TN: 2006 Vilmart & Cie Champagne Premier Cru Coeur de Cuvée

  • 2006 Vilmart & Cie Champagne Premier Cru Coeur de Cuvée - France, Champagne, Champagne Premier Cru (1/22/2021)
    Opened while listening to Biden’s inauguration speech.

Powerful Champagne, bright effervesence, tart appley. At first pour it’s harsh and needs more time and/or air. I look forward to following this over the course of the day. It showed best from a Zalto Champagne glass which masked the harshness and emphasized the minerality.

Some lovely floral notes emerged over the course of the first hour.

A few hours later it’s showing best from a Zalto Universal but still not expressing all that much. Disappointing.

Day 2: better but still pretty tightly wound. Impressively long finish.

Day 3: Finally!
This is a fantastic Champagne which obviously needs a lot of time. It now displays an explosive melding of huge rocks, chalk and sweet citrus fruit.
But rather than open my remaining bottles 2 days in advance I think I’ll just let them sit for a few years.

Posted from CellarTracker

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I’m currently sitting outside enjoying the South Florida afternoon sun with a glass of the 2012 that I opened two days ago. The palate explosion was today although there was a hint last night. Beautiful wine.

Thanks Jay! I’ll let my one bottle sleep until 2026.

Cheers,

Hal

I admit to questioning the overall utility of a Champagne that shows its best on the third day open.

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Beautiful Florida day. Jay thanks for the data point. I will let mine rest.

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Yes. But I think a good decant would have done the same thing.

Probably true, but who decants champagne? You lose the bubbles.

It’s often not necessary but it’s done when deemed prudent as for any tight wine. I haven’t experienced significant loss of bead.

Here is what I found using the search from just the last year—to identify who on Wine Berserkers decanted Champagne when it seemed like the right thing to do. I seem to recall a separate thread on this topic but I didn’t go back far enough to find it.

Me and folks (including a number here) who drink wine with me:

Brad Baker:

Marcus Dean:

Buzz:

Mark Kaplan:

Paul Seah:

Mark Davis and Jonathan A:

I decant champagne on occasion. Always with Prevost. I’ll gladly trade increased flavor/development for loss of some bubbles.

Cheers,

Hal