94-Points by Vinous:
The 2013 Ratafia is 100% Chardonnay and is aromatic of perfume of quince, ripe apricot, orange flower oil, and marzipan. The palate is fully sweet and saline, with nutty praline, dried yellow plum, and baking spice.
 
"The nose is fresh with cherry and candied citrus notes. Our Ratafia develops ginger-breads aromas, rose flower jelly and bitter orange marmalade flavours. We can define it on the nose : velvety, warm, full and round nose. In the mouth, aromas of rose jelly and candied fruit are discovered. The palate is greedy, fresh and elegant, with an incredible aromatic length, with hints of fig, pineapple, mocha and blood orange. The finish is concentrated, slightly heady and very aromatic with notes of almond, fig and hazelnut." -Producer Notes
 
Cépage: The 2013 Ratafia is 100% Chardonnay from Rilly-la-Montagne 1er Cru
Soil: Clay and limestone
Fermentation & Élevage: 7 Years in 400L and 600L wooden barrels
 
Ratafia De Champagne
Ratafia de Champagne gained appellation status in 2015 and is unfermented grape juice plus local grape spirit—it’s a mistelle, in other words. Think Pineau des Charentes. It’s sweet and usually around 18% ABV; it’s the sort of thing that you would normally consider an apéritif, or something to drink with dessert or cheese. It comes from the same villages that make Champagne, from the same grapes, and the third and fourth pressings are used. The spirit, also from Champagne, might be bought from a local commercial distillery or from another grower; or growers might distill their own. And because the spirit is of a different vintage from the juice, ratafia is Non-Vintage. The minimum aging is ten months, which they want to raise to 15 months; it can be aged in steel, or oak of whatever kind.
 
 
Vilmart & Cie (RILLY-LA-MONTAGNE)
Vilmart & Cie looks back at a long history of grape growing and winemaking. It was founded as récoltant manipulant house in 1890 by Désiré Vilmart, in the village of Rilly-la-Montagne. Today, Laurent Champs, the fifth generation of the family, oversees the domaine.
The estate is located in the western end of the Grand Montagne and most of the holdings here are in the Premier Cru of Rilly-La-Montagne with a few small blocks in neighboring Villers-Allerand. Laurent farms 10 parcels over 11 hectares, an anomaly as most estates have many small parcels. This allows Laurent to farm with organic methods; his father practiced biodynamic viticulture and Laurent continues in this vein.
Like many of the villages in this area, Rilly faces north. This is the same exposition of Verzenay and Mailly Grand Crus, for example. However, the holdings of Vilmart are in a privileged place. Laurent has a large block of vineyards on a south facing hillside on the other side of the village, in the direction of Montbré, which rises to the north. This vineyard is called Blanches Voies, a due south section of 65-year-old ungrafted Pinot Noir and Chardonnay vines here go into Laurent’s Coeur de Cuvée, his top wine as well as Grand Cellier d’Or, his vintage wine and a new single site Blanc de Blancs, called Blanches Voies. Vilmart’s other parcels are in the south west facing vineyard of Hautes Grèves, another vineyard with both Chardonnay and Pinot planted.
Laurent ferments and ages all his wines in oak: large 2200–5500-liter foudre and demi-muid for the NV wines and smaller barrique as well as demi-muid for vintage wines. Malolactic fermentation is always blocked, giving the wines a crisp acidic structure coupled with the richness of the fermentation and aging regimen. Vilmart’s wines are at once ripe and structured, perfectly walking the line between hedonism and austerity, expertly balanced, and always exceptional.
“Vilmart & Cie. is not only one of the greatest grower-estates in Champagne, but one of the finest Champagne producers of any type in the region. ” Peter Liem, Champagneguide.net