The Taittinger Comtes de Champagne 2015 is a Blanc de Blancs champagne, made solely from Chardonnay grown in five Grands Crus of the Côte des Blancs.
This vintage champagne opens on notes of citrus and orchard fruits, lifted by a touch of white blossom. Its balanced texture is shot through with a mineral freshness, the hallmark of a noble Chardonnay.
This is a bottle you can serve right from the aperitif, with Fine de Claire oysters or Comté gougères, for instance, and then bring back to the table alongside a poulet de Bresse with morels or a sole meunière.
The Terroir
The Comtes de Champagne 2015 is a Blanc de Blancs, meaning it is made exclusively from Chardonnay.
The Chardonnay comes from the terroirs of Avize, Cramant, Chouilly, Oger and Le Mesnil-sur-Oger, five villages classified as Grand Cru (the highest rank on the cru scale) on the Côte des Blancs, where Taittinger tends its vines.
Bringing together five villages from the same zone, all of the same rank, gives the cuvée a harmonious foundation: each adds its own nuance, and the whole gains in complexity. The 2015 vintage (the year of the harvest) also captures the expression of a single year: the wine tells the story of what these five villages gave that year, without the smoothing effect of a blend of several harvests.
On this terroir, Chardonnay brings finesse and tension to the wine.
The Winemaking
Alexandre Ponnavoy, cellar master at Maison Taittinger, chose to age 92% of this 2015 Chardonnay in stainless steel tank. This neutral vessel leaves no imprint on the wine: it preserves the vibrant fruit and the precision of the grape. The remaining 8% is aged in oak barrels, which lend subtle oaky notes and a little more breadth on the palate, without ever dominating.
The dosage (the small amount of sugar added at the very end of winemaking) is set at 8 g/L, which makes this cuvée a Brut. This gentle touch of roundness softens Chardonnay's natural vivacity without erasing it: the wine remains straight, precise and balanced in the glass. The overall approach favours tension over opulence.
The 2015 Vintage
On the Côte des Blancs, 2015 began with a very mild winter, followed by a rollercoaster of a spring: a spell of intense cold, then strong heat. Flowering fell at the usual time, in a dry and sunny June, which gave the vines a good start. A hot, dry summer brought the Chardonnay to fine ripeness, then the rains of the second half of August restarted the ripening of the berries and preserved their freshness. These ripe, healthy grapes, born of a year of contrasts, give the cuvée a sun-kissed character: generous ripe fruit, balanced by a lively freshness.
