The NV (2016) Extra-Brut Substance is a wild, exotic Champagne. Tangerine peel, white flowers, candied citrus and spice fill out the layers. Hints of crystallized ginger and chamomile appear later. Ample and full-bodied, with tremendous energy, Substance is fabulous in this release. Bottled with no dosage. (AG)

The new release of Cuvée Substance from Guillaume Selosse is simply stunning. As readers may recall, the Cuvée Substance is the Selosse family’s solera bottling, with three thousand bottles produced each year, and then the new vins clairs added back to the solera for the next year. I should mention that the “new” vins clairs added into the perpetual solera have already been aged for one year in foudre prior to their addition to the blended tank. The wine is a pure Avize chardonnay, with the wine having spent six years aging sur lattes prior to disgorgement. It offers up a superb, beautifully mature bouquet of baked apples and pears, macadamia nut, warm bread, chalky minerality, dried flowers, just a whisper of oak and a gently smoky topnote. On the palate the wine is bright, elegant and full-bodied, with superb complexity, a lovely core, fine soil undertow and grip, refined mousse and a long, poised and seamlessly balanced finish. I love the aged character of this wine’s aromatic and flavor spectrums, while still retaining a lovely spine of acidity, vibrant mousse and the bones of a younger wine!