‘The 2013 Chardonnays are beautiful, lean and sizzling,’ says Ruinart Chef de Cave Frédéric Panaïotis as we taste the new vintage of one of Champagne’s fastest-ascending prestige cuvées – Dom Ruinart Blanc de Blancs.
The previous release, 2010, is a hard act to follow. Acclaim for this otherwise under-the-radar vintage came from all quarters.
This included the title of World Champion at the Champagne and Sparkling Wine World Championships and top spot in Decanter’s sizeable blind panel tasting of Blanc de Blancs in December 2023.
How does 2013 take the stage after such a successful release?
‘In general, with climate change, the vines flower earlier in the year even if the bud burst is the same,’ explains Panaïotis. ‘Except for in 2013! It was a cool spring, a late flowering, a long and slow season.’
As profiled in our 2013 10 Years On tasting last year, 2013 remains unique among vintages of the last 15 years for its bright acids, narrow frame and natural tension at a time when big, bold and ripe is becoming the norm.
‘2013 is more Chablis than Meursault,’ offers Panaïotis.
Crowns to corks
Dom Ruinart took a major leap in the 2010 vintage with the move to age the wine for its bottle fermentation under cork, rather than the crown cap normally used in Champagne.
‘The cork brings an extra dimension of texture,’ Panaïotis believes, pointing out that the extra aromatic detail that ageing ‘sous liège’ appears to bring especially suits 2013. ‘Without the cork 2013 might be missing something,’ he says.
Aside from the cork ageing, Dom Ruinart is a little particular among Prestige Blanc de Blancs in having a fairly open-minded policy to grape sourcing.
Chardonnay is sourced not only from the Côte des Blancs Grand Crus of Le Mesnil, Avize and Chouilly (as well as lesser-seen Premier Cru Bergères-les-Vertus) in 2013, but also from the Montagne de Reims in Verzenay, Villers-Marmery, Sillery and Taissy – fairly unusual for blanc de blancs.
Taissy, though, is the site for Ruinart’s experimental sustainable vineyard, a ‘pilot site’ according to Panaïotis, where cover crops, hedges and tree plantations in the vineyards are being tested not only on their ecological credentials, but on their effects on the grapes.
Fans of Dom Ruinart 2010’s graceful, yet undoubtedly hedonistic wow-factor will find a quieter, more reserved character in the 2013.
It’s a vintage every bit as compelling in its own way, beautifully settled, silky and discreet, although it may keep its potential tucked a little closer to its chest in the short term.
This is very much a wine of the new era for Dom Ruinart, however, leaving little doubt as to its place in the very top tier of Champagne’s elite creations.
Dom Ruinart Blanc des Blancs 2013:
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