This is a powerful and dense sparkling wine that is first and foremost a classic-quality wine. And then you think about the bubbles. Full-bodied with lots of brioche, pie crust and bread dough. Great finish. Five years on the lees. 52% chardonnay and 48% pinot noir. Drink now.

Impressively round and full with tremendous elegance and poise. Enticing baked brioche notes are layered with roasted almonds on the nose. At the same time, the palate is rich, energetic and laden with notes of yellow apple and poached pear, apricots and orange blossoms, which evolve into candied fruit notes and marmalade richness before resolving into a focused, mineral-driven finish marked by crushed sea shells and salty ocean mist before turning savoury again with hints of honey roasted nuts. Winemaking notes from the estate explain that only juice from the cuvée pressing is used, and no première or deuxième taille is added. The dosage wine added to the L’Ermitage 2015 was a 2015 wine liquor aged for six years in a French oak cask. Following disgorgement, an additional six months of ageing on the cork prior to release. Combining 52% Chardonnay, 48% Pinot Noir with 4.9% aged reserve wine from 2014, 2012 and 2010. The alcohol clocks in at a modest 12.4% with a pH of 3.04 and a dosage of 8 g/L.

This grand, special-occasion wine is wonderfully complex and layered, but also powerful in the way its toasted walnut, Bosc pear and fresh bread flavors start out strong in the aroma and keep pumping on the palate and through a lingering finish. Nice and dry, tangy but mouthfilling, it's a sophisticated indulgence. Best now to 2028. JIM GORDON