150 Years of Champagne Launois!
This June, I traveled back to Champagne to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Champagne Launois. It was an honor to be invited. The party was unforgettable, hosted by no less than four generations of the family at their beautiful château just outside of Mesnil. There we spent the afternoon tasting, eating, and drinking… a six hour Champenois lunch!
We started off in the garden, tasting some old vintages that had been freshly disgorged, all from magnum. These wines—all of them pure Mesnil Chardonnay, all made in enamel lined iron tanks—were monumental tributes to this, the most famous of all grand crus in the region. They were all presented with no dosage, as time gave them all the richness that they needed. I have returned even more confident about the long-term age worthiness of Launois Champagne.
1983 Bernard Launois’ favorite of the bunch. This was the darkest of the three we tasted in the garden, with a rich golden color and tight bead. Aromatically, this wine was restrained and subtle, with baguette toast framed by bright lemon. In the mouth it was much more generous, with a touch of caramel up front giving way to Meursault-like pineapple. I loved the grace notes in this great magnum and found it to be every bit as much aqueux as it was caramelly. The finish was vibrant, super long, and loaded with chalk.
1980 Although this magnum is now 42 years old, the wine is still white gold with a flash of green—incredible color! The aromatics were a dazzling combination of flinty minerality and delicate brioche. So youthful! In the mouth it was light to medium bodied, had some great citric components married to yet more brioche and had a silky texture from all the time on the lees. The finish was long, full of drive and chalk, and flared out into a real peacock’s tail.
1975 My personal favorite. Just turning gold after 47 years, this wine is only two years younger than me! The aromatics not only had the brioche one would expect from this long on the lees, but also a Brie de Meaux-like savory creaminess. What a spectacular wine to smell. The wine was incredibly silky and mouth-filling with a strong bead of tiny bubbles, but in the end came across as light as air. How can something so buttery and fabulous also be so light? I suppose the only answer is Mesnil magic… The combination of chalky purity and fabulous acid made this swell up on the finish and go on forever. One of the top wines of my career.
After the garden tasting, we went into the château for lunch and tasted three more old vintages from three different decades:
1998 Sablé This wine is now called Quartz, and this is the last vintage version that was available. It is entirely from the “Les Chetillons” parcel in the mid-slope of Mesnil. We had it with the bass course, and it was a fantastic combination. The color was very golden, as this was disgorged sometime around 2003 and then aged on the cork. The nose was loaded with buttered chantarelle mushrooms. In the mouth it was a powerhouse, super rich, round and full of decadent brioche. The finish was very long, and in contrast to the fat of the middle, quite bright.
2000 One of the last vintages in a standard bottle, also an old disgorgement, this time from around 2005. Quite golden in color. Super extroverted aromatically, with pastry dough and butterscotch notes. Super full bodied, rich, and again brioche-like in the mouth, but with enough of the ’83-like grace notes to keep it from becoming too heavy. Lovely and long!
1959 Coteaux Champenois 100% Mesnil Chardonnay. Bernard’s father had decided to make some still wine from this legendary ripe harvest in Champagne, and miraculously, Bernard had found some bottles in the cellar… Still with the old label barely hanging on! This wine was in a category entirely of its own. It was lighter than all the others save the 1980, a positive white gold. The bouquet was loaded with honey, but the palate was as saline and minerally as a current release Manzanilla. The wine was still super fresh!
A toast to you!