I just had a client, who enjoys high acid vintages as much as I do, had a tasting and tagged me on Instagram. I noticed a 2005 Yann Alexander Brut 1er Cru amongst the bottles. That was the one I commented on as it is a mind-blowing wine despite 2005 being a a not super high acid vintage. Well, the client commented that he loved the wine and was very surprised how vibrant the wine was despite being from not a 1996 or 2008 type of vintage. I tell that story as 2009 is not as lauded as 2008, but it is absolutely irresistible to drink now. It has terrific structure, that is more and more revealed as the wine breathes as all Yann wines need to breathe, especially the top two cuvées, of which the 2009 BDB is one.
This wine, the 2009 Yann Alexander Brut Blanc de Blancs for as little as $42.99 a bottle on a 3-pack is again the best value vintage Champagne I sell and probably ever will sell. The nose is brilliant and very giving with mandarin orange, white flowers, brioche, saffron with a huge underlying chalkiness. After some air there are yellow apples (Fiji?) and almonds. It is much more fragrant than the 2008 was at this stage. Really a great nose. The palate is so delicate yet so complete. balanced like a virtuoso with a soft, silky mouthfeel and terrific buffering acidity. Incredibly long, pure and persistent. Great wine with amazing aging potential but is ready to drink now and at a price that a find very interesting to say the least. There is so much energy and precision you can just taste how well they take care of their land and the detailed work in the cellar.
There are only 2,560 bottles made and I am offering today the very last of it which I have reserved. It sells out very quickly in France and is also very popular in Scandinavia. The The wine is made from 100% Chardonnay grapes grown in a single plot in Vitry on a nearly pure gypsum layer. The malolactic fermentation is performed for less than half of the wine. A small part of vin clair matured in small casks of second and third passage. This partial fermentation in oak adds a richness and body to the wine that adds more complexity to the already fantastic base material. 8 g / l is the perfect dosage for this brilliant and stunning value of a Champagne.
Yann Alexandre is a small domaine of 6 hectares in the North in the small village of Courmas in the area of the Montagne-de-Reims. They have been producing wine since the mid 18th century which is about 9 generations. The wines are just what I like in Champagne. Lively, fruity, very precise, a tad unconventional and of course offering incredible value for the money. They, like many other winemakers in the region, respect the land but don't go overboard and use the the lutte raisonnée method, which means "the reasoned struggle." This is a way of saying that producers who use this "reasoned struggle" are much less aggressive in their usage of chemical and pesticide treatments, but at the end of the day they will use it as they are running a business and need to harvest grapes to make wine.
They were very passionate in explaining that these are wines of terroir as some Champagne can be blends of so many parcels and vintages that eventually the terroir gets lost in translation. Not here. Each parcel is vinified separately. They are aged in their cool cellar for 5 years before release. The malo, partial malo or no malo is decided on a vintage by vintage basis. The wines are all fermented in oak barrels so there is body to these Champagnes. But not huge body and they retain wonderful elegance and finesse. This is a house that has very small production of only 30,000 bottles a year split up with multiple cuvees.
2009 Yann Alexandre Blanc de Blancs - $44.99 ($128.97 3-pack)
(VERY LIMITED)
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