Price: $249.99	QTY:
Veuve Cliquot Cave Privée Collection 1990 Veuve Clicquot has re-released the first selection of vintage Champagnes in the Cave Privée Collection. For the last 35 years, limited stocks of Veuve Clicquot’s vintages have been kept in the house’s private cellar, the Cave Privée. The inaugural offering includes the Brut Millesime 1990, the 1980 Vintage and the three rosés from 1989, 1978 and 1975. The Cave Privée label has been designed to recall the original Veuve Clicquot vintage label dating from 1893 - each bottle comes in a wooden box with a yellow ribbon woven through it. The bottles are also individually numbered on the neck collar, and the back label carries disgorgement details including the date, the total number of bottles disgorged and the g/l of residual sugar in the dosage liquor. Veuve Clicquot only makes vintage Champagne in years of exceptional quality and individuality. After two such years in 1988 and 1989, the 1990 gave Champagne a series of three consecutive great vintages, a unique sequence in its history. For the true connoisseur, the 1990 Clicquot is a Champagne to keep. Already with a wonderfully refined bouquet, it is drinking beautifully. But those with sufficient patience will be further rewarded, as it will develop even greater character. THE VINTAGE Climatically, the year was similar to 1989. After a damp, mild winter, the buds burst almost a month early. The vineyards were therefore at risk from spring frost, which came in two waves on the 5th and 19th April, affecting almost 12,000 hectares. The flowering came in the first two weeks of June, in cooler weather. With July, summer came to last. If temperature and rainfall were normal, the hours of sunshine were by comparison, quite exceptional: almost 2,100 hours, a record for the last 30 years. As the harvest drew near, sugar content rose rapidly while acidity maintained a good level. Picking started in the second week of September for Chardonnay, a week later for the Pinot Noir and Meunier. The balance of the must was remarkable, with an average degree above 10°5GL and acidity of 8 g/l. Save for a few areas of Chardonnay affected by botrytis, the quality of all three grape varieties was uniformly superb. THE BLEND Vintage Reserve 1990 is made of a blend of 17 different crus, all classed as Grands or Premiers Crus. Black grapes account for two thirds of the blend: 56% being Pinot Noir from the Montagne de Reims and the Grande Vallée de la Marne, with 11% of Pinot Meunier drawn from the Premiers Crus of the western Montagne de Reims. The remaining third of the blend is Chardonnay from the Côte des Blancs and to a lesser degree, from the Montagne de Reims.