Description
Champagne Vincent Couche, “Sensation” Dégorgement Tardif 1999
As we’ve all come to learn, Vincent Couche’s transcendent 1999 Champagne offers are bittersweet carrot-and-stick opportunities that come and go in an instant, leaving a few jubilant and everyone else empty-handed and fuming. But as long as he keeps quietly releasing them in small waves each year, we’ll keep ravenously pouncing until the end of time.
We first offered this long-aged, biodynamic rarity in 2019, when it was debuted to the public for the very first time. Meaning, Vincent Couche, a man of calculated genius and/or insanity, waited nearly two decades before disgorging and selling his first bottle. It was among the most texturally profound, vibrant, and fully mature vintage bottlings I’ve ever had the honor of tasting; it sold out in a single day with only 68 people emerging victorious. Then, last year, we were surprised with a smaller second wave, one that vanished inside of 70 minutes with just 45 people lucking out. Now, yet another batch has slipped into America, and for me, it’s the most unique and thrilling of them all. It was disgorged nearly three years ago today, and with 18 years of lees aging plus three more post-disgorgement, it has evolved into a truly rare, savory, multi-dimensional breed. We’ll say it again: Anyone who considers themselves an appreciator of Champagne’s finest cannot afford to miss out on this mature masterpiece. If you loved the first two releases, this one is guaranteed to throw you into a blissful stupor. Grab as many as you can afford.
It was Vincent Couche’s mother who inspired his passion for vineyard work, and especially, for maintaining a natural, chemical-free ecosystem. As such, he has spent every waking hour over the past two decades ensuring his wines are free of additives. Because he refuses unnatural methods at every step of the process—from eschewing “-cides” to banning chaptalization or sulfur during fermentation to only using gravity to move the wine—Vincent Couche is leading the charge in both the organic and grower Champagne movements. Their importer even told us he is the first producer in Champagne to be Certified Biodynamic in both the vineyard and cellar.
Couche only produces “Sensation” in vintages he deems worthy and 1999 was one of those standout seasons. His fruit comes from two choice villages: Buxeuil (Pinot Noir) and Montgueux (Chardonnay). Vines in Montgueux, made famous by Champagne icon Jacques Lassaigne, are perched on an expansive chalky rise that looks down at the farmland below. It’s predominantly planted to Chardonnay, and the wonderfully ripe grapes grown here add immense texture and vibrancy in the final wine. Back at Vincent’s cellar in Buxeuil, a fermentation (including malolactic) born of ambient yeasts was carried out in French oak barrels, without any sulfur, and the final blend was bottled at the beginning of 2000. Today’s batch was then cellared for just over 18 years before Vincent finally decided it was “the right time” in March of 2018. Upon disgorgement, it was topped off with a light six-gram dosage and held back in his cellar for nearly three more years.
This bottle will redefine your perception about mature Champagne: It’s not always about caramel, hazelnut, and bruised fruit. The appeal of a late-disgorgement wine is that the bulk of aging comes before, not after, the disgorgement when the wine is still in contact with the lees. Over years and decades, the lees act as a preservative while adding immense layers of complexity and texture. In other words, “Sensation” is far more fresh, vibrant, and precise than a competitor’s bottle of ’99 that was disgorged long before 2018. In the glass, the wine stuns with a youthful bright yellow color and energetic aromas that defy the vintage listed on the bottle. Fresh yellow apples, white pear, lees, acacia, chalk, wet stone, salted-preserved lemon, Rainier cherry, and chamomile dazzle alongside finely crushed oyster shell, citrus rind, herbs, and a touch of brioche. The wine is creamy, precise, multi-layered, and resoundingly lifted from start to finish, all while stubbornly refusing to show one ounce of fatigue. It’s a masterpiece that will go head-to-head with Champagne’s greatest names, period—where else can you get a Champagne of this age and magnitude for $125?! Serve in all-purpose stems around 55 degrees and enjoy over an entire evening so you can experience an extra dimension as the temperature rises and the bubbles dissipate. I strongly suggest that you buy multiple bottles because this still has many years to go before losing any steam. Cheers!
