This is the 2010 release of Dom Ruinart Blanc de Blancs, the Reims house's top Chardonnay cuvée. It is also the vintage where Ruinart went back to ageing its prestige wine under cork rather than a crown cap, and disgorged every bottle by hand.
About This Champagne
The blend is all grand cru Chardonnay: 90% from the Côte des Blancs villages of Le Mesnil-sur-Oger, Avize, Chouilly and Cramant, and 10% from Sillery. The year opened with a very cold winter, then a dry early summer and a wet August, with picking from 15 September. The base wines came in richer than expected. Cellar master Frédéric Panaïotis reintroduced cork ageing (tirage sous liège) for this cuvée, and the wine spent at least nine years on lees. Dosage is 4 g/L and alcohol 12.5%.
Tasting Profile
- Nose: Chalk dust, white flowers and a powdery, almost perfumed note, then roasted hazelnut, almond, nutmeg and a touch of coffee.
- Palate: Taut and focused, with lemon, fig leaf and black tea notes over a fine, persistent bead.
- Finish: Fresh and lingering, finishing on a gentle, attractive bitterness.
Serving & Food
Serve at 10 to 12°C in a white wine glass. Still youthful, so it will reward a few more years in a cool cellar and should drink well into the mid 2030s. The house pairs it with spiced roast pork; smoked eel, grilled lobster or a plate of aged Gouda also sit well beside it.
How to Enjoy
Lovers of taut, mineral Blanc de Blancs who are happy to cellar a bottle, or a thoughtful gift for a Champagne drinker.
Product Details
Producer: Ruinart
Wine: Dom Ruinart Blanc de Blancs
Vintage: 2010
Grape: 100% Chardonnay
Grand Cru focus: 90% Côte des Blancs (Le Mesnil-sur-Oger, Avize, Chouilly, Cramant), 10% Sillery
Ageing: At least 9 years on lees, under cork
Dosage: 4 g/L
ABV: 12.5%
Volume: 750mL
About the Maison
Much of what shapes a Ruinart wine happens underground. The house moved into the crayères on the Butte Saint-Nicaise in Reims in 1877, a network of old chalk quarries first dug out for building stone. Ruinart turned them into about 8 kilometres of galleries on three levels, reaching down some 38 metres.
Cool, steady and humid, these cellars are where the bottles go through their second fermentation, riddling and long rest on the lees. During the First World War the house moved its production and offices down there to escape the shelling. Since 2015 the hill and its cellars have been part of the UNESCO World Heritage listing for the Champagne hillsides, houses and cellars.
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