Champange, Recoltant

I mentioned having a great bottle of champagne over new years, it happened to be this one: Pierre Peters Cuvee Special 1999 Brut Blanc de Blanc. Pierre Peters is a recoltant-manipulant as opposed to a negociant. A recoltant-manipulant will grow his own grape to make his champagne. This gives him better controlled over what is going to be part of his creation. A negocians will buy his grape in bulks from grower to make their champagne. Such famous negociant would be Moet & Chandon, Veuve Clicquot and other mainstream champagne found at every supermarket. A recoltant-manipulant will have a smaller production then a negociant and will not be able production like a negociant does. This assures the highest quality of champagne (for the producers who love what they do), and usually gives the champagne certain softness and refinement only found is very expensive champagne for a fraction of the price (more or less). This champagne's complexity was impressive; the multitudes of different tastes were rolling of your tongue like models down the runway. The finish didn't have an end and left your mouth cleaned and salivating for more. It took a worthwhile half an hour to truly express itself, and when it did it wouldn't stop.