V.O., short for Version Originale, is the Extra Brut blanc de blancs that Jacques Selosse makes from grand cru Chardonnay on the Côte des Blancs. It carries almost no dosage, so the Avize chalk and the long barrel ageing come through plainly. Think of it as a great white wine that happens to sparkle.
About This Champagne
V.O. comes from hillside parcels higher up the Avize slope, where the soil is thin and the chalk sits close to the surface. Each blend brings together three consecutive harvests, all fermented and raised in barrel on their lees before bottling, and the wine then rests for years in the cellar before disgorgement. Anselme has described it as the chalk speaking in its own language, which sums up the style: linear, taut and mineral rather than fruit-led. As a multi-vintage blend, it has no single harvest year behind it.
Tasting Profile
- Nose: Lemon oil, green apple, chalk dust and a faint note of toasted hazelnut from the barrels.
- Palate: Dry and tightly focused, with citrus, ripe pear and a saline, stony core under a very fine mousse.
- Finish: Long, bone-dry and chalky, with a light bitter-almond edge.
Serving & Food
Serve at 10 to 12°C, noticeably warmer than most Champagne, in a white Burgundy glass rather than a flute. Opening it half an hour ahead does no harm. Drink now or hold for several years. Try it with raw oysters, turbot in beurre blanc or a wedge of aged Comté.
How to Enjoy
Anyone curious about how far grower Champagne can go in the direction of fine white wine.
Product Details
Producer: Jacques Selosse
Cuvée: V.O. / Version Originale
Style: Grand Cru Extra Brut Blanc de Blancs
Grape Variety: Chardonnay
Blend: Three consecutive harvests (multi-vintage)
Region: Champagne, France
Origin: France
Volume: 750mL
About the Maison
The Selosse story is recent by Champagne standards. Jacques Selosse and his wife made their first wine from their own Avize vines in 1964, at a time when most growers sold their grapes to the big houses. Their son Anselme studied oenology in Burgundy, where he met growers such as Coche-Dury, Lafon and Leflaive, and he joined the family domaine in 1974.
What he brought home changed the estate. Anselme cut yields sharply, gave up chemical fertilisers and weedkillers, and fermented each parcel in barrel much as a Meursault grower would. In 1994 the Gault-Millau guide named him France's top winemaker across every region and style, an honour without precedent, and his approach went on to shape the whole grower Champagne movement.