The Paillard family disgorges bottles of their Réserve Privé Blanc de Blancs two times each year, roughly six months apart, after four years of aging on the lees (about a year longer normally than the Première Cuvée). Although I did not write down the disgorgement date of this bottling, it is base year 2007, which would probably mean that it was disgorged on one of the two occasions that the house was doing this during 2012. The dosage this year was five grams per liter. The wine is absolutely lovely, offering up a deep and youthful nose of pear, delicious apples, lemon blossoms, chalky minerality and a gentle topnote of smokiness. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied, crisp and very minerally in personality, with a fine core, elegant mousse and great cut and grip on the long and beautifully balanced finish. This still needs three or four years to really blossom and develop some of its secondary layers of complexity, but it will be a stellar bottle with a bit of patience. 2017-2040.

A restrained elegant and admirably pure nose of green apple grapefruit lemon and an almost invisible hint of brioche is really quite subtly layered. There is an exceptionally fine bead to the mousse with distinctly citrus-inflected flavors that terminate in a beautifully complex and bone dry finish. This is an exercise in discretion and understatement with its mildly austere finish. This could be enjoyed now or held for at least another 5 to 7 years if desired. In sum this is a classic blanc de blancs.

The NV Brut Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru Reserve Privee a blend of fruit from Oger Mesnil and Chouilly occupies a nice stylistic middle ground in Bruno Paillard's range. It isn't quite as vibrant as the Premiere Cuvee but it isn't as rich or textured as the Millesime or NPU. Lemon oil almonds jasmine and wet stones are some of the notes that emerge but the wine's totally captivating textural finesse is just as big a part of the story. Now with nearly three years of bottle age post-disgorgement the wine has begun to develop lovely early tertiary complexity. A gorgeous steely finish brings back the purest essence of Chardonnay from these three distinguished Grand Cru villages. Disgorgement date: January 2010. Anticipated maturity: 2012-2018. -AG