Champagne Hure Freres Invitation Brut
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Wilfred
Wong -
Wine
Spectator -
Robert
Parker
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
COMMENTARY: The Champagne Huré Frères Champagne Invitation Cuvée de Reserve Brut is authentic and pure. TASTING NOTES: This wine excels with aromas and flavors of stone fruits, mineral notes, hard candies, dried apple skin, and chalkiness. Pair it with a tray of just-shucked raw oysters. (Tasted: May 25, 2023, San Francisco, CA)
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Wine Spectator
Well-cut and vibrant, this crisp Champagne is lacy in texture, with a minerally overtone and a fresh range of crunchy pear, spring blossom, pink grapefruit pith and sea salt notes. Disgorged December 2019. Drink now through 2024.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Based on the 2016 vintage and disgorged in January 2020 with five grams per liter dosage, the latest release of the NV Brut Invitation offers up aromas of apples, pears and toasted bread. Medium to full-bodied, vinous and nicely concentrated, it's fleshy and textural, with racy acids, ripe fruit and a pillowy mousse.
Third-generation vignerons and brothers François and Pierre Huré represent a new wave of artisan champagne production that stands to elevate the regional notions of excellence. Based in Ludes on the northern side of Champagne’s pedigreed Montagne de Reims, these open-minded perfectionists farm 10 hectares of vineyards—80 percent of which belong to them and 20 percent which are rented from family vineyards and those of other like-minded partner-growers. Having both trained in Burgundy, the Rhone and New Zealand has fostered global perspectives in these native sons, as well as a desire to question convention. While they have farmed sustainably for 20 years, they have also been farming with organic and select biodynamic practices since 2009, though François prefers to not pursue any official certification. Precise, fresh, generous and terroir-driven champagnes define the house style at Huré Frères. Each parcel is vinified separately and is later blended. The wines age in both in tank and neutral oak, depending on the cuvee, with their cellar also featuring a perpetual-reserve solera begun in 1982. Dosages are never systematic; they are added by blind tasting only. Their finished wines offer incredibly pure and expressive aromatics, a fine, persistent bead, charm, elegance and deep, vinous earthy pleasure.
A term typically reserved for Champagne and Sparkling Wines, non-vintage or simply “NV” on a label indicates a blend of finished wines from different vintages (years of harvest). To make non-vintage Champagne, typically the current year’s harvest (in other words, the current vintage) forms the base of the blend. Finished wines from previous years, called “vins de reserve” are blended in at approximately 10-50% of the total volume in order to achieve the flavor, complexity, body and acidity for the desired house style. A tiny proportion of Champagnes are made from a single vintage.
There are also some very large production still wines that may not claim one particular vintage. This would be at the discretion of the winemaker’s goals for character of the final wine.
Associated with luxury, celebration, and romance, the region, Champagne, is home to the world’s most prized sparkling wine. In order to bear the label, ‘Champagne’, a sparkling wine must originate from this northeastern region of France—called Champagne—and adhere to strict quality standards. Made up of the three towns Reims, Épernay, and Aÿ, it was here that the traditional method of sparkling wine production was both invented and perfected, birthing a winemaking technique as well as a flavor profile that is now emulated worldwide.
Well-drained, limestone and chalky soil defines much of the region, which lend a mineral component to its wines. Champagne’s cold, continental climate promotes ample acidity in its grapes but weather differences from year to year can create significant variation between vintages. While vintage Champagnes are produced in exceptional years, non-vintage cuvées are produced annually from a blend of several years in order to produce Champagnes that maintain a consistent house style.
With nearly negligible exceptions, . These can be blended together or bottled as individual varietal Champagnes, depending on the final style of wine desired. Chardonnay, the only white variety, contributes freshness, elegance, lively acidity and notes of citrus, orchard fruit and white flowers. Pinot Noir and its relative Pinot Meunier, provide the backbone to many blends, adding structure, body and supple red fruit flavors. Wines with a large proportion of Pinot Meunier will be ready to drink earlier, while Pinot Noir contributes to longevity. Whether it is white or rosé, most Champagne is made from a blend of red and white grapes—and uniquely, rosé is often produce by blending together red and white wine. A Champagne made exclusively from Chardonnay will be labeled as ‘blanc de blancs,’ while ones comprised of only red grapes are called ‘blanc de noirs.’