WJ Drinks: Jerome Prevost LC19
Market prices are on the uptrend and it won't be long that Prevost wines become investment-grade wines, or hasn't them already become so?
Prévost started making his wine in Anselme Selosse's cellar with the 1998 vintage, moving into his own facility in 2003. He harvests late—something that's essential if Pinot Meunier is to have character—and ferments his wine in barrel. Like Selosse, he doesn't top up his barrels while the vins clairs mature, so they often develop a light "voile" or veil of yeasts that lends subtle biologically aged characteristics to his wines.
"I wouldn't do that if I were making still wines," he explains, "but I think of the second fermentation in bottle as being like a 'crucible' that enables one to remodel a wine. The base wine may be tired after a year in barrel without topping up, but the fermentation in bottle gives it new life."
Dosage is minimal, and Prévost says that in principle he likes working in a non-dosé style because "it makes me uncomfortable—it doesn't forgive any faults; there's nowhere to hide." As ever, it was a pleasure tasting chez Prévost.
Peter Liem, www.champagneguide.net
TASTING NOTES
NV Extra Brut Rosé Fac-similie LC 19 - WK 97+
"The NV Extra Brut Rosé Fac-similie (LC19) has tightened up a little in the last six months—no surprise, given this vintage's prodigious concentration. Unwinding in the glass with notes of red berries, rose petals, musky peach and orange oil, it's full-bodied, layered and fleshy, with a deep core of fruit, tangy acids and a rich but tightly wound profile. This is a fabulous rendition of Fac-similie that is built for the long haul."
NV Extra Brut Les Béguines LC 19 - WK 97
"The NV Extra Brut Les Béguines LC 19 showed brilliantly once again, bursting with aromas of orange rind, orchard fruit, red berries and peach, mingled with notions of walnuts and marzipan, as well as telltale hints of warm spices and fenugreek. Full-bodied, layered and concentrated, it's deep and complete, with huge reserves of fruit and structure, enlivened by a pillowy mousse. Concluding with a long, sapid finish, I continue to think this is one of Prévost's finest releases of the decade. In style, it's reminiscent of a somewhat riper version of the 2012."
NV Extra Brut La Closerie LC 19 - WK 94 (on LC18)
80% from 2019, blended with 20% reserve wine from 2018. The 2nd release of this wine and it continues to get finer. This Ampersand < & > is more immediately expressive with excellent drinkability without compromising the complexity.
Champagne La Closerie Grand Cru LC19 - WK 95
"Bursting from the glass with aromas of pear, fresh bread, wheat toast, smoke and orange oil, it's full-bodied, ample and saline, with bright acids and a long, mineral finish. It's a superb, rather Burgundian-styled wine that will delight wine lovers who have previously only experienced Prévost's talents as applied to Pinot Meunier.”
