Jacquesson’s 2013 Avize Champ Caïn is a mind-bendingly brilliant Blanc de Blancs produced from a tiny 1.5 Ha Lieu-Dit composed of calcareous clay, sand and silt soils with chalk gravels in the Campania chalk. The Lieu-dit releases from Jacquesson are a singular expression of site that are only released in truly remarkable vintages, when the parcel stands out from the crowd but that will never detract from the benchmark 700 series release from the particular harvest if bottled separately. They are deep, intense and vinous wonders that when tasted blind, and in a particular circumstance, can easily be mistaken for some of the great (still) white wines from Burgundy.

The vineyard was planted in 1962 on a south-facing hillside with clay-sandy alluvial limestone soil with chalk gravel on Campanian chalk with a whopping 12,000 Chardonnay vines planted and pruned Taille Chablis.

The grapes were picked on 10th October 2013, 10.6% alc, 7.8 g/l acidity and as with all the terrific Lieu-Dit wines from this incredible grower, was slowly fermented in large old foudre for around 9 months, before an extended period of ageing under cork on lees – close to 9 years for this 2013 release, before disgorgement and with zero dosage added to the final wine. The wine then rests for a further period in the cool dark cellars in Dizy before release.

The result is a phenomenal interplay between power and precision. At once rich and complex but also with pulsating energy in every sip. Taut & saline, sleek yet mouth-filling at the same time it is a wine for the ages but delivers incredible drinking pleasure in its youth. This is as good as Champagne gets and deserves to be splashed around with joy and into as many glasses as possible. But, as always, these rare bottlings are perhaps an underappreciated gem in the lexicon of the conversation around top quality Champagne thanks to the infrequency of releases coupled with the tiny production when they are released.