Millésime 2008

The wine in this vintage

2008 is regarded as one of the greatest Champagne vintages of recent decades: a cool, even season with a sunny finish produced healthy grapes of very high acidity and great purity, ideal for wines of exceptional longevity. Jacques Selosse's Millésime 2008, a Grand Cru blanc de blancs from Avize vineyards, combines that tension with the house's vinous style, earning 100 points from both Robert Parker and Antonio Galloni. Candied lemon, chalk, toasted hazelnut, brioche and a subtle oxidative note merge on a linear, profound, seemingly endless palate. Already splendid, it still has many years ahead.

The producer · Jacques Selosse

Jacques Selosse is the grower-producer who, more than any other, has changed the way Champagne is thought about. The house was born in Avize, a Grand Cru of the Côte des Blancs, where Jacques Selosse began bottling his own grapes in the mid-twentieth century; from the 1970s his son Anselme, trained in Burgundy, turned it into a laboratory of ideas, and today the reins have passed to Anselme's son Guillaume. The vineyards, just under eight hectares, lie mainly in Avize, Cramant, Oger and Le Mesnil-sur-Oger for Chardonnay, with Pinot Noir parcels in Aÿ, Ambonnay and Mareuil-sur-Aÿ. Anselme brought a vigneron's outlook to Champagne: soil-focused farming, low yields, very ripe fruit, native-yeast fermentations in wood, long lees ageing, minimal dosage and the perpetual reserve behind Substance. The result is vinous, nobly oxidative wines deeply tied to place, which have inspired an entire generation of growers.

Critics' scores

• 100 Robert Parker
• 100 Antonio Galloni

Technical details

Producer

Jacques Selosse

Region

Champagne

Country

Francia

Type

Bollicine

Vintage

2008

When to drink

Hold, still evolving

Critics' average

100/100

Sizes

75 cl, Magnum 150 cl, Case of 6 × 75 cl

eWibe code

0830808