Champagne Lanson relaunches prestige cuvée Noble with the release of the 2004 vintage

Champagne Lanson is on a roll. Following the inaugural release of its single-vineyard Clos Lanson on La Place de Bordeaux in October, the Champagne House  has released its Noble Cuvées from the 2004 vintage, rebranded as purely ‘Noble’. 

Aged in Lanson’s cellar in the heart of Reims, under the famous Clos Lanson vineyard itself, for almost two decades, these twin expressions of Noble Champagne  are amongst the oldest prestige vintages currently available on the market. These are to be distributed through Lanson’s more traditional network of agents and retailers.

As Enguerrand Baijot, Lanson’s chargé d’affaires told db, “For more than a century, we have been committed to cultivating vintage Champagne with a great respect for nature and tradition.”

The “purest juices” are selected “with absolute rigour”, he said, and vinified according to original Champagne methods – without malolactic fermentation – to create “excellent vintages that travel gracefully through the years”.

“It is this process that has created the incomparable radiance and freshness that is Noble Champagne. It embodies Maison Lanson’s values and quest for excellence,” he said.

These characteristics are reinforced by the quality of the vintage itself.

As Hervé Dantan, chef de cave at Maison Lanson puts it, “A providential vintage, 2004 presented varied and unexpected conditions through the growing season, yielding fruit typical of a year that was both contrasting and generous. The summer season came with a grey and veiled sky where light and heat were scarce. Yet the month of September was revelatory, paving the way to what would become a masterpiece”.

The final ingredient is the long aging in the cellar of this exceptionally late release.

“Everything in this wine is perfectly in its place,” Dantan continued. “Time has done its work. The aromas have blossomed and are revealed today in a mature and very precise register. The wine has matured and continues to shimmer. The 2004 vintage offers an incomparable freshness”.

Gastronomy is at the heart of Maison Lanson’s philosophy with Noble Champagne offering a great range of potential pairing opportunities to showcase the pedigree and nobility of the finest ingredients. To accompany Noble Champagne Brut 2004 Enguerrand Baijot suggests lobster and to highlight the charm and complexity of Noble Champagne Blanc de Blancs 2004, he proposes a scallop carpaccio.

Both cuvées are available in the UK from Hedonism Wines (Brut RRP: £140 and £150 for the Blanc de Blancs).  Noble Champagne 2004 will also be available by the glass at HIDE throughout October, November and December 2022.

Tasting notes

• Lanson Noble Cuvée 2004 (70% Chardonnay from Avize, Cramant, Le Mesnil, Oger and Chouilly and 30% Pinot Noir from Verzenay and Bouzy, all sourced from Lanson’s Grand Cru vineyards; no malolactic fermentation; 12.5% alcohol; disgorged in September 2021; 21,874 bottles). Quite pale in the glass. Straw, hay, a lovely wild strawberry note, white nectarine, a hint of almond and a gentle natural sweetness, a little toasted brioche and a suggestion of white truffle, more evident on the nose. Impressively youthful. Very ‘Lanson’ with oodles of bright and lifted freshness, quite rich and compact in the generous mid-palate but nicely structured, long and tapering. Confit melon, those wild strawberry notes again, and a slightly smoky, saline, almost iodine tang (almost a little Islay single-malt!). Long and lovely, the Pinot Noir more evident on the palate than the nose which is a little more defined by the Chardonnay. 94.

• Lanson Noble Cuvée Blancs de Blanc 2004 (100% Chardonnay, all from Lanson’s Grand Cru vineyards from the Côte des Blancs; 12.5% alcohol; no malolactic fermentation; disgorged in September 2021; 14,017 bottles). Again, impressively pale in the glass and with a glorious and immediately expressive nose that is very complex – white truffle, peach skin, freshly grated cinnamon, crunchy green apple, almost a hint of guava and passionfruit, brioche and confit lemon and a glorious saline minerality which is also very evident on the palate. Indeed, here the nose and palate are in complete harmony, with the same cinnamon, peach skin and apple notes, but also with a little more red berry fruit – wild strawberries above all. This is full and rich, but searingly fresh and very much in the house style. A brilliantly expressive and impressively youthful vintage champagne, the dynamism reinforced by the fine and elegant mousse. The wonderful salinity makes this a perfect restaurant Champagne – this has me craving Langoustines! 95.