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Champagne &
Sparkling Wine News and Updates |
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News and Updates from December 2008 When new is old and old is new and
right is wrong and wrong is right
I’ve had this wine many times and it is still a
tightly coiled baby. It may be showing
some subtle hints of maturity, but it has years and years to go. There were two bottles being poured and I
noticed that most folks seemed to be flocking to one “good” bottle and
ignoring the “other”. In fact, the
“other” bottle was quickly taken away. Curiosity got the best of me and I inquired what
was going on. I learned that one
bottle (“good”) was showing brilliant and that one was corked (“other”). I asked about the bottle differences and
was told by a well respected person in the wine business that the “good”
bottle still being poured was full of nuts, honey, and sherried
biscuits – exactly how the 1988 Churchill should be – while the “other” one
was only showing only citrus and hints of dough; it was devoid of flavor due
to a bad cork. Hmmm… this didn’t sound right to me so I asked for
the corked bottle to be brought out and gathered up some of the best corked
bottle detecting wine noses I could find.
None of us thought the Churchill was corked. In fact, it showed just as it should have -
concentrated citrus, intense, tart red berries, and hints of biscuit dough;
simply put, a beautiful wine to me.
Next, I tried the “good” bottle.
As described to me, this was sweet, nutty, spicy, and sherried; an off bottle that was still tasty, but clearly
a victim of damage and premature aging.
I attempted to explain that the “other” bottle wasn’t corked and while
I still had some disagreement, it was left out to be poured. This experience taught me a couple things. First, Yes, that is oak in your Louis Roederer Cristal
For a long time, Louis Roederer’s
Cristal Cuvee was fermented and aged in stainless steel and tasted as
such. Sometimes a touch of honeyed
richness was apparent on release, but could be explained as an effect of the
oak aged liqueur used for the liqueur d’expedition
which contains the dosage. Recently, Cristal has taken on a new dimension of
richness and biscuity, vanilla, honeyed spice that
is very apparent in the 1999 cuvee and can also be found in the 2002
release. For a wine to show this
character on release is tough to explain as the result of just the liqueur d’expedition, but this is what Louis Roederer has said…
until now. Louis Roederer is finally acknowledging that some
of the wines used in the assemblage of the Cristal cuvee are in fact
fermented in oak. The percentage has
not crept above 20%, but may in the future depending on how things go with
the newer releases and what direction they want to take the wine in. So when did this start and why did they
deny it for a while? Roederer isn’t
saying right now, but I can smile a little.
I was given a hard time a while back for stating that I believed
Roederer was experimenting with oak for more than its reserve wine
program. I guess I am now vindicated. Mark down one more producer who is using
oak again and keep your eye on Cristal in the future. It will be interesting to see if its aging/peak curve will be altered at all by this move. A couple of good, solid, inexpensive
Even though many producers didn’t make a 2003
vintage wine, most made a NV blend that was based on the 2003 vintage. These NV wines are normally well over 50%
2003 vintage with a
good deal of 2002 reserve wines and the remainder from previous
vintages. It is amazing how well the
2003 vintage has done as a base for NV wines especially when balanced by the
more classical (but also low in acid) 2002 vintage. Most of the NV wines from the larger
producers that have lined our shelves for the past year were based on the
2003 vintage and are drinking beautifully right now. They don’t need any time to settle down
and are full of bright, fluffy, juicy fruit.
I wouldn’t recommend aging these, but they are definite crowd
pleasers.
While these wines are not complex, they are fun and
they make you smile. The only downfall
to them is that quality between bottles of the same cuvee is a touch uneven
due to the 2003 vintage character.
Still, if you are looking for a wine to please your family and friends
over the holidays or just looking for a no-thinking, easy drinking, tasty
treat for yourself, grab one of these.
