2004 Champagne Dumangin J Fils Le Vintage Extra Brut 1er Cru 750 ml

A “Royal” Premier Cru Bubbly Disgorged For You

For a small, under-the-radar grower-producer in the Montagne de Reims, J. Dumangin Fils Champagne certainly shows up in some high places: Sir Paul McCartney served the non-vintage bubbly at his 2011 wedding, and a Dumangin sparkler recently landed on Forbes magazine’s list of “Best Champagne You’ve Never Heard Of.” The 2004 J. Dumangin Fils Champagne 1er Cru is their vintage Champagne that earned 95 glowing points from James Suckling, a score that put it on par with vintage 2004 Champagnes like Dom Ruinart, Billecart-Salmon Blanc de Blancs, and Perrier-Jouët Belle Epoque. More than a decade on its lees has endowed the 2004 with gorgeous toasted character, which is balanced by a lively and lasting acidity. Our allocation is being specially disgorged for Wine Access client and is due to hit U.S. shores in October—just in time for fall entertaining. Wine Access clients can look forward to a finely aged, super-complex Premier Cru vintage Champagne that performs as well as bubblies that leave the triple-digit price point in the dust.

It’s not how many people have heard of the tiny Champagne house your family has operated since 1890—it’s which people have. And two big names from Britain happen to know J. Dumangin Fils well. The first is Sir Paul McCartney, who gave Dumangin’s non-vintage Champagne the nod for his 2011 wedding. Jancis Robinson, MW, is the second, and while she may not be a Beatle, her word on wine carries more weight than anyone else’s in the U.K. She included J. Dumangin on her list of “growers who produce superior Champagne,” as she praised the value that these récoltant-manipulants offer for the money, especially when compared to Champagne’s Grandes Marques.

Those are outsized accolades for a tiny producer. The Dumangin family has been farming in Champagne since the 17th century, and has been producing Champagne in Chigny-les-Roses since 1890. But, even after a century and a quarter, the family’s estate covers only 13 acres.

That intimate size is reflected in their methods as well. Gilles Dumangin utilizes a special press, one of perhaps only two still in use in the world, that exerts an unusually low amount of stress and pressure on the grapes during crush. Dumangin even hand-riddles their vintage Champagne, performing a taxing, tedious job that larger producers pawned off to the enormous mechanical gyropalette decades ago. This is a true artisan Champagne from a fifth-generation grower-producer. The quality, after a decade in the Dumangin cellars, shows in every sip.