$421.90
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This is 2020 base with 20% reserve wine from 2019—so two brilliant seasons. Prévost’s 2.2-hectare vineyard, Les Béguines, is in Gueux, 10km west of Reims in the north of Champagne. The soil of Les Béguines is a layer cake of calcareous (Thanetian) sand over clay, over more calcareous sand. Inherited from Jérôme’s grandmother, the site was planted in the 1960s with an old, slow-growing, less productive rootstock that descends deep. Les Béguines is close to 100% Meunier, although there is now a small parcel of 10-year-old Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Blanc planted next to the Meunier (these vines represent roughly six per cent of the blend). The vineyard management is organic, with the soils cultivated exclusively by horse and yields kept at balanced levels.
As always, the wine was vinified without any additions, in large-format used barrels for 10 months and was bottled unfiltered. Prévost disgorged this release after 18 months on lees and added 3 g/L dosage. In the past, this was always a wine of one given vintage; however, the last two releases have included some reserve wine. It’s a game-changer—the wines are now even more complex and far more approachable from an early age. Nonetheless, this is a Champagne that’s built for aging. A recent bottle of 2012 was in great form, and still youthful. The typical window we give for Les Béguines is around seven to 10 years from release. That’s an ideal, of course, and this is already stunning. Nonetheless, if you can give it even one to three years of further aging on cork, you will be amply rewarded.
