Telmont Champagne Extra Brut Vinothèque 1985

A library release from Champagne Telmont: the 1985 vintage, held back in the house cellars at Damery for decades.

Telmont's Vinothèque series releases old vintages that have rested in the family house's own cellars since harvest. The 1985 is 95% Meunier and 5% Chardonnay from Damery, Venteuil and Reuil, vinified in stainless steel without malolactic fermentation to keep its natural acidity. It was bottled in 1986, aged 35 years in underground cellars, riddled by hand and disgorged in 2021 with a dosage of 4.2 grams per liter, which places it in the Extra Brut style. The 1985 season was capricious, with the threat of frost through winter and spring, before a warm late-summer sun brought ideal ripening, and the house says the vintage kept a beautiful acidity and a rare aromatic quality. Cellar master Bertrand Lhôpital describes date and dried jujube on the nose, then apricot and prune compote that evolves toward honeydew melon. 12% ABV, 750ml.