2022 Domaine Carneros Brut Vintage Cuvee 6pk 6x750ml

Six bottles of the vintage bottling from Champagne Taittinger's American estate. This is the good stuff, and here's why it earns the space in your cellar.

Domaine Carneros isn't another California sparkling house. In 1987 Claude Taittinger staked 138 acres in the cool heart of Carneros. He built a château modeled on the family's home in Champagne. The goal: prove California could make sparkling wine worthy of the Taittinger name. Founding winemaker Eileen Crane spent 33 years refining that vision before handing off to Remi Cohen in 2020. The result is one of the most respected sparkling houses in the country.

The Brut Vintage Cuvée is the step up from the everyday bottle. Where the flagship brut is non-vintage, this one is built from a single year. 56% Pinot Noir, 44% Chardonnay, all estate Carneros fruit. Whole-cluster pressed and given a minimum of three years on the lees before disgorgement. That extra time is what you taste. Fine, pinpoint bubbles, a toasty depth under the citrus, and the taut acidity that Carneros fog delivers. James Suckling scored it 94; Wine Enthusiast, 93.

Carneros is fog country. Cool maritime air pushes in off San Pablo Bay. It slows the ripening and locks in the acidity that makes real sparkling wine sing. This is Champagne-house pedigree at a California address, and it drinks like it.

Two packs make twelve, and the shipping's free. Keep some cold for whatever the year throws at you.