many here love this wine but my one time was mediocre. So tonight I opened another bottle, bought early on and stored well. Same low opinion—no depth, finish clipped. $30 Champagne. And I am a Taittinger fan. I wanted to like it. Heat damaged? Some other defect? No signs of it. Who knows but it’s not for me.
Its way to sharp for a luxury cuvee, some nice flavours but presents like a NV cuvee
Just had the 2004 - it’s a bigger and denser wine terrific in a robust masculine way. The 2006 is a more elegant version of Comtes but is by no means thin and clipped. It’s the elegance of texture and flavors that make the 2006 so appealing and quaffable. Try a bottle from a different batch? The 2006 Rose is also great.
I certainly think it is worthy of the name, but it is not a vintage I like. Came off a bit too rich and sweet for me, lacking persistence on the tail end. Then again, I like my champagne pretty far at the other end of the spectrum from 2006. 1995 Taittinger Comtes is the last vintage that truly dazzled me.
Had a bottle the other night, didn’t wow me either, must say at this point - not really a fan of any of the '06’s I have had…
Don’t at all mind ppl disliking it, makes more available for me at low prices.
I’ve had several bottles, I like them a good bit, albiet they need some years for best drinking. While we can split hairs on preferences and styles and vintages, Alan’s bottles don’t sound correct.
Y’all make me want to open one from my Envoyer stash. The one bottle I opened a while back was excellent but nowhere near ready.
I had a similar experience when tasting at a retailer last month. There seems to be a great deal of variability. Unfortunately I had a few tucked away. Crossing fingers they improve.
Michael, if only wine prices mirrored stocks and bond prices! Don’t think the prices are going to be sub 3 figures anytime.
I’ve bought a lot from ppl on here for 80-100, maybe they didn’t like it.
I’ve experienced plenty of bottle variation. Nothing terrible, just inconsistent.
I mentioned this a while back. To date I’ve had it 3 times - once from K&L retail, once at Taittinger’s cellars in Reims, and once from one of M. Fu’s friends. The first two times were exactly as you describe - thin, clipped, mediocre. The third time was great - more along the lines of the raves it has been getting on this board. I have no idea why there would be so much variation
edit: given that the one tasted at Taittinger’s cellars was mediocre, I’d be inclined to rule out heat damage / storage issues as a factor
I am with you, Brig. But when this bottle is on, for me it is on big-time. I have had it maybe a dozen times, including one from magnum, and there were maybe two that did not measure up. Still have more in the cellar that I look forward to.
Production is said to be 150-300k bottles. 300k bottles is 60,000 gallons. I’m sure there are tanks that big, but even so, blending becomes an issue. I can imagine that a production that large doesn’t have a uniform blend across every bottle. I have no idea how premium champagnes like Dom Perignon do blending across millions of bottles.
I bought 6 bottles in Dec of 2016 from Hi Time…and those seem to be grey market, imported by Kirkcrest Imports(bottle on right)…have drunk 4…and all 4 have been simply brilliant! So brilliant, I went out and picked up another case in July of 2017 from different source. These are imported by Kobrand(left bottle), and I’ve had 3 of these so far…and they are as disappointing as alan has mentioned. Very angular and harsh…no pillow softness and finesse like the first 4 bottles.
So…are your bottles from Kobrand? Anyone else notice the differences? Euro bottles are amazing…the US bottles suck?
I’ve had about 8-10 bottles to date of the 2006. I too found variation, and when it did vary, it went in the direction of lemon-lime & 7-Up flavors. I simply got tired of that level of sweetness, dosage, both or something else…whatever it was, I sold all of mine off earlier this year and bought other Champagne with the funds.
Drinking a bottle this Monday with some experienced tasters. Not sure what to expect.
Interesting that a year ago it was universal praise and now folks are talking about it being so-so. A friend locally had a bottle a month ago and to him seems like it’s going to sleep for a bit. From my memory of drinking through half a dozen of these not long after release, they were quite enjoyable and I felt like they were worth the $100/btl tariff at that point. Will leave the remainder alone for some more time now and revisit as they gain more bottle age especially based on folks’ recent discussions.
I’m interested to hear about bottle variation. I’ve had this maybe seven or eight times, loved it every time thought still a bit young. Great stuff so far, I hope the other bottles turn out as well.
I had a good bottle Halloween night which was followed by a Ruinart NV. The Comtes clearly overshadowed the Ruinart, which itself was a good Champagne.