A library release from Champagne Telmont: the celebrated 1990 vintage, aged in the house cellars at Damery.

The 1990 Vinothèque blends 76% Meunier and 24% Chardonnay from Damery, Venteuil and Reuil in the Marne Valley. A cool spring brought heavy frosts, but an uncommonly hot summer ripened a generous crop to exceptional quality. The wine was fermented in stainless steel without malolactic fermentation, bottled in 1991, riddled by hand and left on its lees in Telmont's underground cellars for some 30 years before disgorgement in 2021. A dosage of just 4.2 g/L places it in the Extra Brut category, and only around 8,000 bottles exist worldwide. The cellar master's notes describe white tobacco and raw cocoa on the nose, then dried herbs and fresh walnut on a palate that keeps evolving from first sip to finish. Released only once it was ready, it is a bottle to open now; serve it at 10 to 12°C, ideally with aged Parmesan. 12% ABV, 750ml.