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Pascal Doquet Vielles Vignes Le Mesnil-sur-Oger Blanc de Blancs

Doquet’s oldest plots stand proud on three magnificent sites in one of Champagne’s most thrilling villages. Vines date from 1929 and average 49 years of age, with roots plunging deep into solid Le Mesnil-sur-Oger chalk. This great terroir is translated with pinpoint exactness in an undercurrent of chalk minerality that is at once deep-set, while dancing through the finish graceful and light on its feet. Belying a decade of age and a touch of oak vinification, its hue is still impossibly bright and pale. Mesmerisingly youthful lemon blossom, lemon zest and freshly cut apples are preserved with breathtaking precision, only beginning to hint at preserved lemon, orange, vanilla and nutmeg. Such is its potential that it has not deviated one iota since its release two years ago, with decades of magnificent life stretching before it. $125 at Wine Emporium.