Highlights: Champagne Alfred Gratien Cuvée Paradis 2015
Website: https://www.alfredgratien.com/en/home/
This is the prestige cuvée from Alfred Gratien, who do a lot of barrel work with their base wines (they have more than 1000 barrels in their cellar, most of which come from the Chablisienne cooperative after around four seasons). Gratien are a small Champagne house in Epernay, making around 300 000 bottles a year, and are owned by Henkell, the big sparkling wine producer from Germany. This prestige cuvée is a blend of 35% Pinot Noir and 65% Chardonnay from mostly premier cru vineyards, with some grand cru in the mix, and it’s really good. Eight years on lees, dosage 8 g/litre.
Champagne Alfred Gratien Cuvée Paradis 2015 France
12.5% alcohol. This is complex and layered, with ripe pear and peach fruit, as well as some crystalline citrus character, and some toasty detail. This has real concentration, and quite a bit of richness, but also some nice freshness and salty detail on the finish. There’s a lot of citrus brightness here, with a depth to the palate, and further potential for development. 94/100
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