A library release from Champagne Telmont: the 1996 vintage, held in the house cellars at Damery.

This library bottling comes from Champagne Telmont, the family house founded in 1912 in Damery, near Épernay. It is a Meunier-led blend with Chardonnay, all from the 1996 harvest, drawn from the villages of Damery, Venteuil and Reuil. The house describes 1996 as a year of dramatic, rapidly changing conditions that ended in a long, warm summer punctuated by colder nights, yielding grapes with a rare balance of ripeness and acidity. The wine was vinified in stainless steel with no malolactic fermentation to keep that acidity, bottled in 1997, riddled by hand and then left to age for decades in Telmont's underground cellars before release. The cellar master notes highly evolved aromas of ripe mango and passion fruit with nutty undertones, then a palate of tonic freshness and tension that moves toward raspberry compote, a wine that juxtaposes maturity and freshness. 12% ABV, 750ml.