Moët & Chandon Grand Vintage 2012

Finely knit, with a subtle, smoky mineral–laced underpinning, this elegant Champagne layers flavors of lemon curd and cassis with rich hints of grilled nut and crystallized honey. A bright backbone of acidity focuses this through to the lingering, creamy finish. Disgorged October 2019. Drink now through 2027.

Disgorged in February 2018 with five grams per liter dosage, Moët's 2012 Extra Brut Grand Vintage is showing well, unfurling in the glass with an expressive bouquet of ripe yellow orchard fruit, peaches, toasted nuts, warm bread and honeycomb. On the palate, the wine is medium to full-bodied, broad and fleshy, with a tangy but ripe core of fruit, nicely integrated acids and a pinpoint mousse, concluding with an attractively fruit-driven finish. The 2012 reflects both the concentration of the vintage and Moët's push for riper fruit, and it is already quite accessible.

The 2012 vintage is, in fact, grand, and this wine lives up to its billing, incorporating a majority of red grapes (it’s 33 percent pinot noir and 26 percent meunier; the rest is chardonnay), lending it a lot of flesh on the bones of the apple-malic-limestone acidity. It’s toasty in the mode of Moët, and built to age: This will integrate with a year of cellaring and develop well for years beyond that.

Bright and breezy scents of slate, lemon and nut. A classy and concentrated example with perfect ripeness and long, vinous length.