Taittinger Comtes de Champagne 1996 (Sparkling)

The origins of Taittinger champagnes can be traced back to the wine merchant Jacques Fourneaux who established a company in 1734. This business moved premises to the House of the Counts of Champagne in the 19th century and was taken over by the Taittinger family in 1931 who then gave the company its name. In 1932, Pierre Taittinger's champagne house decided to give prominence to the Chardonnay grape. Between 1945 and 1960, Pierre Taittinger's son, François, managed the company with his two brothers, Jean and Claude. When François was killed in an accident, the company passed to Claude who remained at the helm from 1960 to 2005. In 2005, the house was sold to an American pension fund but was bought back the following year by the North Eastern division of the Crédit Agricole bank in partnership with Claude's nephew, Pierre-Emmanuel Taittinger who has run the company ever since. The historic champagne house owns kilometres of Gallo-Roman crayères or chalk tunnels and almost 300 hectares of exceptional vineyards, planted to 40% with Chardonnay. The grapes are vinified in vats and undergo full malolactic fermentation. This historic champagne house is a benchmark in the region, especially for fans of Chardonnay.

As a tribute to Thibault IV, King of Navarre and last Count 5Comte, in French) of Champagne (the reign of St. Louis) that the house Taittinger created this exceptional cuvée in 1952. Developed in the cellars of the former Abbey of Saint-Nicaise in Reims (thirteenth century), the cuvée "Comtes de Champagne" benefits from a series of attentive care and is produced only when the following conditions, particular to its specificity, are met: when the harvest is of exceptional quality and worthy of vintage. It is made exclusively from white Chardonnay grapes, from the most famous vineyards of the Côte des Blancs. Only the first pressed wine is used, guaranteeing absolute finesse. 5% of the wines used in its composition have been aged in oak barrels (renewed by thirds every year), which enhances the intrinsic qualities of the final blend. It displays a pale gold colour. The fine bouquet is delicately floral and lemony. This Champagne exudes scents of fresh hazelnut, interlaced with notes of brioche. The Comtes de Champagne is an elegant and complex wine that reveals after a few years a tremendous richness.

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