Jacques Selosse
Version Originale
Champagne
NV

The producer

Anselme Selosse is indeed one of the most celebrated ‘grower producers’ in the Champagne region. Following a uniquely Burgundian philosophy in the making of his wines, 35 individual Chardonnay plots are spread across the region’s best Grand Cru villages including Avize, Cramant, Oger, le Mesnil, Ay, and Ambonnay. All 35 plots are vinified separately in small Burgundian oak barrels. None of the wines see  malolactic fermentation, thus keeping a unique vibrancy throughout, and most wines have very low dosage, usually made in an Extra brut style – an effort made possible by consistently harvesting the fruit as late as possible.

Vineyard holdings are around 8 hectares today and mostly Chardonnay from Cote de Blancs, but also with a little Pinot Noir from Montagne de Reims. Recently Selosse has started complementing the oak ageing with ageing in terracotta earthenware which supposedly makes wines of more purity and zest.

The wine

Version Originale is a blend of 3 vintages of Chardonnay, aged for 42 months before disgorgement, and extra brut in style. Vines grow in poor chalk soils at the highest point of the slope which gives fine aromatics of citrus white flowers and with the saline chalkiness a distinct trademark of this cuvee.

We choose our wines based on a range of criteria (see how we choose our wines) of which critic scores is just one. Rather than simply highlight the best score to promote a wine, our average critic score is calculated from the scores provided by several respected wine critics, who we follow for specific regions. They do not represent all critic scores and, wherever possible, we try and give more weight to more recent reviews. Where appropriate we consider market-based scores like Global Wine Score or Wine Searcher Average scores.

As a rule, we look to offer wines that achieve a 92/100 average critic score or better and frankly a lot of very good wines simply don’t make the cut. As a high-end provider we want to reflect that positioning in the quality of wines we offer. Such wines are only a tiny fraction of those generally on offer in the market. We believe that an average score is a more conservative and representative approach, but it is still subjective and only offered as a guide to our customers, who will (and should) do their own research. We will add individual critic scores to our website in the future.