25 october 2016
October 2016, Epernay – Despite a challenging year in terms of weather, with late spring frosts, hail and a relatively poor summer, the 2016 vintage has yielded good quality grapes with an average 9.8 potential alcohol and 7g/l acidity at Perrier-Jouët.
Chef de Caves Hervé Deschamps comments, “To be honest, I’m delighted and surprised by the eventual quality and quantity. Before harvesting began I was feeling pessimistic about this year, but by the time all the grapes were in at the beginning of October, my mood had changed to one of optimism! Overall the grape health is excellent, with hardly any signs of rot, and the level of acidity in the must will give excellent balance to the finished wines.”
Picking began in the Perrier-Jouët vineyards on 17th September and finished on 3rd October. Hervé Deschamps says, “The rain just before picking was a Godsend, stimulating the final maturity that we needed. Prior to that I was worried about the differences in grape size in each cluster, but this final growth spurt also resulted in much more homogeneity, which was unexpected.” “Overall I believe the quality will be close to that of 2015, despite very different weather conditions. To have a second year of healthy grapes bodes very well for our wines.”
About Perrier-Jouët
Perrier-Jouët is an iconic champagne house with an exceptional vineyard. It is known for the finesse, floral and elegant notes of its wines, fashioned with the expertise of only seven Cellar Masters since its foundation in 1811. Since its 1902 collaboration with Art Nouveau pioneer Emile Gallé, creator of the anemone design for the house’s Belle Epoque prestige cuvée, Perrier-Jouët has commissioned work from established and emerging artists including Daniel Arsham, Noé Duchaufour-Lawrance, Miguel Chevalier, Makoto Azuma, Tord Boontje, Studio Glithero and Simon Heijdens and more recently Tord Boontje, Vik Muniz, mischer’traxler and Ritsue Mishima.
