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wine & spirits

HEART’S DESIRE

Celebrate your love with the perfect Valentine:

Henriot Champagne. BY EUNICE FRIED

OF ALL THE MAJOR PRODUCERS in France’s Champagne region,
only a few are family-owned. One of the few is Maison & Domaines
Henriot, founded in 1808 and today, seven generations later, still
making outstanding Champagne. As a privately owned Champagne
house, Henriot chooses to keep its production low, to just over 1
million bottles a year, while most larger houses in the region turn out
many millions annually.
Being privately owned also allows it to emphasize its own dis-
tinct style, one aspect of which is to stress the purest expression of
Chardonnay. And many of the Chardonnay grapes that become
Henriot Champagne come from top-rated Grand and Premier
Cru vineyards. As Laurent Fresnet, Henriot’s cellar master,
says, “What makes our Champagne special is that its grapes are
sourced from beautiful terroirs. And thanks to our independent
status as a family-owned house, I can dedicate the time and care it
requires to craft … the unique style of our Champagnes.”
In Henriot’s Brut Rosé ($70) in which Fresnet uses 35
percent reserve wine, he looks for freshness and fruitiness.
And indeed, it is fresh and fruity as well as bright and
balanced. A pretty pink shade, it offers a mouth-filling
sensation and a medium-long aftertaste.
Brut Souverain ($45), composed of 50 percent
Chardonnay, 45 percent Pinot Noir and the rest
Meunier, is pale yellow, quite dry, with a sturdy
body and a fresh, lively aroma.
Made of 100 percent Chardonnay and
presenting an explosion of delicate bubbles,
Blanc de Blancs ($60) is a clean, ripe, floral
wine with a delicious finish.
The creamy, rich, Brut Millésime 2006
($62.50) combines equal parts of Pinot Noir
and Chardonnay.
Cuve 38 ($599) is a special wine with
only 1,000 bottles produced each year, all in
magnums and made only of Chardonnay
from Côte des Blanc Grand Cru vineyards.
Beginning in 1990, the finest part of each
Chardonnay harvest has been kept in
a solera system. In the current bottling,
the oldest part of the blend is from 1990,
the youngest from 2008. Cuve 38 is truly
spectacular. Known for its deep chalk
In short, every one of Henriot’s Cham- soil, the Champagne region
pagnes lives up to the house’s 210-year-old
reputation. boasts 75,000 acres of PHOTOS: © CHAMPAGNE HENRIOT

vineyards.

28 globaltravelerusa.com FEBRUARY 2018