Wine Advisor
Vilmart & Cie, Coeur de Cuvee 1er Cru Brut 2006
View analysis
Description
Tasting notes
Reviewed by: Antonio Galloni
The 2006 Coeur de Cuvée is just starting to enter the early part of its plateau of maturity. Lemon confit, apricot, spice and lightly toasted notes give the wine much of its aromatic and flavor complexity. The 2006 was quite powerful at the outset, but over time it has become much more finessed and nuanced. I would prefer to drink it over the next decade or so. This is a terrific showing. Disgorged July 2013.
Reviewed by: Antonio Galloni
A powerful, masculine wine, the 2006 Brut Coeur de Cuvée (Magnum) hits the palate with serious depth and overall intensity. The sheer heft of the wine is amplified by the magnum format, which really seems to bring out intensity. Graphite, smoke and licorice run through a core of dense fruit. There is a real sense of gravitas to the 2006 that is compelling. Dosage is 8 grams per liter. Disgorged: April 2015.
Reviewed by: Antonio Galloni
A big, powerful wine, the 2006 Coeur de Cuvée is just starting to show the first signs of maturation in its aromas and flavors. Honey, smoke, brioche, dried pears gradually open up in the glass, but it is the wine's phenolic intensity and overall structure that are most apparent today. The deep, explosive finish is a thing of beauty. Disgorged September 2013.
Reviewed by: Antonio Galloni
Explosive and powerful to the core, Vilmart's 2006 Brut Coeur de Cuvée is once again superb. Rich, textured flavors abound in a Champagne that impresses for its resonance and depth. The flavor profile leans very much towards the brighter, Chardonnay side of the spectrum, while the Pinot is felt in the wine's pliancy and overall depth. Readers who can find the 2006 are in for a real treat. This is a dazzling showing from Vilmart. The Coeur de Cuvée is 80% Chardonnay and 20% Pinot from Les Blanches Voies Hautes in Rilly-la-Montagne. Disgorged May 2013. Dosage is 8 grams per liter.
Reviewed by: Antonio Galloni
The 2006 Coeur de Cuvée wraps around the palate with striking depth and nuance. Resonant and enveloping to the core, the 2006 boasts gorgeous texture and silkiness allied to the power of the year. This is a remarkably complete, and totally harmonious Champagne from Vilmart. This bottle was disgorged in March 2013.
Reviewed by: Josh Raynolds
Light, bright yellow. Expansive passion fruit, poached pear, honey and smoky mineral scents show excellent clarity and pick up a sexy floral nuance with air. Rich but at the same time focused and stony on the palate, offering intense orchard and pit fruit flavors and a bracing jolt of bitter orange pith. Finishes on a subtly smoky note, with strong persistence and lingering spiciness. Disgorged in May, 2013.
About the Producer
Vilmart & Cie looks back at a long history of grape growing and winemaking. It was founded as récoltant manipulant house in 1890 by Désiré Vilmart, in the village of Rilly-la-Montagne. Today, Laurent Champs, the fifth generation of the family, oversees the domaine. The estate is located in the western end of the Grand Montagne and most of the holdings here are in the Premier Cru of Rilly-La-Montagne with a few small blocks in neighboring Villers-Allerand. Laurent farms 10 parcels over 11 hectares, an anomaly as most estates have many small parcels. This allows Laurent to farm with organic methods; his father practiced biodynamic viticulture and Laurent continues in this vein. Like many of the villages in this area, Rilly faces north. This is the same exposition of Verzenay and Mailly Grand Crus, for example. However, the holdings of Vilmart are in a privileged place. Laurent has a large block of vineyards on a south facing hillside on the other side of the village, in the direction of Montbré, which rises to the north. This vineyard is called Blanches Voies, a due south section of 65-year-old ungrafted Pinot Noir and Chardonnay vines here go into Laurent’s Coeur de Cuvée, his top wine as well as Grand Cellier d’Or, his vintage wine and a new single site Blanc de Blancs, called Blanches Voies. Vilmart’s other parcels are in the south west facing vineyard of Hautes Grèves, another vineyard with both Chardonnay and Pinot planted. Laurent ferments and ages all his wines in oak: large 2200–5500-liter foudre and demi-muid for the NV wines and smaller barrique as well as demi-muid for vintage wines. Malolactic fermentation is always blocked, giving the wines a crisp acidic structure coupled with the richness of the fermentation and aging regimen. Vilmart’s wines are at once ripe and structured, perfectly walking the line between hedonism and austerity, expertly balanced, and always exceptional. “Vilmart & Cie. is not only one of the greatest grower-estates in Champagne, but one of the finest Champagne producers of any type in the region. ” Peter Liem
