Vintage ’59 Imports, Washington DC.

50% Chardonnay, 40% Meunier, 10% Pinot Noir, blending fruit from the Vallée de la Marne and Côte des Blancs.  7.5 h/a across 36 parcels and seven villages: Pierry, Moussy, Epernay, Mardeuil, Dizy, Vertus, Boursault.  Half raised in steel, half in cask. 2012 base vintage and 30% reserve wines.  Disgorgement: November 2014.  Dosage: 7 g/l. RM – 29294-02 L 12 BT.

Yellow-gold.  Beguiling for a Tradition, tugging on your senses from seemingly opposite directions.  Ever been left in state of wonderment? “How on earth can a wine be this and that”?  And so it is neither but both at the same time: rich and lacy, fruit and mineral, swollen and skeletal, pillowy with steel underneath.  Not particularly toasted for the wood the wine sees: “more PJ than Bollinger”, Barb says.  The finish isn’t afraid to roll slow.  Now – 2018+.