Cuvée 1522, Philipponnat, 2012

2022 marked five hundred years of the Philipponnat family’s involvement in Champagne; an impressively long tenure by any standards. Over the course of the last half millennium the family name was regularly cited as a supplier to the Royal French courts, noblemen and the aristocracy. The two cuvees mark the year that Avril de Philipponnat was first recorded as owning vines in Aÿ – 1522. Astoundingly, both wines are still built around the very same plot of Grand Cru Pinot Noir vines in Aÿ, Le Leon, that Avril de Philipponant was recorded as owning all those years ago. Were it not for the iconic Clos des Goisses in the Philipponnat portfolio this cuvee would be an impressive and justified high-point in the range. It is vinified much like Goisses, partially in barrique, only partially completing its Malo, before spending a full eight years sur lie in the Philipponnat cellars. It’s 100% Grand Cru fruit too – 70% Pinot Noir from the Le Leon and plots in Mailly, 30% Chardonnay from Verzy. The resulting champagne is exceptionally fine, with swathes of golden fruit and bright acidity. It as intense as it is fresh - probably the two guiding principals of the entire Philipponnat range. An arrestingly lovely nose offers up sweet peach and fresh spice, ginger and limes; sweet cellars, aromatic Indian spices, sunshine on grilled fruit. This has lovely tension and lift and also a sense of mouthspace and salinity. It is intense but there is nothing heavy here, with a real purity of flavours and a steely, long finish, characteristic of the 2012 vintage, perfumed with light notes of vanilla pod and lime leaf. This is serious stuff and a total joy to drink. A blend of 70% Pinot Noir, 30% Chardonnay, disgorged in February 2020 after 8 years sur lie, with just 4.25 grams of dosage. The fruit for this cuvee centres around Pinot Noir from the Lieu-dit of Le Leon in Ay, alongside Pinot Noir from Mailly and Chardonnay from Verzy.