As its name implies, a classic blended Champagne: 45% Pinot Meunier,
35% Chardonnay and 20% Pinot Noir, incorporating base wines from more
than one harvest.
Representative of the terroir from which it is produced: supple and fine with good length.
I think if you asked me to sum up Chiquet’s wines in one pithy phrase,
I’d have to say either “delicious and articulate” or “articulate and
delicious” depending on which you preferred. (Maybe “salacious and
ticklish,” in a pinch . . .) I myself tend to peg Nicolas Chiquet’s
wines as “innately lovable” and so it always surprises me to rediscover
just how focused and precise they are, as if the prose of E.B. White
were rendered in the form of Champagne. They taste effortless, tactful,
yet attractive. What I’m tasting are wines of pure terroir. They are, in
effect, anti-varietal. Even the celebrated Aÿ Chardonnay isn’t so much a
variant on Chardonnay as it is another dialect of Aÿ. Chiquets are both
the chalkiest and most succulent of all my Champagnes. This is a
22-hectare estate, which means we can get some wine to sell! Which is
lucky for us, because these are sensually gorgeous, hedonistic wines
that everyone can cozy up to.
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