This grand cru wine is named in celebration of the date of the Philipponnat family's arrival in the village of Aÿ. It is a mature blend of 70% Pinot Noir with Chardonnay, proportions that are typical of this producer on the Montagne de Reims. Rich, lightly toasty with green-apple and pear flavors, the wine is ready to drink. ROGER VOSS

Disgorged in February 2020 with 4.5 grams per liter dosage, the 2012 Extra-Brut Grand Cru Cuvée 1522 is already showing beautifully, unwinding in the glass with hints of golden orchard fruit, fresh peach, honeycomb and blanched almonds. Full-bodied, vinous and concentrated, it's elegantly muscular, with terrific depth at the core, racy acids and a seamless profile. Given its very recent disgorgement, it's surprisingly open, but it will nonetheless reward bottle age.- WK

93+ The 2012 vintage of the Cuvée 1522 from Philipponnat is made primarily from fruit grown in their superb lieu à dit of le Léon in Aÿ, with a bit more pinot coming from Mailly and the chardonnay from the village of Verzy. The cépages is seventy percent pinot noir and thirty percent chardonnay, with the vins clairs treated the same as with the 2012 Blanc de Noirs (a portion barrel-fermented, without malo, and the rest fermented in stainless steel). The wine was aged seven years on its fine lees and disgorged in February of 2020, with the finishing dosage being 4.5 grams per liter. The wine is beautifully refined on the nose, offering up scents of apple, nectarine, fresh-baked bread, a beautiful base of soil, dried flowers, just a whisper of oak and a smoky topnote. On the palate the wine is full-bodied, complex and has as fine spine of acidity, with a lovely core of fruit, great mineral drive and grip, refined mousse and a long, youthful and very promising finish. The 2012 vintage of Cuvée 1522 is a touch more youthful than the lovely Blanc de Noirs bottling out of the blocks, and deserves a couple of years in the cellar to relax structurally and really blossom. This is going to be a gorgeous bottle in due course.