WTN: Diebolt-Vallois Champagnes

[David McDuff]

Made only in the best years, Fleur de Passion is Diebolt-Vallois' "tête de cuvée," a selection of the oldest vine fruit from the estate’s vineyards in Cramant. Over lunch with three generations of the Diebolt and Vallois families, my group and I had the pleasure of experiencing what one of the best wines of the Côtes des Blancs can offer.

<ul><li>1999 Fleur de Passion

Displaying an easy, soft, broad character, this vintage was already drinking well. It showed glorious fruit, with ripe flavors of melon, pear and apple.

<li>1998 Fleur de Passion (from magnum)

Leaner, more tightly wound and less opulent than the 1999. At the same time, it was more exotic in its tones of fruits and spice, was slightly yeastier, finer and brighter in its acidity.

<li>1985 Fleur de Passion

Jacques Diebolt considers 1985 one of his finest vintages. The wine showed a nose of brioche, fresh hazelnuts and flowers. A bouquet suggesting the early stages of maturity was evident but freshness was still abundant on the palate. Perhaps imagination takes too many liberties but I could clearly smell the chalky soil, just like in the estate's caves, among the wine’s aromas.

<li>1976 Fleur de Passion

This hailed from the era of Jacques’ father. Though not possessing as much breed as the 1985, the 1976 Fleur was still very fresh, deeply nutty on the nose, dancing on the palate with complexity and lively acidity.</ul>

After our repast, as if we needed further convincing as to the beauty and longevity of his wines, Jacques led us down to his family’s bottle storage caves. There he opened for us not one, not two, but three bottles of his grandfather’s production of 1953 vintage Champagne.

<ul><li>1953 Fleur de Passion

The first bottle Jacques deemed not bad, not great. It was redolent of earth, leaves, mushrooms and toasted hazelnuts. He readily admitted that he’ll sometimes open several bottles before finding a really good one. He hit with bottle two. Fresher and lighter in color, it smelled of forest in the spring, tasted of stones, showed vibrant acidity and finished forever. 1953, he tells us, was a good but not great year, not like 1955, 1959 or 1961…. Still on the hunt for that elusive something special, Jacques disgorged the third bottle. Very similar to but not better than the others, this was less petillant, more oily and nutty on the palate and slightly more evolved. </ul>

These notes are extracted from their original context in a larger story about the estate:

Grower Champagne: Diebolt-Vallois.