NV Ulysse Collin Les Roises Blanc de Blancs Extra Brut (2014 base - 60 months)
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Tasting notes
From 2017 with reserve wines from 2016 and 2015, the NV Champagne Blanc de Blancs Les Roises Extra Brut has a slightly deeper golden hue and shows evolution without oxidation, which is exactly what they are striving for. From a south-facing exposure, it’s all about structure – broader shoulders, a rich, chalky texture, fleshy stone fruit, and a fresh lift of apricot. I’m really looking forward to tasting this again next year, when Olivier moves to the new Coquard press. The mousse is a touch more frothy, yet still elegant, enhancing the light minty spice and lift, with a mouthwatering structure, salinity, and subtle hints of toffee or praline. It’s deep and ready to enjoy now. Drink 2025-2040. In a world where most bottles are consumed immediately upon purchase, this is one I would never regret opening now, but it should also age with ease for another 20 years. It’s really damn good, mature and fresh, delicious and intellectually stimulating. It’s frustrating to score these wines because I know and expect Olivier to outdo himself next year, and the year after that. Olivier Collin is based in the Coteaux du Petit Morin, in the village of Congy. In the 1930s, his grandfather became the first récoltant-manipulant in the region, bottling only from his own vineyards and refusing to sell fruit to négociants. Olivier’s father sold the company in 1987, but in March 2003, Olivier and his family decided to reclaim a portion of the vineyards and begin making wine again. By that time, the health of the soils had deteriorated, so his first priority was to buy a tractor and start rebuilding them, and he was able to produce his first vintage in 2004. He prefers to work as naturally as possible, although he does not tie himself to the constraints of any organic or biodynamic certification. In the vineyard, he seeks high maturity in the fruit without allowing it to tip into over-ripeness. His approach emphasizes balance, natural yeasts, natural malolactic fermentations, low intervention, and the addition of sulfur only at the time of pressing before fermentation. The goal is always the same: to produce the best possible base wine with real gastronomic importance. In the cellar, everything is fermented in barrels, mostly used, and the dosage is kept very low, varying from 0.85 grams to 4 grams per liter, depending on what the wine needs. Recently, he has been extending aging on the lees and continues to push the boundaries of what he can achieve in the Coteaux du Petit Morin. In 2024, they lost 50% of Maillon to mildew, but they’re very happy with the resulting quality and density in the wines.
Critic scores
Average Score
Jancis Robinson MW
Jancis Robinson MW
More reviews and scores
Derived from old massal selection Chardonnay planted in 1949, Les Roises is, as always, the richest and most demonstrative of Ulysse Collin’s Blanc de Blancs. Disgorged in February 2024 with a dosage of 2.4 grams per liter after 72 months on the lees, the NV Blanc de Blancs Les Roises (2017 base) 72 months is based on the 2017 vintage and incorporates 15% reserve wines. Defined by its south-facing exposition and low yields, affected by le court-noué (the grapevine fanleaf virus), it offers a somewhat more powerful, concentrated version of Les Enfers, as the smaller berries require more pressing, extracting slightly more tannins and color. A superb effort that transcends the limitations of the base vintage, it wafts from the glass with a complex bouquet of dried white flowers, sesame, fresh bread and passion fruit. Full-bodied, deep and layered, with impressive mid-palate amplitude, it concludes with a precise, searingly saline finish. While Les Roises and Les Enfers are more alike than different—something that is especially true with these releases—when deciding which bottle to open first, I believe this tasting note provides the answer.
Incorporating 20% reserve wines, Collin's NV Extra-Brut Blanc de Blancs Les Roises (2017) 60 months is especially compelling this year, exhibiting more density and structure than Les Enfers. Unwinding in the glass with notes of confit citrus, white flowers, sweet orchard fruit, praline and struck flint, it's full-bodied, satiny and vinous, with terrific concentration, racy acids and an abundance of chalky structuring extract, reflecting the quality that Chardonnay could attain in the 2017 vintage in the hands of one of the variety's masters.
Collin's NV Extra-Brut Blanc de Blancs Les Roises (2015) 60 months is an arresting, thrilling wine that bursts with aromas of peach, confit lemon, mandarin oil, buttery pastry, almonds and white flowers. Full-bodied, deep and multidimensional, with huge concentration and mid-palate amplitude, it's vibrant and precise, with a pillowy mousse and an immensely long and intensely saline finish. Despite my best intentions, as soon as I tasted this Les Roises, I knew that my self-imposed embargo on any further 100-point scores for Champagne in 2021 would have to be broken. And the frightening thing is that Collin shows no signs of relenting in his quest to expand the parameters of the possible in Champagne! While bottles of this tiny disgorgement won't be easy to find, anyone eager to taste one of the region's contemporary benchmarks should make every effort to seek one out.
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12.5%
Blanc de Blancs