Champagne | 2016 vintage
It's worth remembering that it's always more difficult to establish the success of recent vintages in Champagne since they generally don't appear on the market until a few years after the vendange. All we can do for now is give a provisional roundup of 2016 based on climatic conditions throughout the year and tastings of the wine before champagnisation.
Ice, hail, rain and disease: Champagne has had it all in 2016! If it weren't for such a good September it would have been an absolute disaster. Initial tastings seem to suggest that Pinot Meuniers from the Vallée de la Marne valley and Pinot Noirs from la Montagne de Reims will be very good but perhaps more delicate in style than usual. Chardonnay, on the other hand, has not been as successful but, having been harvested a little later than the Pinot Meunier and the Pinot Noir, has generally managed to reach a satisfactory ripeness. Yet this is all speculative and we won't truly know how Champagne has fared until the finished products are available to taste. Champagne often improves considerably during the maturation period so we will have to wait and see.
