I was blown away by the 1997 Extended Tirage Brut ($40), a blanc de noirs sourced from the Knudsen Vineyard. This just-released wine is 80% Pinot and 20% Chardonnay. It’s rare enough to see good Pinot-heavy blends coming from Champagne; this wine really hit me. The ten long years on lees (the process where the wine comes into contact with the dead yeasts in the bottle) allowed this wine the time to mature and develop a rich, creamy texture revealing what happens when Pinot is given the time to evolve after second fermentation. This wine is complex without being unapproachable. Again, showing that aged champagne is a style that should be enjoyed more often.