Vilmart Cuvée Grand Cellier d'Or 2008

Lean and coiled tight, with green apple, preserved lemon, wet chalk and a faint brioche note still buried beneath the surface. The 80% Chardonnay from Les Blanches Voies Bas has real structural backbone, acidity cuts clean and long, and the finish lingers with a stony, almost saline edge. Austere right now, and not giving much away. Give it three to five more years and this should open into something genuinely compelling.