This feels a little more evolved than you might expect, aromas of crusty bread, honey, oatmeal, walnut and toasted seeds coming to the fore. It's extremely pleasing to sip and savour, because the mousse is soft and giving. Notes of sweet clementine appear, as well as a nip of tangy grapefruit, and the finish is layered with a crust of flaky salt. Lip smacking and delectable.

The 2012 La Grande Dame is a dense, powerful Champagne. Now with a few years post-disgorgement, the 2012 is starting to show the first signs of aromatic development. Dried pear, chamomile, spice, light honey and marzipan are beautifully amplified throughout. The blend is 90% Pinot Noir and 10% Chardonnay, with the weight of Pinots from the southern part of the appellation lending considerable volume. Compared to the wines that follow it, the 2012 feels very much like it has one foot in the older style here. Disgorged: February 2021.

Very difficult spring with frost and some hail but lovely summer. They could choose when to pick, on 17/18 September so a month later than 2020. Quite a bit of wind so very healthy fruit. Good acidity, as in 2004 (less than 2008). 90% Pinot Noir mainly from Aÿ, Verzenay, Verzy, Ambonnay and Bouzy. The 10% Chardonnay comes from the Grands Crus Avize and Mesnil-sur-Oger. Verzy and Verzenay have been favoured in 2012 for their minerality. They moved to the north from the south of the Montagne de Reims for the 2012. Full malo for all Veuve Clicquot wines so far. No oak for Grande Dame ingredients (cf vintage Veuve Clicquot). Dosage 6 g/l. Artist Yayoi Kusama has designed a very attractive, but not at all sustainable, package. This seems designed for the gift market. Notably mineral – even metallic – nose. Certainly not the floral perfume of Pinot Noir but something quite tight and not at all sweet. More structured, transparent, fresh and rewarding than many a Grande Dame I have tasted before. Long and well balanced with some lift and even slight bitterness on the end. I can see winemaker Didier Mariotti's description of this as 'vertical'. (JR)