Limited Stocks. Price £405.00. The individually numbered bottles are gilded with fine gold and sealed closed in the time-honoured clip and printed cork fashion. Introduction: A mythical cuvée, a treasure of our estate, the culmination of the Henri Giraud experience. Review: This is an extraordinary, hand-crafted Champagne with aromas of strawberries, spice, dried apples, clementines and subtle bread dough. Dried oranges, too. Full-bodied, yet so tight, compact and powerful with a solid core of fruit and a finish that goes on forever. 90% pinot noir and 10% chardonnay, all from the village of Ay and fermented and aged in new wood for 15 months. Then aged in bottle. Superb structure and complexity. One for the cellar. 99 points, James Suckling, JamesSuckling.com, August 2020 Technical Data 90% Pinot Noir – 10% Chardonnay Vinified and raised in new barrels from the Argonne Forest. Serving Suggestion: A delicious aperitif with slivers of Parmesan cheese, or during gourmet meals, with Peking duck with pear and apricot, or pan-fried Asian beef fillet. Update: Aÿ, October 2nd 2013 Champagne Henri Giraud, in partnership with the French National Forest Office (ONF), has officially announced the launch of its new campaign “Forever and ever, ARGONNE” Around the world, from October 2nd 2013, the purchase of one bottle of the Cuvée Argonne will finance the planting of a new two-year-old oak tree and also the vital support it needs over the next five years. Thereby, everyone can contribute, alongside the Champagne House, to the safeguarding of the Argonne forest, and the protection of the Champagne’s heritage. Claude Giraud: Argonne forest’s oak trees are unique, they allowed the Champagne region to make the greatest wines in the world and helped France build one of the most powerful fleets, contributing to its international reputation. But few of us know that great oak trees can’t survive and reproduce without human intervention and care! Ravaged by two world wars, then abandoned by the people of Champagne, this magnificent forest is in danger. Champagne Henri Giraud began the fight for its rehabilitation with the first vintage of the cuvée “Fût de Chêne” in 1990. With Cuvée Argonne and in partnership with ONF, pioneer in sustainable development since the fourteenth century, Champagne Henri Giraud wants to ensure the sustainability of this forest – Forever and ever. Background Information: Contemporaries of Henri IV and his descendants, the Hémart family settled permanently in Aÿ at the beginning of the 17th century. Their history took root there and became closely interwoven with the momentous historical events relating to Champagne from the 18th century onwards. At the opening of the 20th century, Léon Giraud married Miss Hémart and reconstructed the magnificent family vineyard, which had been ravaged by phylloxera. Today, Claude Giraud, the 12th generation of the Giraud-Hémart family, is in charge of the fortunes of the family business. The Giraud-Hémart family own 20 hectares – 35 parcels of Grand Cru land of which 26 is planted with Pinot Noir and 9 with Chardonnay. Only 17 of the Champagne region’s 323 Crus are classed as Grand Crus (rated 100%). The wine production of Giraud estate is environmentally-friendly, subscribing to the ‘lutte-raisonnée’ (limited intervention grape growing). The overall production is limited to 250 000 bottles a year, making the Giraud Champagne stand apart from the majority of bulk-producing champagne houses. The Giraud house is one of the few houses (Krug is another example) that conduct primary fermentations in oak. Henri Giraud pride themselves on sourcing wood for its barrels from the slow growing, tight grained, high quality trees of the ancient forest of Argonne, lying just 35 miles from the estate. Described by leading wine critic Robert Parker as “the finest Champagne house virtually no one has ever heard of”. The reason for this is that until the 1990s their wines were only sold directly to discerning, well-informed private customer in France and Italy.