Champagne Vintage 2013: A Profile

March 29, 2021|Sara Underdown.

Helen Keller once said that character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. The same can also be said for some of Champagne’s greatest vintages, which have also been the greatest suffering. But who can tell with such untroubled beauty?

The latest to debut its unaffected charm is vintage 2013 which has quietly emerged on retailer’s shelves, hot on the heels of 2012. But with all the fanfare surrounding 2012, and its 2008 predecessor, there’s been little said of it, if nothing at all.

As far as vintages go, 2013 looks somewhat bleak on paper, but only to the less curious. Early reports were quick to throw around exaggerations like ‘pales in comparison to 2012’ and ‘doesn’t compete in overall quality’. Don’t get me wrong, it was, indeed, a challenging growing season, but there are many like these. The spring was cool with delayed flowering, hail fell in summer, uneven ripeness was everywhere, and harvest was one of the latest in 20 years. What resulted, however, is greater than the sum of its parts; a more ‘classic’ vintage, by Champagne’s standards.

Louis Roederer’s chef de caves, Jean-Baptiste Lecaillon, says that in 2013 you needed to demonstrate great skills as a grower and winemaker.

“If picked too early with higher yields and no clever winemaking, you will get some strict acid and lack of fruit. But if picked at the right time, with carefully managed yields, you will discover some interesting wines with subtle aromatics and plenty of fruit wrapped in a classic structure, a laser-like line of acidity, great purity and salinity,” he says.

Some of the first releases from 2013 include: Ayala Blanc de Blancs; Louis Roederer Rosé, Blanc de Blancs and Vintage; G.H. Mumm Millésimé; Taittinger Millésimé; and Boll & Cie Blanc de Blancs. Growers such as: Suenen; Agrapart; JM Sélèque; Doyard; Franck Bonville; R. Pouillon; Larmandier-Bernier; and Emmanuel Brochet, are others.

I’ve been fortunate to try many of these and my overwhelming impression has been delicacy, elegance and purity across them all. A true classic, but also with the acidity to carry them through a long life.

Blanc de Blancs and chardonnay-dominated blends are showing particularly well.

Lecaillon also suggests that 2013 sits somewhere between 2008 and 2012 - being fruitier and more textured than 2008 but fresher than 2012.

“2013 is very classy and classic and the best wines will definitely reward the clever consumers. It’s a ‘sleeper vintage’ that is less obviously delicious on release but, in time, will reveal itself,” he says.

2013’s soul is a classic champagne profile, that has been missing in more recent vintages. It’s a return to elegance and delicacy of the highest order and one that I find particularly attractive for good drinking and long aging. It’s worth getting excited about.