The youngest rendition of Première Cuvée that I tasted on my visit to the maison in late March is comprised of twenty percent barrel-fermented base wines this year and carries a dosage of six grams per liter. The wine is young, but very promising and shows a nice influence from its pinot meunier constituent in its complex bouquet of apple, tart orange, a very complex base of soil tones, meunier-induced, gentle floral tones, warm bread and a dollop of smokiness. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied, crisp and nascently complex, with excellent mid-palate intensity, elegant mousse, excellent focus and a very long, well-balanced and primary finish. This is going to be excellent (and is already very tasty), but I would be strongly inclined to give it a couple of years, as there are layers of complexity still to unlock with bottle age (as the subsequent examples so graphically illustrated). 2014-2040+.

The NV Brut Première Cuvée (Disgorged 07/2016) has a bright straw-gold color. The blend of Pinot Noir (45%), Chardonnay (33%) and Pinot Meunier (22%) opens with a clear, fresh and open, very elegant and generous bouquet of bright, ripe fruits (melons, lemons) with beautiful chalk, brioche and toast flavors as well as emerging notes of sweet cherries and wild strawberries. Nice purity. This is a highly elegant, fresh, textured and tightly woven but very well balanced cuvée with lovely purity and a persistently salty, citrus-fresh and cleansing finish with good grip. This is an extraordinary effort. Tasted in Hamburg in October 2017. - Stephan Reinhardt

Firm and focused, this lively Champagne is finely knit and elegant overall, offering flavors of Gala apple, pickled ginger, blackberry and toasted almond, with a hint of fleur de sel on the finish. Disgorged July 2014. Drink now through 2018. — A.N.