’95 Dom Perignon - First wine of the night. Round and creamy as DP with a few years of post-disgorgement age usually shows. Good yellow fruit, hidden acidity with sufficient effervescence for those that don’t prefer “aged” Champagne. Excellent
’96 Dom Perignon - Similar profile to the '95 but it had a some more fruit and hints of smoke. Excellent Plus
’95 Dom Perignon Oenotheque Disgorged in 2006. A little less round than the original disgorgement with more acidity on the finish. I usually prefer well stored original disgorgements over the same vintage of the later disgorged Oeno’s, but this is one vintage that is an outlier for me. My favorite disgorgement of all the '95 DP Oeno’s I’ve consumed. Staggering minus.
’96 Dom Perignon Oenotheque Disgorged in '08. Ok, back to the norm. Solid wine but doesn’t have the character of the original release. On its own, surely a great pleasure. In tonight’s line-up, Excellent minus.
The '95 DP Oeno was only one of the two '95’s I preferred over the same wine from '96 out of the eight 95 vs 96 wines consumed this evening.
’95 Pol Roger Sir Winston Churchill The last of the “mourning” labels. Also, not a perfect bottle with a bit of funk on the nose that eventually blew off, but the palate was solid from the get go. While the grape composition is the somewhat the same as the DP’s, both Winston Churchills show a bigger pinot profile. Very Good Plus.
’96 Pol Roger Sir Winston Churchill A wine I haven’t had in several years that I had become to believe wasn’t as good as it market price, but this bottle gave me some second thoughts on that position. Big Pinot, but not heavy with excellent acidity on the finish. Excellent
’95 Taittinger Comtes de Champagne My favorite vintage of CdC between 1976 and 2002 and the jury is still out if it will turn out to be my favorite since '76. Yellow fruit including sweet lemons, laser acidity with great length. Still youthful. Should be a 45+ year Champagne. My other favorite '95 of the eight side my sides. Staggering
’96 Taittinger Comtes de Champagne Perfect bottle of this wine but it suffers being served after the '95. A mini '96. A touch less fruit, a touch less focus and a touch less acidity.
We had five other '95 vs '96 matchups but none of those had both a “P” and “R” in them. Excellent plus.
As always, Atera’s food and service were both world class at this relatively under the radar restaurant.