95pts Jeb Dunnuck

The bright yellow NV Champagne Grand Cru Verzenay Cuvee 045 Extra Brut is from the base of 2022 Pinot Noir, with 20% reserve. Medium to full-bodied, the mousse is gorgeous, with a creaminess that’s worth waiting for as the wine opens and evolves. With notes of orange citrus, fresh bread, white peach, and pretty red fruit shining through, there’s tension in its refined mineral texture and refreshing acidity, with a note of oak that delicately frames the wine. A mouthwatering wine with crystal clear focus, it’s gorgeous now but should only improve over the next 8-10 years.

93pts Decanter

Paul Froissart turns out varied, precise and energetic wines from the grand cru village of Verzenay, highlighting a number of individual parcels such as 045, Les Rochelles, a plot from his grandmother. Based on the super-ripe 2022 vintage, this wine nevertheless retains a surprising amount of crunch and restraint thanks to the way Paul likes to pick it fairly early. It frames bright clementine, pear skin and crisp stone fruit with light sweet-spice oak and a driving sense of purity.