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.
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.
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: