We recently enjoyed dinner on the outside patio of dear friends who set it up for practicing proper COVID measures. Homemade food and great wines complemented the wonderful friendly and positive conversation, a healthy thing to do in a time when it can sometimes be challenging to find the good out there in the world.
Speaking of challenges, lately I’ve been seeking out “older” viable champagnes to get that superlative experience I`ve read and heard about but only had a couple of times out of way too many and especially recently. All recent bottles have been severely oxidized or even undrinkable. So, I was hesitant to take a bottle that could be questionable especially for our hosts who are and have been significantly entrenched in the wine business for many decades and are highly knowledgeable.
When I am in Europe and especially Paris and Amsterdam, my high end champagnes of choice includes those from the house of de Venoge, especially their top tier release, Louis XV. Not only is the bottle shape unique and a keeper for all things decorative in a wine geeks home, but the contents have been consistently outstanding. A few years ago, I acquired a few bottles of the 95 vintage. Encouraged by recent on line chats about how well one of my now consumed favs of the vintage has been showing currently, the 95 Taittinger Comtes de Champagne, I selected the following with a tad of trepidation.
1995 de VENOGE BRUT LOUIS XV- packaged in a spectacular clear glass bottle, this is a 50% blend of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir sourced from numerous Grand Cru plots; the first important discovery was seeing the bright yellow color when poured, not gold, not amber, not brown, but yellow; I took a breath and then went for the aromatics and found wondrous spicy citrus notes, not almonds and hazelnuts, not butterscotch and caramel, not super sweet, but just right and I took another breath; on the palate came more of the lightly spiced citrus with lemon and lime most prevalent and hints of green apple and pear in the background; even better, it had lovely feel, stately elegance and maintained a steady balance of integrity throughout. Now, I’m hyperventilating. OK, this is not 40-50+ years old, but at least it was in a perfect place for my delicate palate and I stuck up a fist of celebration and screamed out “Yes!” which got some strange looks from our hosts who were unaware of my last few disastrous bottles.
As if a great somewhat aged champagne was not enough, we couldn’t have asked for anything better, but it came up next:
2011 LUCIEN LE MOINE CLOS ST. DENIS GRAND CRU- cloaked with glee at the showing of the de Venoge, I approached this somewhat haphazardly only to be abruptly awakened by this superlative wine; its youthful, vibrant dark purple color seemed appropriate given the vintage, source and producer, but the nose was full of red berries and accents of cedar and spice and now its got my attention; I don’t know if I was more delighted with the taste profile or the texture and they both were staggering heightened sensory experiences; spicy and mature strawberry, red raspberry and red cherry was delivered in a medium that epitomized the definition of velvet; it just kept on coming and delivering and one sip led to many more until the bottle was left in its original state, empty and `m ready to shout out another “Yes!”, but held back.
2008 FERRER BOBET PRIORAT SELLICIO ESPECIAL- 14.5% abv; made from old vine Carignane, this inky dark and teeth staining wine was pretty intense and relegated me back to taking tiny sips; spicy and oaky black currant and black mission fig marches right on through with an attitude that nothing can get in the way or stop its goal of blasting ones palate; I believe this undergoes full ML and if so, it would explain the full and creamy texture, mouthfeel and huge, extended finish. This is a must decant wine and has the structure to go for the long haul, say 25+ years; after 3 or 4 sips, I`d had enough and went back to appreciating my empty clear glass de Venoge bottle.
A fine evening indeed. Great friends, a safe and secure atmosphere and some fine wines and most importantly, a viable 25 year old champagne and a Grand Cru red Burg that is as good as it gets. Yes!
Cheers,
Blake