Dhondt-Grellet Champagne Les Terres Fines 1er Cru Blanc de Blancs

NV Dhondt-Grellet Champagne Les Terres Fines 1er Cru Blanc de Blancs

Terroir de Cuis

Champagne

Premier Cru

Non Vintage

100 % Chardonnay

Base 2017

Dosage 1,5 g/l

Degorgement Mai 2020

94 Points William Kelley RobertParker.com september 2021

Dhondt’s NV Extra Brut Blanc de Blancs Premier Cru Les Terres Fines (2017) is evolving nicely, unfurling in the glass with notes of walnuts, crisp yellow orchard fruit, peach, toasted bread, white flowers and honeycomb. Full-bodied, ample and fleshy, it’s seamless and complete, with a vinous core of fruit that’s girdled by lively acids. Concluding with a saline finish, it’s a fine effort.

Another year, another superb set of new releases from Adrien Dhondt. And that’s all the more impressive since many of these bottlings are based on the challenging 2017 vintage. Readers looking for more information about this immensely exciting estate should consult my feature in Issue 250 End of August 2020. The big news to report since then is that Dhondt has ripped up the vineyard that produced his rosé bottling and intends to replant it with Burgundian massal selections with a view to producing still wines. I, for one, can’t wait to taste the results. For now, everything reviewed here comes warmly recommended.

In Issue 250 End of August 2020, I devoted an in-depth article to Adrien Dhondt’s Champagnes, so I’ll refer readers looking for more information on his methods and different cuvées to that piece. On this most recent visit, I tasted Dhondt’s recently disgorged releases, which will be arriving on the market as this report goes to press. His cuvées based on the 2018 vintage are especially fleshy and demonstrative, and this stands out as the most gourmand, immediate set of NV wines he has released to date. Their upfront appeal means that I’m tempted to suggest readers approach them before the 2017s, which are showing more depth and structure than they did late last year as they settle down on cork. Both are terrific vintages for Dhondt, even if they’re cut from quite different stylistic cloth.