Claude Cazals Clos Cazals Vieille Vigne

Claude Cazals Clos Cazals Vieille Vigne is the natural destination within the range for buyers who want the estate’s most concentrated statement of site. The 2015 release is made from 100% Chardonnay drawn from the oldest vines in Clos Cazals at Oger, bringing together the house’s defining grape, an enclosed vineyard and an explicitly old-vine selection. That combination places the wine beyond the broader village and parcel expressions in the portfolio. Carte Or Grand Cru is the sensible starting point for understanding Claude Cazals across Le Mesnil-sur-Oger and Oger. Les Boulangères and La Chapelle du Clos narrow the focus towards individual sites. Clos Cazals Vieille Vigne goes further still by centring the wine on the enclosed Clos Cazals vineyard and its oldest vines. The 2015 release also follows a long cellar-ageing programme. Dosage is deliberately low, although the exact classification can vary between Extra-Brut and Brut Nature from one vintage to another. That vintage sensitivity is important: Clos Cazals Vieille Vigne should be bought as an exact release, not as a permanently fixed technical formula. Champagne Claude Cazals is a family grower based in Le Mesnil-sur-Oger, with roots the house traces to 1897. Chardonnay is the defining variety, and the current range is organised around progressively greater site specificity. Delphine Cazals has directed the estate since 1996, continuing a family line that also includes an unusual technical legacy: her father Claude was one of the patent-holders involved in the development of the Gyropalette. For buyers, however, the key attraction here is not the history of the house but the precision of the bottle itself. Clos Cazals Vieille Vigne 2015 is where old vines, one enclosed Oger site, pure Chardonnay and extended cellar ageing converge. If you want the clearest expression of Claude Cazals at its most site-specific, this is the bottle in the range built for that purpose.