Collet Esprit Couture 2015

Collet Esprit Couture 2015 sits at the prestige end of the Champagne Collet range and is one of the house’s most technically distinctive current vintage releases. The 2015 blend is 60% Chardonnay and 40% Pinot Noir, with 53% of the wine vinified in barrel and a dosage of 7 g/L. Those figures immediately separate Esprit Couture from the broader core range. Chardonnay holds the majority, Pinot Noir supplies the remaining 40%, and more than half of the wine sees barrel vinification. For buyers comparing Collet’s different tiers, that makes this bottle a clear step away from the more direct house blends and towards a deliberately more ambitious prestige expression. Champagne Collet itself is unusual among major Champagne brands. Founded in Aÿ in 1921, it remains grower-owned, with the winegrowers retaining ownership of the brand and responsibility for the vineyards while Collet’s technical teams handle vinification, blending and ageing. That structure gives the house access to a broad sourcing base without turning it into a conventional privately owned maison. The range makes good use of that breadth. Art Déco Brut is the most useful starting point for the central house style, while Origine Brut shows the scale of the wider cooperative network. Blanc de Blancs and Blanc de Noirs provide the clearest grape-led contrast, and Millésime 2016 offers a vintage blend built from Grand and Premier Cru material. Esprit Couture 2015 occupies a different position. It is the prestige-tier choice for buyers who want the house at its most deliberately constructed, with a defined vintage, a Chardonnay-led blend and a substantial barrel-vinified component. Aÿ Grand Cru 2019 is the more site-specific alternative if one village, one vintage and a single Pinot Noir parcel are the priority. For a mixed Collet case, Esprit Couture 2015 therefore represents the top-end stylistic statement rather than the most typical introduction. Its appeal lies in the combination of precise vintage identity, a clearly stated 60/40 blend and the unusually large role of barrel vinification within the current range.