the house's traditional methods, the Blanc de Blancs Millésime Grand Cru 2015 is aged and vinified in 205-liter oak barrels before bottling and aging on the lees for seven years. Over the past few years, the Déthune portfolio has gradually lowered the total dosage – transitioning the majority of their wines to Extra Brut or below (even when labeled as Brut). This wine has a dosage of 5 g/liter back in February of last year, and 16 months later is really strutting beautifully. Our favorite part? We took it all! No one else has this beauty in the entire country – just so incredibly rare and delicious. 

The shift to lower dosages has produced an enhanced freshness and verve to the finished wines without sacrificing the purely ripe fruit orchard characteristics that is definitively Ambonnay. For a straight chardonnay cuvée, this wine has an almost pinot noir-esque vinosity, with floral notes of mandarin blossoms, roses, and star jasmine, plus apple orchard, pistachio, licorice, and fresh cut grass. The flavors turn decidedly spicy and rich on the weighty and luscious palate as notes of Chinese five spice, roasted almonds, raspberries, pear, and peach come out, all framed with a persistent chalkiness and saline minerality. 

As the second-oldest Champagne family in Ambonnay, with an unbroken history of growing grapes in the region going back to the 1600s, the Déthunes' stewardship of their plots in the Grand Cru village of Ambonnay is paramount. The vineyard practices natural and organic techniques such as integrated pest management, solar power, and a complete lack of chemical use in the vineyard. With Ambonnay set as arguably the center point of the grower Champagne movement, the Déthunes have set an example – positioning a benchmark that all others should strive to achieve. Pedigreed perfection in this bottle, but soooo incredibly limited… less than 3 cases total to be had!