NV De Sousa Cuvee 3A
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Tasting notes
The NV Champagne Grand Cru 3A Extra Brut is composed of 50% Chardonnay and 50% Pinot Noir from the three villages, all of which was picked on the same day. It features a 3-gram sugar dosage and a more gastronomic style and approach to the wine. I really love the nose of this one: it's a blend of pretty red strawberries, fresh apricot, light smoky earth, toast, and a hint of perfume. Medium to full-bodied, it’s round and fills the palate, offering ripe red fruit and apricot notes, a fine, pillowy mousse, and a clean, fruity finish, where the stone fruit shines. It’s zesty and fresh but also ripe. With fluidity and lovely energy, it’s very well-balanced and a very strong wine for De Sousa in this vintage. Drink 2025-2045. The De Sousa family owns 10 hectares and also rent some, which they farm and have made organic. Their estate has been certified organic since 2010, and they have been Demeter certified since 2013.
Critic scores
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Jancis Robinson MW
James Suckling
More reviews and scores
Avize chardonnay (50%) meets pinot noir from Aÿ and Ambonnay in equal parts and delivers very attractively fresh, citrus-focused aromas of lemon and chalk with a palate that twists to blood oranges and pink grapefruit, as well as strawberries. Super fleshy. From organically grown grapes. Drink now.
De Sousa's NV Cuvée 3A Grand Cru Extra Brut (Disg. 1/2017) is an assemblage of 50% Chardonnay from Avize, 25% Pinot Noir from Aÿ and 25% Pinot Noir from Ambonnay. The white-golden colored cuvée displays a very clear, fresh and precise nose with some refreshing herbal and stony/mineral flavors in the background. Firm and fresh yet still a bit reductive and bitter on the palate—possibly with a touch of Brettanomyces—this is a very elegant and linear Champagne with a clear, fresh and grippy slightly dry finish. The edition tasted here is based on the 2014 vintage that was bottled in April 2015. This sample was disgorged in January 2017 with a dosage of five grams per liter. Tasted in Reims, April 2018.
3A = Avize, Ambonnay and Aÿ. Avize for Chardonnay, Ambonnay and Aÿ for Pinot Noir. 50% in oak. Dosage 3 g/l. Based on 2011 vintage. ‘New trend for less sugar. 20 years ago Demi Sec was quite famous.’ Quite a honeyed nose. Then a little demanding on the palate. I’d wait before enjoying this although there is no shortage of body here. (JR)