Jacquesson Cuvee 737 Degorgement Tardif Champagne Extra Brut

Jacquesson Cuvée No. 737 Dégorgement Tardif Champagne Extra Brut Champagne, France | 43% Chardonnay, 30% Pinot Meunier, 27% Pinot Noir | Base Vintage: 2009 | Disgorged: November 2017

There is a short list of Champagne producers who have genuinely redefined what non-vintage Champagne can be. Jacquesson sits at its very top. Founded in 1798 by Memmie Jacquesson — a figure so accomplished that Napoléon himself presented him with a medal — the house passed through several ownerships before arriving, in 1974, with the Chiquet family. It was under brothers Jean-Hervé and Laurent Chiquet that Jacquesson underwent its transformation from respected négociant to one of the most intellectually rigorous houses in the entire region.

The turning point came in 2000 with the introduction of the numbered 700-Series, an audacious departure from the conventions of the non-vintage category. Rather than blending to a consistent house style year after year, the Chiquets resolved to make each release a true expression of its principal harvest — a wine whose number simply counts forward from the first release. The approach was radical. It meant accepting vintage variation as a feature rather than a flaw, and trusting that collectors would follow. They did. The 700-Series is now among the most avidly tracked releases in fine Champagne.

The Cuvée 737 is anchored in the 2009 harvest — a year of near-perfect growing conditions in Champagne, with a cold, dry winter, a mild spring, and a long, warm, dry summer that brought the grapes to exceptional ripeness. The fruit comes exclusively from five classified crus: the Grand Crus of Aÿ, Avize, and Oiry, and the Premier Crus of Dizy and Hautvillers — all within the Chiquet family's 28-hectare estate, farmed with sustainable practices and, on a third of the holdings, certified organic. The juice flows by gravity into large neutral oak foudres for both alcoholic and malolactic fermentation, producing a wine of textural richness and oxidative complexity that sets Jacquesson's house style apart from the reductive, stainless-steel-driven approach dominant elsewhere.

The Dégorgement Tardif designation marks this as an altogether different proposition to the standard Cuvée 737 release. Where the standard bottling ages on the lees for three to four years before disgorgement, the DT remains in the cellars at Dizy for approximately seven and a half years — yielding a wine of dramatically heightened complexity, depth, and autolytic richness before emerging with a dosage of just 1.5 grams per litre. It was also, notably, the first release in the 700-Series to be aged on cork rather than crown cap under lees — a deliberate experiment by Jean-Hervé Chiquet in pursuit of additional freshness and vibrancy. The wine rested further after disgorgement before release, as is standard practice at the house.

In the glass, the Cuvée 737 DT presents a full straw-gold hue, its mousse fine and persistent. The nose is layered and evolved: ripe apple, butterscotch, toasted brioche, and warm spice, undercut by notes of clear honey, walnut, Meyer lemon, and white flowers. With air, the wine opens further into autolytic depth — gingernut, fruit mince, and a subtle mineral backbone that speaks directly to the chalky Champagne terroir. The palate is medium to full-bodied, fleshy and textural yet energised by the lively acidity and chalky dry extract that characterise the finest DT releases. The finish is long, focused, and complex, with an elegance that belies the wine's near-decade on the lees.

Drink: Now–2033