Philipponnat Reserve Perpetuelle Brut 750ml (750ml)

Réserve Perpétuelle takes its name from the eponymous Champagne practice of progressively blending the current year’s wines with wines from previous vintages. The idea is to preserve the freshness of the blend through successive renewals without losing any of the complexity acquired through ageing.  In fact, Philipponnat has always made its Réserve Perpétuelle cuvée by blending wines from the new harvest with part of the blend from the previous year, which has been reserved in wooden barrels. The current year’s wines refresh the older wines, which are concentrations of previous years’ blends and which in turn enhance the new wines in keeping with the principles of Réserve Perpétuelle. The new blend brings together all the vintages successively blended since 1946, the year of the first harvest on which the Réserve Perpétuelle cuvée is based.  Each year, the cuvée is enriched by a new vintage, in a proportion of two thirds, with which are blended the ever-increasing sum of past harvests – one third of the cuvée. Once blended, one third of the cuvée is reserved in oak barrels and tuns and continues to age in wood until the next harvest, when it is blended to complete a new iteration of this perpetual cycle of renewal.

First press of grapes from the heart of the Champagne region, mainly from the Grands Crus and Premiers Crus of Pinot Noir around Mareuil-sur-Ay. Traditional vinification in vats and wooden barrels, avoiding any premature oxidation.  Of the wines from the 2021 harvest, 27% were produced without malolactic fermentation. Aged in casks to instil a sublime depth and patina, our reserve wines
are a treasure that the House re-blends and renews each year, incorporating them into the new harvest to make it more complex while preserving its minerality.  A moderate dosage (8 g/l) to maintain the balance between freshness, fruitiness and vinosity without masking the wine’s character or purity.  Aged on lees in the House cellars at a constant temperature of 12°C for a minimum
of three years – much longer than the legal minimum of fifteen months.