Jacques Selosse Substance Brut Grand Cru Blanc De Blancs

Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate

Disgorged in July 2019, the latest release of Selosse’s NV Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs Substance is thrilling. Wafting from the glass with a deep and kaleidoscopically complex bouquet of candied peel, citrus oil, toasted nuts, vin jaune, fenugreek, confit lemons, golden orchard fruit and frangipane, it’s full-bodied, rich and enveloping, with an extravagantly textural attack that segues into an ample, mouth-filling core that cascades over the palate with layer after layer of ripe fruit and sapid nuance, enlivened by an ultra-refined pinpoint mousse. Expansive and penetrating, not only its singular style but also its concentration and plenitude put it in a category of its own. This is the most moving bottle of Substance I’ve ever tasted, and I couldn’t stop thinking about it—or drinking it. As I wrote last year, this is the cuvée that best exemplifies Selosse’s contention (to paraphrase) that an oxidative élevage can purge a wine of the organic, leaving behind only the mineral—in this case, he argues, the imprint of two Avize lieux-dits, Les Chantereines and Les Marvillannes. For admirers of Selosse’s wines, that makes it one of the most compelling bottlings in the portfolio, just as his detractors are likely to rank it as his most divisive. No cuvée could be more emblematic of a man who is, not alone but more than any other, responsible for Champagne’s transformation over the last 30 or 40 years.

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