Champagne Lanson Gold Label Brut Vintage 1996

Lanson’s 1996 Brut Vintage Collection offers up a deep bouquet of citrus oil, confit lemon, fresh peach and wheat toast, as well as the iodine and kelp top notes that are so often characteristic of this particular vintage. Full-bodied, multidimensional and concentrated, it’s deep, tensile and incisive, with a racy—even trenchant—spine of acidity and a long, penetrating finish. The 1996 is still a very youthful wine that’s evolving gracefully, so readers should feel no urgency to open bottles.