Continuing their 400thAnniversary celebrations, we are pleased to offer the newly-released Maison Henri Giraud Argonne 2017.

Although no critics have published their reviews yet, we were fortunate to try the new vintage at a lunch with cellar master Sebastian Golvet and came away extremely impressed.

By limiting their production down to as few as 4,000 bottles in more challenging vintages, Giraud has an almost unrivalled ability to produce something spectacular every year. The frosts and later heat of 2017 led to a very small harvest but the quality of the fruit here is undeniable.

It is also a vintage that after seven years ageing is presenting accessibly already, with a generous nose, of flaky pastry, farmyard butter, marzipan, greengages, and a distinct eucalyptus note backed by cut grass, meadow flowers and sandalwood. The palate is more herbaceous but continues the herbal theme also adding smoky pears and red berries.

With twenty hectares of Grand Cru vineyards in the low acidity vineyards of A, ten of which are south-facing, Girauds wines are Pinot Noir dominant (3/4 of their vineyards are planted to the variety) and are fermented and then aged in oak from the nearby forest of Argonne.

This distinctive combination gives them a particularly rich and powerful signature, with an amplitude and intensity that is like no other Champagne Jancis Robinsons comparison to Grand Cru Montrachet is entirely apt.

The youngest vineyards are 40 years old and have a dusting of topsoil over 200-metres of chalk. Claude and team practice minimal interventionist viticulture. All the wines but especially the top cuves are broad, swaggering and hedonistic and yet have soul and vinous poetry at their core.

“On the nose, it opens with a luminous explosion of fruity aromas of yellow peach and ripe apricot, intermingled with hints of citrus and citron and an acacia floral bouquet of great finesse. Subtle scents of aromatic herbs and undergrowth, oriental spices such as star anise, and the exotic woods of sandalwood and vetiver follow, gradually evolving into warmer registers: fresh almond, roasted coffee, vanilla and light leather notes, interspersed with an elegant menthol bouquet that brings depth and breath. On the palate, the wine is assertive and concentrated, with a compact structure supported by silky effervescence. The aromatic substance unfolds with intensity and coherence, in a lively, dynamic balance. Great complexity, remarkable depth and a return to taste that is faithful to the fruit perceived on olfaction. The finish, sculpted by the chalky minerality typical of A, extends into a mentholated persistence that accentuates freshness and exalts drinkability, surprising in its brilliance and staying powerful.”

Sebastian Golvet, Cellarmaster