Our dinner group enjoyed another fine evening, this time at one of our favs, bouchon. Our wine theme was one we’ve talked about doing for a long time, vintage Krug, Taittinger Comtes de Champagne and Cristal.
On most occasions, any one bottle of any of these can easily stand out on its own and shine, but now we have the opportunity to compare them side by side and there was no doubt as to the one that was the clear winner.
To embellish the experience, I took 3 Sophienwald Grand Cru champagne stems as I’m so spoiled by the amazing enhancement this glass provides to all things bubbly.
Although we did not have a Krug, we did have 6 champagnes and 3 nice reds and the 5 of us ate and drank extremely well while sitting on a semi secluded upstairs balcony. Here` the wines in the order poured:
2009 LOUIS ROEDERER CRISTAL BRUT- I’ve had many bottles of this pubescent beauty which was released ahead of the 08` and for good reason, it is showing beautifully now with all of the stuffing to eventually position this in the top echelon of classic Cristal IMHO; with bright acidity and mouthwatering citrus fruit, especially spicy lemon zest ,kiwi and lime, it glides over the palate with a creamy texture that carries all of the goodies to the back end and then hangs around for a grand finish; even at this early stage, it has nice balance, elegance and charm and is so approachable, to a fault in my case; the back label code informs us it was made of 60% Pinot Noir and 40% Chardonnay and bottled in 2010, disgorged November 2017 @ 8 gpl with no ML
2008 LOUIS ROEDERER CRISTAL BRUT- First, I did not take this one; for those who might remember from past notes, I’ve been scolded numerous times for opening up way too many before their time { on this night, I brought the 09 and the 07 Comtes Rose}; the 08 has been considered by many to be the star of the 2000s for Cristal and possibly one of the all-time potential greats, this is just now starting to deliver the goods as it eases into more expressive notes and is getting richer with more body and layered complexity; as with previous bottles, it especially gave generous amounts of honeyed and ginger laced lemon oil; the assemblage is 60% Pinot Noir and 40% Chardonnay, but the latter seems to be more prevalent in the taste profile as orange peel and lime also join in as well as some golden delicious apples, strawberry and white peach. Outstanding. Back label code tells us it was made of 60% Pinot Noir and 40% Chardonnay, bottled in 09, disgorged in 2018 and 20% ML.
2004 LOUIS ROEDERER CRISTAL BRUT- my goodness, the 04 has really matured nicely and the consensus was it was the best of the 3 Cristal- who would have thunk that? It had honeyed peach, apricot, mango, citrus and pear fruit with a nice streak of brioche all the way through; it was full bodied with a creamy mousse and layered complexity; the key word here is maturity as this shows how much more of everything is gained with more time. Note to Self: hold off on opening the 08 and 09 for a few. The real question is, can Self obey? No back label code in 04.
2006 TAITTINGER COMTES de CHAMPAGNE BLANC de BLANC- with close to 40 bottles consumed, each additional one just seems to remind me of how incredible this bubbly is as evidenced by the oohs and aahs around the table after the first sip; the first thing I got was the toasty brioche in the nose that provided the major accent to the taste profile, but it’s the whole package that gets your attention as it remains in perfect balance while delivering notes that stimulate all of the sensory preceptors to the max; more specifically, the brioche is joined by generous amounts of spicy citrus fruit with lemon and lime most prevalent and now some stone fruit is coming in; it also had a creamy, rich and luscious mousse which gave rise to its incredible mouthfeel; it was perhaps a touch more evolved than I can remember any previous bottle and still a long ways away from its apogee. At this moment, I`m thinking that this is so much more enjoyable than the 3 Cristal before it and I loved al 3. Will it be the WOTN?
2007 TAITTINGER COMTES de CHAMPAGNE BLANC de BLANC- many of us have had the 06 and other vintages of this marvelous champagne, but few have had the 07 which has not received a lot of love from Comtes followers; I’ve liked every bottle and although this one was not up to the previous ones, it had very enjoyable citrus notes with a touch of slightly toasted brioche and spice being delivered in a creamy mousse; it was not nearly as rich nor full bodied as the 06`, but its bright acidity, taste profile and texture all serve to please and still allow for this to be a quality bubbly.
2007 TAITTINGER COMTES de CHAMPAGNE BRUT ROSE- 70% Pinot Noir, 30% Chardonnay; this is the 5th bottle I’ve had of these and loved every bottle; the notes have been very consistent as each has had a bounty of fresh red fruit with brioche laden red cherry being most prevalent; it’s creamy and rich and full bodied and yet has magnificent finesse and elegance. As I’ve stated before, this is essentially a “glass” bowl full of whipped cream and cherries. It is the perfect forerunner to moving on to a fruity red Burgundy or hearty Pinot Noir, even a fruity Nebbiolo. Coming up.
2015 PRODUTTORI del BARBARESCO MONTEFICO RISERVA- this was really fruit forward with lots of fresh and ripe red cherry/ berry and black raspberry most noticeable from the aromatics on; there’s an earthy character plus a touch of eucalyptus that provides nice accents to this full bodied yet easy on the palate Nebbiolo; there’s serious structure here and a long, satisfying life span is ensured.
1990 DOMAINE LOUIS LATOUR ALOXE-CORTON- from the stellar 1990 vintage comes a mature red Burg that offered some pleasurable nuances with its spicy, wild, briary and dried red fruit notes that on the palate was cranberry, red cherry and plum; it was medium to full bodied and ended with another strong hit of dried red fruit.
2005 DOMAINE ARLAUD CHARMES-CHAMBERTIN GRAND CRU- this most certainly could have qualified for the WOTN even with our primary champagne theme; it was stupendous with a super smooth texture, incredible richness and a full body with layers of depth and complexity; the ripe red fruit notes were dominated by red and black raspberry, red cherry and plum with some undertones of earth and leather; it was nicely balanced and just exuded class.
So, when it came time to vote for the WOTN, it was unanimous- 2006 Taittinger Comtes de Champagne. I don’t know about on a global basis, but in our little nook of Santa Barbara, this is the world champion of current bubbly.
Cheers,
Blake
