Millésime

Millésime means great vintage in French.

In Champagne, when a harvest is really exceptional, a winemaker can choose to make a wine with only grapes from that year. That bubbly will be called un millésime or Champagne millésimé.

In 2012, the Champagne house, Laurent-Perrier, celebrated its 200th birthday with a Champagne millésimé, and it is absolutely outrageous. Pale straw in color, with big bright bubbles, it’s made with 50% Chardonnay grapes and 50% Pinot Noir, and the balance is stunning. This Champagne teeters perfectly between precision and richness. It has croissant and biscuit flavors, along with some oyster shell.

This is the only Laurent-Perrier millésime readily available right now. (They’ve only made 30 millésimes since the 1950s.) It’s currently $99 on wine.com. I got it for $69 on lastbubbles.com and am so glad I did. We opened a bottle to toast my birthday, and it was the perfect way to celebrate.