Moet & Chandon has the honour of being the world's best selling Champagne, and yet the reality is that most folk who've tasted Moet & Chandon's Champagne's would have only likely grazed the surface with the classic Imperial Brut.

Now if you wanted to delve deeper into the world of Champagnes, Moet & Chandon has another layer for you to unpack beyond the Imperial's (which also encompasses the Rose and Ice) - with the Grand Vintage series, you're able to narrow down to specific vintages and explore the terroir and growing conditions of that very year. If the Imperial cuvee's are about appreciating the taste and sensorial aspects of Champagne, the Grand Vintages are about capturing a distinct and singular moment in time.

Going all the way back to 1842, when the first Grand Vintage was made, the past 182 years (it's 2024) has seen just 76 Grand Vintages produced - which the House says is made only on the best years. Otherwise, no Grand Vintage is produced for that year.

For a Champagne to carry a vintage, that means that only the grapes harvested from that singular season can be used for the expression - which in non-technical terms means, you'd need everything to go right that year in order to produce a vintage-bearing Champagne. Unlike non-vintage cuvees, where it is far more forgiving, and wines from various seasons can be put together - with vintage Champagnes you're only getting a really narrow set of tools to play with here.  

Now think about if you were to try the Grand Vintage 1953 which was disgorged in early 2013 for the Sotheby's auction in London - that would mean you'd be tasting Champagnes that were the essence of what the exact weather and growing conditions were like all the way back in that one 1953 growing season! And that's the reason folks prize vintage-bearing Champagnes so much. It's a moment of time that won't ever be repeated.

Now, we might not have the Grand Vintage 1953, but we will be trying the Grand Vintage 2013, which is most certainly easier to find and get your hands on at the moment. 

Prince George was born, kicking off over a decade of mischief.

So what happened in 2013? Besides Prince George having been born to the British Royal Family and the year that the incredibly underrated Ben Stiller movie The Secret Life of Walter Mitty was released, it was also a colder growing season over in Champagne, which resulted in a later harvest, which had only last happened in 1991, breaking a decade-long trend of early harvests. This was said to be particularly challenging for growers as they had to achieve maturity within the mandated cut-off dates for the season. Nevertheless they were able to do so, and thus created the House's 75th Grand Vintage. This was bottled extra brut.

Let's give this a go!

Moet & Chandon Grand Vintage 2013 - Review

Tasting Notes

Colour: Gold, Glimmering

Aroma: Opens up with more bread-y notes, a light yeastiness even, almost doughy sweet and rich. As it clears, we’re getting more citrus in the form of candied pineapples, oranges, grapefruits, also lots of elderflower. It’s incredibly aromatic, great richness and intensity. At the same time this comes across brighter, more vibrant, whilst keeping that richness. It’s more distinctive and focused in its profile. With time, a chalkiness becomes more prominent, as well as some earthiness of cooked chestnuts.

Taste: Lots of richness here, scoops of honey, orchard fruits of pears and apples - really juicy, really splendid depth, pouring forth with fruit juices, interspersed by flecks of acidity that’s well-integrated and rather subtle. Some chalkiness at the back once again, and with time, taking on a more bread-y quality, almost buttery in texture. It’s giving brioche dunked into honey.

Finish: Recedes in velvety fashion, more cohesive crispness whilst the honey persists, dotted with elderflower, as does the light breadiness continue into the aftertaste. Almost like velvet that gently fades, ending with the a very confident crispness. Really nice and focused finish.

My Thoughts

The Grand Vintage 2013 showcases much in the way of complexity and finesse - it keeps on developing along its progression, opening up to varying dimensions and facets, subtle yet boldly expressed. The common thread that seems to guide the GV 2013 seems to be this buttery richness of honey soaked brioche, from which you’ve got citruses, minerality, earthiness, all emerging in adjacent to that focused core note.

I find this expression to be marked by great richness, really enticing juiciness and depth, as well as more firm cohesion and structure - it exudes this sort of confidence in the way it moves. Really bold and at the same time maintains that approachability. Terribly impressive!