🍾 Dom Ruinart Blanc de Blancs 2013

Dom Ruinart Blanc de Blancs 2013 is the 2013 release of Dom Blanc de Blancs by the house Ruinart, a vintage white Champagne.

According to the house, the wine is made only from Grand and Premier Cru Chardonnay: 70 % from the Côte des Blancs (Le Mesnil-sur-Oger, Avize, Chouilly, Bergères-lès-Vertus) and 30 % from the Montagne de Reims (Verzenay, Sillery, Taissy, Villers-Marmery). It aged under cork for at least 9 years on the lees and was disgorged by hand; the dosage is 5.5 g/l, and the cuvée takes 12 years to make. The coldest first half-year in 20 years delayed the harvest until the end of September.

The house Ruinart was founded on 1 September 1729 in Reims by Nicolas Ruinart; its cellars lie in old chalk pits (crayères). According to the house, Chardonnay is its signature grape and appears in all its cuvées.

The boundaries of the Champagne area were set by a law of 6 May 1919: parts of the Marne, Aube, Aisne, Haute-Marne and Seine-et-Marne departments. The designation’s specification allows seven grape varieties, dominated by Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier; grapes are picked as whole bunches, that is by hand, and the yield is limited to 10,400 kg per hectare.

According to the Comité Champagne, Champagne is served chilled to 8–10 °C, and bottles are kept in the dark at a steady 10–15 °C, without vibration. An opened bottle is best closed with a sparkling-wine stopper and kept cold.

It is sold under the protected designation of origin Champagne: the bubbles come only from a second fermentation in the bottle, and the wine is aged for at least 15 months before sale (36 for vintage). Check the label for the sugar term (brut, extra brut and so on): the house does not state it on the wine's page.

Why it matters to you. The year on the label is the harvest year, so different years of the same line are different wines. The WHO reminds: there is no safe level of alcohol.