Selosse Version Originale, Champagne Jacques Selosse N.V.

Minerality, minerality and minerality. That's what comes to mind in Selosse's NV Brut V.O. (Version Originale), a wine that dazzles from the very first taste. Totally alive and wonderfully nuanced in the glass, the V.O. boasts crystalline purity and tons of finesse. The aromas and flavors are beautifully defined. Today, the V.O. is firing on all cylinders. Hints of dried fruits, smoke, tobacco and anise linger on the finish, but ultimately the V.O. is a wine of pure texture. Readers who can find the V.O. should not hesitate. It is magnificent! This release is based on vintages 2005, 2004 and 2003, and was disgorged on November 5, 2012.

All the 2019 disgorgements of Selosse's emblematic Blanc de Blancs cuvées are brilliant, and revisiting the November 2019 disgorgment of the NV Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru V. O. (Version Originale), I clearly underrated this wine on release. Unwinding in the glass with aromas of dried fruits, citrus oil, toasted nuts, drawn butter, yellow orchard fruit, clear honey and fenugreek, it's medium to full-bodied, broad and vinous, with terrific concentration allied with excellent tension. In fact, if this disgorgement stands out, it's for its especially notable cut and precision. Concluding with a long, sapid finish, it's a bottle that doesn't survive very long after opening in our household.

The NV Extra Brut Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru V.O. (Version Originale) is a massive wine boasting superb concentration and a level of textural richness that is unprecedented in Champagne. Here the fruit coats every inch of the palate in a stunning, virtuosic expression of ripe fruit. Smoke, minerals and incense add a visceral, exotic dimension to the wine that is impossible to resist. Version Originale is Chardonnay from Avize, Cramant and Oger, vintages 2002, 2001 and 2000. In a word: awesome Disgorged: November 5, 2008. Anticipated maturity: 2009-2019.

Disgorged in April 2021, the latest release of Selosse's NV Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru V. O. (Version Originale) is brilliant. Offering up dried fruits, orange oil, buttery pastry, baking spices, vanilla pod and beeswax, it's full-bodied, deep and vinous, with a layered and sapid mid-palate that's girdled by lively acids and complemented by a pinpoint mousse. Long and penetrating, it concludes with a saline finish.