Palmes d'Or

Nicolas Feuillatte Palmes d'Or is the prestige cuvée of this well-known Champagne house, and the 1990 vintage represents one of the most highly regarded years of its era. The 1990 growing season in Champagne is generally remembered for warmth and ripeness, producing wines with both concentration and structure, qualities that have allowed the better bottlings to age over several decades.

As a vintage prestige cuvée from the region, this is a wine made to be cellared rather than drunk young, and at more than thirty years of age it should be approached as a mature bottle. Champagne of this age and category typically shows tertiary development, with the fresher primary character of youth giving way to more evolved, autolytic and oxidative notes. Condition is the decisive factor with bottles of this maturity, so provenance, fill level and cork integrity are worth considering before purchase. Given its age, the mousse may be gentler than in a young vintage Champagne, which is normal for the style.

Served cool rather than ice cold, around 10 to 12 degrees, a mature Champagne of this kind shows more of its secondary and tertiary complexity than one poured straight from the fridge. Any sediment should be left undisturbed, and careful handling before opening is sensible.

At EUR 250 per bottle, this sits within the range one would expect for a named prestige cuvée from a benchmark vintage with more than three decades of bottle age. For those who follow the development of mature Champagne, the 1990 Palmes d'Or is a recognised name from a serious year, offered here as a single 750ml bottle.