Most of the growers are past the 2003 vintage base for their NV blends
and the big guys are starting to move on to NV blends based on the 2004 cuvee
so grab these now. Many are still on
the shelves and can be found on sale this time of year at $30-$35 US. A couple of my favorite inexpensive 2003 based
NV cuvees are the NV Perrier Jouet Grand Brut and
NV Mumm Cordon Rouge (as coincidence would have it,
these houses are sisters - both owned by Pernod-Ricard). Give ‘em a shot;
they may surprise you. 1988 Laurent Perrier Grand Siecle – Is
it just me?
Ever since I first had this wine in 2000, it has
never had the whole package to me. It
always has seemed a bit empty and slightly off. The latest bottle was another example of
this. While everyone else was raving
about its freshness and minerality, I was wondering why I couldn’t find any
fruit and why the acidity seemed to be tainted by a moldy aroma and
flavor. There have been a few other
people who have felt the same way as I do about this wine, but we seem few
and far between. Maybe I’m just built
differently. Just like something in Gruet’s wines always gives me a headache, maybe there is
something in this particular Laurent-Perrier cuvee that I am sensitive
to. Regardless, this is a wine I don’t
recommend, but I’m sure many others would. If you give it a try, drop me a line
and let me know what you think. 2004 Jose Dhondt
Mes Vieilles Vignes – Did he do it again?
It shows a nose that evolves nicely over the course
of an evening – starting out doughy and chalky with hints of honey and then
gaining some attractive sugar cookie notes after an hour or two. As for the palate, I miss the wild mix of
flavors that the 2002 showed. That
isn’t to say the 2004 isn’t flavorful; it is just more straightforward and
typical in structure with plenty of citrus and touches of bitter rinds. There is also a touch of green/unripe fruit
that bothers me a bit, but it isn’t strong enough to be anything more than a
minor distraction. On the aging front,
this shows the potential to improve.
Overall, a decent glass, but it doesn’t move me and I wouldn’t expect
it to separate itself from the pack as the 2002 this is not. A pair of contrasting 1990 bubblies
(1990 Delamotte and Henriot Enchanteleurs)
Two 1990 bubblies that are reasonably priced and at completely
different points in their life
are the 1990 Delamotte Blanc de Blancs and 1990 Henriot
Cuvee des Enchanteleurs. The 1990 Delamotte is at a perfect place in
its life right now. Flavors of honey
and toast are front and center on the palate while a nice spicy citrus zip
element zigs and zags
throughout this wine. While this will
certainly age for a good deal longer, I can’t really see it getting much
better and feel like it will give the most pleasure over the next few
years. This is a wine to drink before
it turns 21.
In contrast to the Delamotte, the 1990 Henriot Enchanteleurs is still
a baby. This extremely reasonably
price tete de cuvee is a big step up from the basic Henriot
vintage and still a bit ignored. Take
advantage of this while you can still find inexpensive bottles of it. Big aromas of gently honeyed biscuits and
vanilla citrus explode from the glass and really get you excited. While the palate isn’t quite as open, it
does show excellent structure with concentrated citrus and plenty of
clean/white smoky minerals and gentle biscuits. The long finish of zesty citrus brings it
all home with aplomb. Drink the 1990 Delamotte now and cellar the
1990 Henriot Enchanteleurs
for another day… far away. Comments on a couple of recent 1996s (Pommery Louise, Jacquesson Avize)
I’ve had the 1996 Jacquesson Avize Blanc de Blancs
numerous times over the past two or so years so it has been interesting to
watch this wine evolve. On release, it
had a brilliant citrus acidity & minerality that perfectly matched a
gentle toastiness and pure pear & apple fruit
character. Yes, the dosage was low,
but everything was in balance and the wine was mighty tasty. As time has progressed, the wine has
continually fallen a bit more out of balance as the toastiness
and dry acidity seemed to be dominating the pure fruit and mineral
flavors. I still like the wine, but I
think it was at its best on release and is something to drink over the next
1-2 years. Longer term storage isn’t
likely to treat this blanc de blancs so well. As an interesting side note that bears some
investigating, it seems that lighter flavored fatty foods like sausage and
cheese match very well with low dosage |
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