Le Clos Lanson is set to become the second Champagne ever to be sold on La Place de Bordeaux, one of the world’s oldest marketplaces. The single vineyard expression – and Champagne Lanson’s top cuvée – follows Champagne Philipponnat’s Clos des Goisses onto the historic marketplace.
La Place de Bordeaux is over 800 years old and is a distribution system that consists of around 300 négociants (distributors) and courtiers (middlemen) who buy and sell wines from Bordeaux châteaux. Historically, La Place only sold wines that were made in Bordeaux. However, in 1998 the marketplace opened its doors to its first non-Bordeaux bottling: Viña Almaviva’s 1996 vintage, a joint venture between Château Mouton-Rothschild and Chile’s Concha y Toro. In subsequent years, more and more non-Bordeaux wine producers have been invited to sell on La Place. Think Napa’s Opus One, Australia’s Penfolds Grange and Argentina’s Catena Zapata.
The advantage of selling wines on La Place is its access to global markets and experience selling into Asia, especially China. Négociants have salespeople around the world primed to sell high-end wines. Lanson’s president, François Van Aal, commented on this new approach:
‘This distribution method will enable our icon cuvée to reach a larger amount of wine lovers and collectors around the world, while strengthening the awareness of our Champagne house which is already present over 80 countries’.
Le Clos Lanson 2009 will be the first expression sold on the platform. This top cuvée is produced from 100% Chardonnay grapes harvested from a one-hectare, walled vineyard in the heart of Reims. Only just over 7,000 bottles, along with some magnums, were produced of the 2009 vintage.
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