About 95 percent of Champagne is nonvintage, a blend of base wines from several years. Vintage Champagnes—the finest bottles—are from a single year’s harvest. And the most exquisite of those vintage examples are called late-disgorged, which often age on the lees (meaning they’re stored in the bottle with the leftover yeast from the secondary fermentation process) for eight to 10 years longer than vintage bottles before the sediment is removed, or disgorged. If vintage Champagne is a limited commodity, late-disgorged bottles are the rarest you can get, representing less than 1 percent of annual production.
So what’s the difference between a vintage bottle aged for a decade and a late-disgorged version from the same year? The corks in your cellar allow oxidation, which forms secondary characteristics in the liquid. But “when it is in our cellar, the yeasts which are transforming the wine into Champagne, they are life, so they are protecting the wine from oxidation,” says Dom Pérignon cellar master Vincent Chaperon, explaining why late-disgorged bottles are often livelier on the palate.
Dom Pérignon, the rare house to produce only vintage Champagne, usually sends its bottles to market after seven to 10 years. It holds back small quantities that are continually tasted and released at two intervals, labeled Plénitude 2 (15 to 20 years of additional aging) and Plénitude 3 (with over 25 years of extra cellar time). In French, the word plénitude means “a moment in life where a person is showing the depth and beauty of their personality,” Chaperon says; the term was chosen because “it is exactly what we are observing” when the wines are retasted.
Gosset just put out a unique late-disgorged nonvintage bottling, which has matured on the lees for 21 years. Cellar master Odilon de Varine tasted it every six months, until it “reached a balance between its freshness and its maturity.” Meanwhile, Louis Roederer chef de cave Jean-Baptiste Lécaillon’s thoughts on Vinothèque, from 2002, may apply to the entire category: “At the end of a long meditation, it emerges as a fresh perspective of Champagne—an even more perfect and exciting vision.” Here, five superlative bottles that might tempt an uncorking.
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Billecart-Salmon | 2007 Clos Saint-Hilaire
Image Credit: Courtesy of Champagne Billecart-Salmon Disgorged in summer 2023, this 100 percent Pinot Noir Blanc de Noirs was fermented in oak before aging on the lees for 15 years. It opens with flavors of grilled pineapple, apple compote, and candied orange peel that are joined by notes of orange preserves and pine nuts with a closing splash of saline and river rock. $580
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Dom Pérignon | 2006 Plénitude 2
Image Credit: Courtesy of Dom Pérignon Chaperon’s team tasted the 2006 vintage until the wine was “singing higher, with more intensity, with a peak of energy and vibrancy.” Quite round and full of body, it has flavors of vanilla, lemon-lime, guava, white chocolate, and coffee bean that are infused with soft floral notes and a pleasant touch of salinity. $560
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Gosset | 21 Ans de Cave a Minima Extra Brut
Image Credit: Courtesy of Gosset Made with 57 percent Chardonnay and 43 percent Pinot Noir, this nonvintage cuvée based on the harvest of 2000 was disgorged in December 2023. Yellow-plum and candied-lemon flavors dance on the taste buds, joined by notes of dried Mediterranean herbs and a refreshing whisper of ocean breeze. $444
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Alfred Gratien | 2008 Cuvée Paradis Rosé
Image Credit: Courtesy of Champagne Alfred Gratien Aged for 15 years and disgorged in July 2023, the 2008 Cuvée Paradis Rosé is a delicious limited-edition Champagne from Alfred Gratien. Although it’s beginning to turn slightly copper colored, it remains lively, with flavors of cherry, red currant, honeysuckle, and croissant. $145
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Louis Roederer | 2002 Cristal Vinothèque
Image Credit: Courtesy of Louis Roederer This blend of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay grapes from grand-cru sites received 16 years of aging, then four years of additional rest in the cellar post-disgorgement. Its flavors are a blend of pomegranate, brioche, white chocolate, and rose petals, with an indelible sense of freshness. $1,200
