Veuve Clicquot La Grande Dame 2006
A$390.00
Vintages
Description
La Grande Dame 2006 is an exclusive blend of our eight classic Grands Crus: Aÿ, Bouzy, Ambonnay, Verzy and Verzenay for the Pinot Noir (53%); Avize, Oger and Le Mesnil-sur-Oger for the Chardonnay (47%). The winter was particularly cold and long. The spring was mixed, but with good conditions for budding. The flowers opened in late June, in what was unseasonally hot weather. The summer was chaotic, with an August worthy of late autumn. Fortunately, the vines were able to draw on their reserves, to produce an abundant yield of superb quality.
Therefore, between 14 and 29 September, we harvested a very fine crop of grapes. At the very end of picking, Botrytis struck, though it had no impact on the quality of the harvest. An effective sorting operation was carried out. The Pinot Noir wines are fruity and full-bodied; the Chardonnay wines are of considerable distinction.
Rating
93 points
Decanter
The last in the sequence of Grandes Dames with a healthy slug of Chardonnay (47% in 2006), this is the child of a capricious and somewhat tricky vintage, the summer marked by an early heatwave but then a rainy August. You may not think so when you taste it, as this is a very confident and complex wine, well named indeed, as an inherent feminine charm starts to show its pedigree with a little age. Splashes of almond, quince and beeswax pay their compliments to the structure, discreet vinosity starting to intervene, marked by notes of gingerbread and verbena. Toasty notes and a generous finish give a nod to the warmer months of the season and the result, still engagingly primary, is nonetheless opulent indeed.
