Philippe and Véronique Glavier have managed this small estate in the Grand Cru village of Cramant since 1995. Set in the Côte des Blancs, Philippe and Véronique both hail from winegrowing families, with Véronique standing as the 12th generation of her family from the nearby village of Monthelon. Philippe is the third-generation vigneron, who inherited a small domaine that now serves as their base. Over the years, they’ve built their holdings to a total of 4.5 hectares – with 49 different plots in Cramant, Avize, Oger, and Le Mesnil. Each plot is farmed and vinified separately, granting the pair a nearly limitless possibility of chardonnay combinations for blending. 

This 100% chardonnay has a 60% base of the 2017 vintage, with the remainder comprised of the estate reserve wine. Some 2.5 years on the lees for integration, but with a disgorgement of January 2020, this has had over three years since final bottling to take it to the next level! A shorter time on the lees, with more time on the cork is the Glavier’s favorite method for crafting chardonnay wines of unending freshness and verve, that nevertheless have enough time on the cork to meld together and create layer upon seamless layer of pure chardonnay intensity. It just simply works for the Glavier style, and these remain as impressive as a Côte des Blancs’ chardonnay Champagne on the market today! 

The aromas are lively and opulent, with layer upon layer of hazelnuts, and fresh caramel, followed by lemon blossoms, and green apples – all framed by that warming, fresh-out-the-oven brioche note. The mouthfeel is uplifted and fresh with a percolating brightness that cuts through any autolytic richness impressively. Lemon oil, more green apples, lemon meringue, key lime, and pomelo, accented by spice notes of coconut and vanilla and finished with this gentle river rock minerality. It’s clean and ample throughout – offering tons of pleasure and complexity for a rather exceptional price! We don’t have nearly as much as we’d like – and sadly, this might not be around for long!