Collection Sebastiao Salgado
⏳ Drinking Window
2020 - 2030
🍽️ Food & Wine Pairings
Pan-seared sea scallops, roasted turbot with beurre blanc, aged Comté cheese
✨ Technical Specifications
The Taittinger Collection was conceived in the late 1970s by Claude Taittinger, establishing a bridge between the worlds of contemporary art and fine Champagne. For this highly collectible fourteenth edition, the house collaborated with the legendary Brazilian social documentary photographer Sebastião Salgado. The bottle features a striking black-and-white photograph of a leopard in the Barba Azul Savannah of Bolivia, symbolizing the majesty of nature. Beneath the artwork lies Taittinger's exceptional 2008 vintage Millésimé, a year celebrated as one of the greatest in modern Champagne history due to its cool, steady growing season and perfect harvest conditions. Crafted from equal parts Chardonnay and Pinot Noir sourced predominantly from Grand Cru vineyards, the wine was aged for several years in the house's historic, subterranean Gallo-Roman chalk crayères, resulting in a masterpiece of laser-like acidity, deep minerality, and rich autolytic complexity.
🍾 About the Producer
Tracing its viticultural lineage to 1734 through the historic house of Forest-Fourneaux, Champagne Taittinger was formally inaugurated under the family name in the 1930s by Pierre Taittinger after acquiring the Château de la Marquetterie. Today, the maison remains an independent, family-led enterprise directed by Vitalie Taittinger with cellar master Alexandre Ponnavoy. Taittinger manages approximately 288 hectares of sustainably farmed vineyards, certified under Haute Valeur Environnementale (HVE) and Viticulture Durable en Champagne (VDC), spanning premier terroirs across the Côte des Blancs, Montagne de Reims, and the Marne Valley. Here, pure Cretaceous chalk soils, gentle slopes, and a marginal semi-continental climate impart hallmark tension and refined minerality. Taittinger's winemaking philosophy champions a distinctively high proportion of Chardonnay, yielding cuvées of crystalline precision, airy floral lift, and structural grace. Prolonged aging takes place inside subterranean 4th-century Gallo-Roman chalk crayères beneath the historic Saint-Nicaise abbey ruins, culminating in iconic prestige expressions like the 100% Grand Cru Chardonnay Comtes de Champagne Blanc de Blancs.
🍇 Grapes
Chardonnay 50%, Pinot Noir 50%
🍷 ABV
12.5%