ジャック・セロス イニシアル
7月8日から1週間 数量限定特別価格! ジャック・セロス ブラン・ド・ブラン イニシャル2009年2月のデゴルジュです。CP94この09は安定して美味しいロットで好きです。ブラン・ド・ブランなのにクリュッグの様な旨味のある不思議なシャンパンをセロスは作ります。私にとって良いセロスとは軽いハーブ香があって適度な熟成感があって、旨味がたっぷり口の中に広がる・・そんなシャンパンです。この日の瓶も正にそんなワインでした。ビターなオレンジピールの香り、ハーブ、ナッツの香り、泡は上品にワインに溶け込んでクリーミーです。味わいは強いミネラル感、蜜、厚みのある果実感、余韻の綺麗な酸、ふくらみがあって美味しいシャンパンです。販売店資料よりワイナート60号シャンパーニュ特集のトップを飾りました「ビオディナミはもうやめた」シャンパーニュ地方におけるビオの先駆者としてのイメージが強かったジャック・セロス。ジャック・セロスは柔軟に科学に頼ったほうがいいところは科学に頼り、今まで通り自然なワイン造りに心がけると語ります。ジャック・セロスのシャンパンは、客先から注文を受けてからデゴルジュマン(滓引き)をします。デゴルジュマンから半年ほどでワインが落ち着き飲みごろを迎えるといわれます。 愛好家は更にワインを自分で寝かせ、熟成した味わいを楽しむことで知られます。まさに好きな人には堪らないシャンパンであり、一度味わえば、中々離れることができません。いえ、絶対できない。。。「シャンパンとはこういうもの」という既成概念を捨てなければならない。今まで、シャンパンという概念に引かれていた境界線をセロスほど広げてくれた人物はいない・・・・・平均年産僅か4000ケース。コート・デ・ブランの4地区アヴィーズ、クラマン、オジェ、メニル(全てグランクリュ)の自社畑から、芸術的とも言えるシャンパーニュを造り出しています。RM(葡萄生産者元詰め)現当主アンセルム・セロス氏は「良いシャンパーニュは良いワインからしか生まれない、また良いワインは土地と気候と優れた栽培家に恵まれた葡萄でしか造れない。」と語り、自らの手で葡萄畑の土造りから出荷までを実践。さらにビオディナミによる畑の土作りから、小樽によるワイン発酵・熟成、手作業によるデゴルジュマンまで 『手間を惜しまない。』 『妥協はしない。』・・・・・と徹底しています。 NV Jacques Selosse Brut Blanc de Blancs Initiale94 Drink: 2010 - 2016 $140-$188 (130) The NV Brut Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru Initial shows unusual richness and depth for this bottling. This is an especially vinous, powerful Initial endowed with tons of fruit married to Selosse's trademark textural finesse. The aromas and flavors are a touch forward, suggesting the wine is best enjoyed sooner rather than later. The Initial is the entry-level wine at Selosse, but is the equivalent to most producers' tete de cuvee. Disgorged October 21st, 2009. Anticipated maturity: 2010-2016. Anselme Selosse is one of Champagne's most iconic figures. This year Selosse has two new wines that are the first in what will be a selection of six lieu-dit Champagnes, all made with the solera process. For now, these remain works in progress. It will be interesting to see the direction the wines take from here.93 Drink: 2009 - 2019 $140-$188 (120) The NV Brut Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru Initial is rich and creamy, with waves of ripe fruit that caress the palate. Scents of light honey, toastiness and hazelnuts add layers of complexity and nuance. The wine shows terrific detail, with a vein of graphite and minerality that frames the long, sensual finish. The Initial is Chardonnay from the villages of Avize, Cramant and Oger. This is the March 29, 2009 disgorgement and the base vintages are 2004, 2003 and 2002. Anticipated maturity: 2009-2019. Dec 2008 Antonio Galloni 94 Drink: 2008 - 2014 $140-$188 (125) The NV Brut Blanc de Blanc Initiale sparkles on the palate with soft, creamy textured fruit framed by silky tannins and notes of salinity on the finish. The wine reveals an expansive, mysterious personality with a level of depth to the fruit that renders the mousse extremely delicate. This is great Chardonnay first, and a profound Champagne second, but made in a slightly richer style than the Originale. Whereas the Initiale is made from the steeper parcels, the Initiale is made from plots on the lower slopes of vineyards in Avize, Cramant and Oger, where a component of clay is more prominent. This year the wine is a blend of equal parts 2003, 2002 and 2001. 2003 is a small harvest of rich, concentrated juice, which contributes to this wine's weight. This bottle was disgorged January 18, 2008. Anticipated maturity: 2008-2014. Readers will need to drop all preconceived notions about what Champagne is and can be in order to fully experience the wines of Anselme and Corinne Selosse, as these are Champagnes like no other. No one has pushed the boundaries of what Champagne can be further than Selosse. As great as his own wines are, Selosse's most lasting legacy may very well be influencing the younger generation of producers who have worked alongside him over the years. For the last six years Selosse has been absent from the US market and his wines virtually impossible to obtain, but thankfully that is starting to change. Selosse represents the most poetic voice behind the idea that Champagne is first and foremost a wine before it is anything else. Selosse takes this one step further by eschewing vintage designations for most of his wines, as the qualities he seeks to exalt most are those of his 7.5 vineyards in Avize, Cramant, Oger, Le Mesnil, Ay, Mareuil-sur- Ay and Ambonnay. The various cuvees are assembled barrel by barrel based on how the wines taste to Selosse, rather than through technical analysis and/or predetermined selection of sites, parcels, etc. Selosse's newest wine is a solera-style Champagne from the famed Le Mesnil vineyard, perhaps the most storied site in all of Champagne. I tasted the first vintage, the 2003, which will ultimately be blended with subsequent vintages to form a solera-style Champagne. It was superb. I also tasted similar solera-style wines from Avize, Cramant, Le Mesnil, Mareuil-sur- Ay and Ambonnay from barrel, all of which were compelling. The Selosse Champagnes possess extraordinary aromatics and a very fine mousse that is the result of density and richness in the fruit. With a few minutes in the glass, the bubbles will completely disappear from most of the wines. These Champagnes are best enjoyed with food, and should be served in generous white wine glasses rather than the customary flutes, which will allow for the full range of the wines' aromas and flavors to emerge. Simply put, these are among the most monumental, profound wines being made anywhere, but like a great novel, painting or symphony, the greatest enjoyment and purest pleasure awaits those who engage the wines fully.