Roederer Estate Blanc de Blancs Champagne 2016

Golden yellow hue with bright highlights. Magnificent, soft and even bubbles. Bouquet of white flowers (jasmine, orange blossom), citrus zest (lemon) and wheat complemented by an impression of iodine freshness, sea spray, sea breeze and powdered chalk. A few smoky notes and a reductive, calcareous quality, reminiscent of grilled almonds, emerge after aeration. The palate is creamy and caressing, revealing softness and finesse; coated velvet-like textures that quickly give way to fresh, marine, powdery and concentrated sensations. One has the impression of biting into a ripe, juicy fruit bursting with a lingering and mouth-watering zesty freshness. The finish is smooth, saline and stretches out like a shaft of sunshine, luminous and drying yet never brittle.

Pale and beautiful in its chalk structure under flavors of lemon and grapefruit pith, this is youthfully vibrant and just plain delicious: chardonnay from the white chalk of Avize. About a quarter of the base wine aged in oak, a shadow of pale pistachio behind the wine's freshness. What lasts is a clean sense of minerality, a mouthwatering structure that should sustain this for years in the cellar.