A handful of our Last Bubbles’ entourage has had the great pleasure of visiting Champagne Fluteau, and we found that this house has even more to offer than simply stunning vineyards and exquisite Champagnes. With a no-nonsense, ever-reverent approach to winemaking, the folks at Fluteau honor their family history and tend the land with great care. The serene village of Gyé-sur-Seine has been home to the Fluteau estate since 1935, and the family still produces their wines in the original winery.

While they may not have been the first Champagne house in the Côte des Bar, at one time, they were the only. In the early 1930s, just after fighting to re-join the official Champagne classification – a devastating three successive years of total frost caused the few independent Champagne producers remaining to close up shop. They were even joined by the local Co-op – all but ending the ability to produce Champagne locally. And then, in 1935, The Fluteau family fought back, opening the villages’ first winery of the modern age. They pushed ever forward, over the generations, so that one day, they could share a fantastic vintage cuvée such as this.

This grand Millésime Extra Brut 2015 is 100% Chardonnay and capable of putting even the most extravagant Côte des Blancs expressions to the test. Rich, round, and as intense as it is complex, this sumptuous bubbly pours a joyful gold in color, with a toasty and ripe nose of red apples, and burnt caramel, with grilled pineapple. Sourdough boules, a light fino sherry, and tropical papaya complete the aromatics, with flavors of Bartlett pears, apricots, and black cherries. A dry, and imposing finish awaits, with a clean, vivacious endnote that lingers with rose petals and whispers of iron ore. This is powerful and poignant – with a mineral-laced flintiness that charmingly envelops the wine, giving the wine a rather vinous quality. Incredibly structured and pure, perfectly highlighting the wondrous merits of the 2015 vintage. 95 points from the Decanter World Wine Awards puts this among some of the top Champagnes you can get anywhere, and here we have it for more than 50% off! Make sure you grab some perfectly aged, pristinely crafted vintage Champagne for your near and distant special occasions… and no one needs to know that you scored it for less than $50 dollars!