Sous le Mont

The wine in this vintage

Sous le Mont is the Mareuil-sur-Aÿ lieu-dit of the Selosse collection, a Pinot Noir from a south-facing slope at the foot of the Montagne de Reims. Like the other single-parcel Champagnes, it comes from a perpetual reserve that unites several harvests to capture the essence of the site. In the glass it has a generous, sunny profile: cherry, raspberry, orange peel, spice, toasted bread and a touch of forest floor, with a vinous, rounded palate well supported by freshness. Robert Parker awarded it 96 points. It is already enjoyable today and can be kept for a few more years.

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

• 96 Robert Parker

Technical details

Producer

Jacques Selosse

Region

Champagne

Country

Francia

Type

Bollicine

Vintage

Non vintage

When to drink

Hold, still evolving

Critics' average

96/100

Sizes

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

eWibe code

0830200