Veuve Clicquot’s La Grande Dame 2012 “Yayoi Kusama” is a vintage Champagne built on Pinot Noir: 90% Pinot Noir from Grand Cru villages including Aÿ, Verzenay, Verzy, Ambonnay, and Bouzy, plus 10% Chardonnay from Avize and Le Mesnil-sur-Oger, with a 6 g/L dosage. The special edition packaging features Yayoi Kusama’s signature pea-and-flower motifs, a visual nod to the house’s heritage, but the wine itself is firmly in La Grande Dame’s structured, Pinot-led style. It was aged more than seven years in Veuve Clicquot’s chalk cellars, and Wine Spectator notes it was disgorged in September 2019.

Critics largely agree on its precision and long runway. Decanter’s 96-point review is an excellent endorsement, describing a wine that has “started to relax a little post-disgorgement,” with “malted bread, honey and toasty complexity” layered over an “impressively precise release” that’s “more focused on delicate red fruits.” Decanter also highlights a core of “sweet red apple, nut oil and lemon marmalade” carried by a “persistent snap of citrussy acidity,” with a texture that is “softening now but still promising a drawn-out and rewarding unwinding.”

Wine Enthusiast (96 points, another excellent review) calls it “rich and impressive,” yet “still young,” with a “crisp edge” and “apple and citrus flavors… integrated into a mineral vein” (Roger Voss), recommending drinking from 2022.

Wine Spectator’s 95-point note frames it as “fine and graceful,” with detailed flavors of “Mandarin orange, toast point, crème de cassis and minerally oyster shell,” “subtle in its intensity” and “seamlessly knit into an elegant whole,” suggesting a 2030 horizon.

Not all reviewers think it’s ready. Vinous (93 points) says the 2012 “exudes energy” but is “nowhere near ready to drink,” advising cellaring to 2027–2042 (Antonio Galloni). James Suckling (94) splits the difference, praising “lime zest, lemon and brioche,” a “round, creamy texture,” and “lots of elegance and energy,” with guidance to “drink or hold.”