Drappier Grande Sendree Brut 2008

Professional Ratings

• 94 Wine Spectator
  Very minerally on the nose, with brine and smoke accents leading to flavors of cassis, mandarin orange peel and dried white cherry on the buoyant, creamy mousse. Bright and harmonious, with a rich, lasting finish of toast, chopped hazelnut and spice. Disgorged May 2015. Drink now through 2028.
• 94 Wine Enthusiast
  This ripe wine offers great balance between the rich, structured Pinot Noir and the mineral Chardonnay. From a very fine vintage, it reveals intense flavors, layers of ripe apple and a taut texture that promises further aging. The wine can be drunk now, but it will be so much better from 2018.
• 94 Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
  From a single parcel in Urville, the 2008 Brut Grande Sendrée is exceptional, opening in the glass with incipiently rich aromas of crisp yellow orchard fruit, brioche, marzipan and wheat toast that seems to be on the cusp of acquiring more nutty complexity. On the palate, the wine is medium to full-bodied, deep and tight-knit, with superb concentration and structural tension, built around racy acids and concluding with an attractively chalky finish. In keeping with the vintage, this is quite a tensile, reserved Grande Sendrée, but its potential is considerable. Readers should plan on forgetting the 2008 for another four or five years if they wish to catch it at the beginning of its plenitude. It's a blend of 55% Pinot Noir and 45% Chardonnay, one-third of which was fermented in barrel; it was disgorged after seven years sur lattes with five grams per liter dosage.
• 93 James Suckling
  A step up on the previous release (2006), this has good punchy, assertive and focused style to it with ripe lemons and peach fruits, some blueberry pastry, plenty of autolysis and honey. The palate's smooth and dense, has impressive phenolic shape and drive, and balances neatly through the finish. Drink now and for 5+ years.
• 92 Decanter
  Dynamic drive and energy and delightful complexity of flavours, from lemon curd, marzipan and grapefruit to baked black cherry and ripe plum fruit; great persistence.