Oh, man, I swallowed but should have spit...Moet & Chandon 2008 Grand Vintage Champagne. Qu'est-ce que?

WINE TALK
1

I bought a 2008 Moet Grand Vintage champagne to take to a blind tasting of “sparklers that can be found locally at retail.”

This was an abomination.

Burnt rubber, yucky Converse sneaker, spoiled vegetables, “skunk in the distance,” chemical, all in a very narrow scent band. I ran out of negative adjectives. It tasted as bad as it smelled.

It was so bad, we found unanimity about something!

Is this an “over reductive” flavor profile?

As my punishment for bringing it, I had to finish my glass. [barf1.gif] [suicide.gif]

Suckling gave it a 93, and it has over 4 stars on cellar Tracker.

Has anyone else tried this?

I’m tempted to get another to see if it’s the bottle or the run.

Easily the worst tasting alcohol I’ve ever had, and I am typically willing to put anything in my mouth.

2

Sounds like a bad bottle. The bottles I’ve had have been good if not dom.

3

I’ve had a similar experience. Worst champagne ever that day I had it.

4

Sounds quite reduced with lots of mercaptans. Bummer.

Never experienced this with bubbles - usually it’s more of a situation of oxidized with it smelling and tasting like apple juice . . .

Cheers

5

Maybe light struck?

6

Have had this twice and it was good to very good.Well worth the $45 tariff

7

I’ve had one bottle. Thought it was, nothing special

8

2008 Moët & Chandon Champagne Grand Vintage Brut Rosé - France, Champagne (5/13/2018)
Mother’s Day Champagne. A simple effort. Strawberry, spice, watermelon and dried herbs. Very short finish and not complex. The most overpriced Champagne I have ever tasted. Terrible QPR!!! I would rather drink a cheap Rose which would have more character. (81 points)

My note on the Rose. NO flaw just terrible. It was the same source as others who enjoyed it so I suppose an off bottle.

9

Sounds like there’s some kind of bottle variation going on together with some flawed bottles. I had a bottle (of the 2008 Grand Vintage…not the Rose) and thought it was quite excellent for the reasonable price paid (I believe about $45 per bottle). I’m worried because I “re-ordered” a few more after my first positive experience, but the re-order was from a different source. I’ll try one of the re-ordered bottles asap!

10

That all sounds like an extreme case of reduction.

11

Awesome, you even ranged it!

12

Thanks! Is this something that can vary from bottle to bottle?

13

Our local wine shop (Jackson’s in Lafayette) has the staff do a blind vintage and non-vintage champagne tastings in November/December before the holidays.

In the vintage tasting, yours came in 4th out of 7.

Guess you had a bad bottle.

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14

Just a middle-of-the-road experience for me:

The bottle as described by the OP was clearly faulty in some way.
Graeme

15

I suppose it could. I suspect the variability has more to do with certain batches than certain bottles, but quality control is not a topic that’s all that familiar to me.

16

Tasted three different bottles over the holiday period, all with similar notes and roughly matching what Graeme posted here. Solid though unremarkable. No Converse sneaker.

17

I had this last night for the second time and very much disagree. For my tastes (and those of my bride) this is every bit the flexible, fun rose I had the first time. While I agree that it is neither exceptionally complex nor profound, it was a pleasure to drink and at $55 a reasonable if not stupendous value. Drank it with Indian street food (Bindaas) and it was grand.

To each his own, I suppose. I’ll happily drink the remaining 6-7 bottles I have.

18

Probably had an off bottle as mine had no complexity what so ever.

19

I am thinking so, as well.

I will grab another and report.

I’ll use the same retailer, as well, likely the same handling and maybe same shipment.

20

Yeah we drank the 08 Rose and blanc at a spring baby shower last year and it held its own with some nice wines including tempier rose and graci Etna Bianco.