Christmas and New Year means bubbles for me in fact I don’t really enjoy drinking sparkling wine that much over the rest of the year but over the holidays it just seems right.
My favourite bubbles by a very long way are Ruinart. I like some of the others but there is something quite especially delicious about the Ruinart Blanc de Blanc, so I thought perfect opportunity to learn a little more about the wine.
HISTORY
It is one of the very original Champagne houses located in the heart of Reimes the centre of the Champagne district. It was the 1st of September in 1729 when Nicholas Ruinart established Maison Ruinart to make champagne and while others had made the wine, this was the first commercial company making champagne.
Legend has it, that it was Dom Thierry Ruinart, a modest benedictine monk who discovered the wine with bubbles being consumed by Parisiennes on a trip to the Abbey of Saint Germain des Prés, Paris in 1680.
By the mid 18th century the company needed a location to store and age the wine and acquired ancient crayères, a former chalk quarry 40 meters right under the city of Reimes. The cave tunnels were dug in the 5th century to mine stone used to construct dwellings in the area. The Maison Ruiinart Crayéres are is a labyrinth of tunnels, some 8 kilometres in all and it is the perfect place to age the wine with appropriate humidity, temperature and lack of light.
By 1946 the winery was facing a very tough period. They had lost a lot of their vineyards and were only producing 800 cases of wine for two main customers in Paris. It is said that that wine went to the famous restaurant Maxime’s and the less famous but more infamous upscale brothel Le Sphinx.
Today Maison Ruinart is owned by luxury goods brand LVMH who of course have a substantial footing in Champagne with Moet & Chandon (Dom Perignon) and Veuve Clicquot but they are building the brand.
THE WINE
It is a wine that you often need to plan for given it can sell out quickly with retailers often only having a small allocation prior to major events and that of course generates more mystique and demand for the product.
My Personal favourite is the Blanc de Blanc NV it is a beautiful champagne. Delicate with small bubbles that dance and emphasise the flavour profile.
Made with 100% premier cru Chardonnay grapes this wine all of the best characteristics of a restrained cool climate chardonnay combined with the best attribute of a sparkling wine.
The nose has delicate peach and pear characteristics with perhaps a touch of spice.
The flavour profile is dry with a nice creaminess, a full bodied wine there is apple, a little of the toasted bread and a little citrus zest but neither dominate. There is excellent complexity of flavour and exceptional palate length on the finish.
A very light yellow in the glass it is an elegant and perfectly delicious wine.
ABV 12.5%
Dosage 9 g/l
$190
There are three non vintage champagnes that Ruinart make Blanc de Blanc, Rose and Brut – to my taste the Blanc de Blanc is definitely the best but all are very good.
If your budget runs to vintage champagne they also make a vintage blanc de blanc (current release is 2010 prices range between $500-$600 AUD per bottle) and of the rose (current release is 2009 for $800).
Sadly my budget is not running to tasting those wines at the moment but I will update this if I get the opportunity.
Sight
A very pale straw colour in the glass, tiny but vigorous bubbles dancing from the bottom.
24/25 points
Nose
The nose has delicate peach and pear characteristics with perhaps a touch of spice.
23/25 points
Palate
Dry with a nice creaminess, full bodied there is apple, a little of the toasted bread and a little citrus zest.
24/25 points
Finish
There is excellent complexity of flavour and exceptional palate length on the finish.
24/25 points