Delamotte Brut Blanc de Blancs Champagne 2018

95 points Wine Spectator: "[$165 list] Like a prima ballerina, this elegant Champagne shows effortless precision and grace. The lacy mousse carries a layered range of creamed apple, yellow plum, pickled ginger and lemon curd flavors, aligned with more subtle hints of rich vanilla-infused pastry cream and brioche. Long and creamy, with a succulent quality to the well-cut acidity and a mineral-driven finish of smoke, chalk and oyster shell. Drink now through 2038. 400 cases imported. (9/25/24)"

94 points Audrey Frick (JebDunnuck.com): "The 2018 Champagne Blanc De Blancs is more subtle initially, but it develops a more detailed and tailored feel as it starts to open. This is the first time Delamotte has produced both a vintage wine as well as a multi-vintage blend from the same vintage. This 2018 pours a bright pale yellow hue and is expected to age longer than the entry release. It has a similar floral profile but with more intensity on the nose, with aromas of quince, fresh blossoms, white grapefruit, and chalky earth. Medium-bodied, it opens to a fluffy mousse, with a fresh, floating feel on the palate. It’s clean and inviting, with a long finish that slowly tapers away. It’s a bit more shy than the NV at this stage, but it also has a more elegant feel and is going to benefit from time to flesh out over the coming years. It has a salty feel and more density, but it’s more savory and has a mouthwatering finish. Drink 2026-2039. 6 gram per liter dosage. Drink: 2026-2039. (12/20/24)"

93+ points Sarah Mayo (The Wine Independent): "Pale golden yellow in color and displaying a remarkably disciplined, singular column of pinpoint bubbles, the Delamotte Blanc de Blancs 2018 is blend of six Grand Cru from Oger to Oiry from a very sunny vintage. This 2018 was released earlier than usual for the House, seeing only four years of aging on fine lees, was disgorged in late 2023 and finished with a five grams per liter dosage. Engaging aromas of Meyer lemon tart, fresh white peach, butter biscuits, chalk dust and hints of honey open onto a subtly creamy, light to medium-bodied palate with lemony orchard fruit concentration brightened by an incisive acid line and mouthwatering salinity. It finishes long and balanced with a taut mineral note. Alcohol 12.5%. Drink: 2024-2038. (12/18/24)"

93 points Yohan Castaing (Wine Advocate): "The Delamotte 2018 Blanc de Blancs is showing well today, evoking a gourmand, complex bouquet of pastry, almonds, ripe orchard fruits, spices and spring flowers. Medium to full-bodied, layered and chiseled, it’s enveloping and round with a fleshy core of fruit, though not as fleshy as the 2012, concluding with a tense and long finish. (3/29/24)"

93 points Tyson Stelzer (The Champagne Guide): "(tasted in 2024 in Australia and France; the six grand cru villages of the Cote des Blancs: 20% Le Mesnil, 20% Oger, 20% Avize and 40% Oiry, Chouilly and Cramant; a lower dosage of 5.5g/L in response to its warm season; disgorged last trimester of 2023). The newly released vintage of Delamotte has been given just four years on lees in response to the generosity of the season. It is predictably structured and tense at this stage, early in its release cycle, contrasting the phenolic grip and firm structure of this warm season with grapefruit, apple and beurre bosc pear flavours. There is a rounded generosity and creamy succulence on display here that proclaims the bountiful ripeness of the warm 2018 harvest. Layers of ripe pear and white peach and even baked apple contrast the acute saline minerality of these lauded crus. Its ripeness makes for a readily accessible and immediately appealing vintage. Creamy texture and gently honeyed complexity linger on a long and ripe finish. One bottle lacked freshness. (2024)"

92 points James Suckling: "Subtle aromas of apple pie, lime, white flowers and reductive flint. Medium body, with some phenolics that frame the wine nicely. Flavors of bitter lemon, lemon and a hint of brioche. A little short now. Better in a year or two. (8/6/24)"