Vintage
2017
Balanced
Frost, a wet August and a short, anxious harvest
An April frost, a warm and wet August and rot in the black grapes made this the hardest year of the decade. Chardonnay came through clean; Pinot Noir and Meunier did not.
The harvest
Frost on the night of 20 April damaged 23 per cent of buds. Botrytis in August. Yield limit 10,800 kg/ha, actual about 9,500 kg/ha. Bollinger lost 30–40 per cent of its Aÿ fruit to sorting.
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From the archive
Louis Roederer Rosé Vintage 2017
Lovely tones of rose and violet leading, and wild strawberry, raspberry and yellow raspberry alongside them.
Charles Heidsieck Blanc des Millénaires 2017
Extremely complex, this is rich and mineral, saline and gossamer-light, and taut at the same time.
Veuve Fourny & Fils Monts de Vertus 2017
A lovely Blanc de Blancs that gives everything I want from a vintage Blanc de Blancs.
Dom Pérignon 2017
A lovely nose offering flinty minerality and gunsmoke, laid over fresh citrus and ripe green apple, with a complex autolytic character running underneath.