It has been truly refreshing—really, there’s no refreshment quite like it—reminding ourselves, and everyone else, how scintillatingly original these wines remain. It was a pleasure to welcome Alexandre Garandel to Australia at the end of July to mark 20 years since the inaugural 700-series release. The first wine, released in 2005 with 2000 as its base vintage, did more than rewrite the rulebook on the non-vintage concept; it turned Champagne on its head. Suddenly, the big houses weren’t on top. Small was beautiful. Site, not cellar, reigned supreme. Transparency triumphed. With small yields, limited production, low dosage, every detail declared and vintage proudly reflected, the 700 series exalted the specific and relegated the generic. In doing so, it removed Jacquesson far from the luxury of complacency enjoyed by many Champagne houses, instead placing it where these bottlings belong: firmly within the world’s fine-wine paradigm.

Jacquesson has, of course, been a mainstay of the CellarHand portfolio since day dot. It was brothers Jean-Hervé and Laurent Chiquet who started the quality revolution here in the final quarter of the 20th century. The Chiquets, devoted viticulturists with a deep appreciation of great wine, took everything a step further in the new millennium with the 700-series, the late-disgorgement (dégorgement tardif or DT) programme and a series of utterly mind-blowing vintage parcellaire bottlings from their most singularly brilliant plots. While some things have changed, the pursuit of perfection remains a constant.

Now, as the sparkling jewel in the crown of superb wineries that make up Artémis Domaines, the determination to be the very best—a path laid out by les frères Chiquet—is more evident than ever. We don’t recall a better 700-series edition on release than the 748. It has all the tautness, energy and flecks of savoury-mineral interest that we’re used to, allied to a plenitude from the 2020 base vintage that makes it dangerously open and moreish. 743, based on 2015, is the new DT. As always, the extra time on lees turns back the clock with more invigorating, youthful vibrancy than its original incarnation, yet with greater depth of confit lemon, poached berry, dried stone fruit and ginger lent by time. And the lieu-dit Blancs de Blancs from Avize and Dizy are from 2014. Both are show-stoppers; Avize Champ Caïn is a touch more sleek, salty, and arrow-like, while Dizy Corne Bautray is rounder and enveloping—both are profound, engrossing, and ludicrously long. It is our pleasure to offer these new wines alongside some gems from the cellar. Each is a unique, fascinating wine in its own right, and all are extremely limited, so if you see something you like the look of, please don’t hesitate. As is always the case with Jacquesson, time—along with place and precision!—is of the essence.