Jacques Selosse Champagne Millesime 2013 750ml

The 2013 Extra-Brut Millésime is a superb vintage wine from Selosse, mostly Chardonnay but with a touch of Pinot, as is the norm these days. Tangerine oil, mint, dried flowers, slate and chalk lend tons of energy and mineral-drenched drive throughout. There's a bit more new oak (30%) than in some recent vintages, but it all works so well. Selosse did not bottle a Millésime in 2014, so the release of the 2013 is being spread across two calendar years. Dosage is 2 grams per liter. Disgorged: March 5, 2024.

Slightly more reserved than the 2012 rendition—hardly surprising given the cool vintage, with harvest beginning on October 2—Selosse’s 2013 Extra-Brut Millésime, produced from the estate’s wines selected in a blind tasting, was disgorged in March 2024 with a dosage of 2.2 grams per liter. “It’s the melting pot of our terroirs,” explains Guillaume, who notes that he tastes all village barrels on the same day and selects for inclusion those wines that possess the structural rigor he seeks. Unfurling in the glass with a bouquet of rooibos, benzoin, dried apricot and verbena oil mingled with nutmeg and orange peel, it is a medium- to full-bodied, deep and incisive wine with bright, mouthwatering acidity and culminates in a long, chalky finish. Unsurprisingly, as it is the only wine in the range produced without reserve wines or a perpetual reserve component—and in the context of a cool growing season—it is the cuvée with the tautest musculature. The blend includes at least 10% Pinot Noir, is largely Chardonnay-based and is destined for a long evolution.