Champagne Henriot Blanc de Blancs Brut NV is a brilliant wine made from 100% Chardonnay. It is a wonderful blend of freshness combined with bold, rich citrus, pineapple and stone fruit. The palate has lovely brioche and toasty notes that pair wonderfully with the fruit flavours. There is a lovely texture and harmony to the wine that finishes with a long super fresh finish.
Most of the grapes used in the Blanc de Blanc are sourced from Premier and Grand cru vineyards in the Côte des Blancs, notably from the villages of Mesnil sur Oger and Avize. Reserve wines account for at least 30% of the blend but can be up to 50%. A small quantity of the prestige Cuve 38 champagne is also added to the blend. The wine is aged on its lees for a minimum of three years in the cool, dark cellars in Reims and has a dosage of 7g/l.
Champagne Henriot, founded in 1808, is one of the rare Champagne houses that has remained under the same family ownership for over two hundred years. The wines improved massively under the watchful eye of cellar master Laurent Fresnet who won the International Wine Challenge “Sparkling Winemaker of the Year” award for two successive years, in 2015 and again in 2016. Laurent moved on at the beginning of 2020 and was succeeded by the talented Alice Tétienne who had previously worked with Krug.
Alice selects two thirds of its grapes from Champagne’s 17 Grands Cru and 42 Premier Cru vineyards, a roll call of famous villages – Verzy, Verzenay, Avenay, Mareuil and Mailly for Pinot Noir, as well as Trépail, Chouilly, Cramant, Avize, Oger, Mesnil and Vertus for Chardonnay. Grapes from all vineyards, crus and parcels are fermented separately to capture the specific characteristics of the villages and to allow Chef de Cave, Alice to faithfully reproduce Henriot’s house style every year. The non-vintage Brut usually contains up to 30 different crus in a cleverly orchestrated balance with an average of 30% reserve wines.
