NV Champagne Jacquesson Cuvee No 742 Grand Vin Extra Brut 750 ml

“No Champagne house is on a trajectory of ascent as steep as Jacquesson,” says Tyson Stelzer, a global Champagne expert and author of the authoritative The Champagne Guide. The reason is simple: brothers Laurent and Jean-Hervé Chiquet, whose family bought the estate in 1978, have completely revolutionized the property and house style, and the results have placed them squarely among the world’s top five Champagne houses.

Today, Jacquesson runs neck-and-neck with Dom Perignon, Krug, Salon, and Roederer. From Alexander’s Steakhouse in Cupertino to Del Posto in New York City, Jacquesson is a staple of more Michelin-rated restaurants than we can list. 

This Champagne Jacquesson Cuvée No. 742 is the follow-up to the rapid sell-out of the estate’s 741… and comes with even more accolades. Vinous media founder Antoni Galloni proclaimed it “A gorgeous wine,” before adding “Dried pear, hazelnut, mint, chamomile and dried flowers all grace this rich, beautifully resonant Champagne.” Today, it’s available for a fraction of the cost of the competition. 

As Galloni puts it, “Readers who haven't tasted these Champagnes in some time owe it to themselves to do so. Today, Jacquesson is among Champagne's elite producers, that much is certain.”

A Pinot Noir-dominant blend with grapes from the Hautvillers, Aÿ, and the Avize Grand Cru and Dizy, a Premier Cru, combined with Chardonnay from Avize and Oiry, this stunning release is a bright pale gold color with lively tiny bubbles, and thought-provoking in its array of red fruits, citrus peels, wildflowers, and spice. The combination of volume, direction, and mineral intensity shows this wine is poised for a beautiful development of the next 12-15 years, easily. Powerful, voluminous, chiseled, and firm with red fruits and spices, we have a mere 30 cases for the taking.

The bubbles at Jacquesson have flowed since 1798, long before other notable Champagne houses emerged—like Krug, which was born in 1843, when Johann-Joseph Krug left his cellarmaster post at Jacquesson to form his eponymous house.

But Jacquesson’s more recent rise in prominence only dates back to 1988, when, after a decade of pleading with their father, the Chiquet brothers convinced the patriarch that a complete overhaul was essential not only to survival, but to reinstating Jacquesson as one of the leading houses of Champagne. Their plan, set in motion 32 years ago, is working. 

The Chiquets went from purchasing fruit from 98 acres of vineyards throughout Champagne down to 19 acres, while 80 percent of grapes today are estate-grown. Their biggest shakeup came in 2000, when they retired their 150-year-old non-vintage Perfection Brut label and introduced the 700-series, a vintage-based cuvée that began with Cuvée No. 728, and has since been numbered sequentially. Today’s Cuvée No. 742 is based on the 2014 vintage. 

With Grand Cru holdings in Aÿ, the Côte des Blancs, Avize and Oiry, as well as Premier Cru sites in Dizy and Hautvillers, Jacquesson’s “biodynamic farming and minimal handling, along with low levels of dosage in bottling, resulting in powerful, at times, stark Champagnes of naked purity and brilliance,” writes Antonio Galloni of Vinous. 

Stylistically, Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate said it best: “Virtually all of their wines are bone-dry (and labeled “Extra Brut”) yet come off as admirably balanced, following cask fermentation and aging, and long stays in bottle pre-disgorgement.”

Compared to other top Champagne houses, Jacquesson’s quality comes at an incredible value.