Beating dp 2012

WINE TALK
1

A group of us got together at Medlar to try and disprove Ray’s assertion that nothing beats DP 12 either now or in the future at the original release price point. We failed! Huge thanks to everyone for a really fun evening.

  • NV Ruinart Champagne Blanc de Blancs Brut - France, Champagne (22/03/2023)
    Served single blind. Pale colour. Clearly a bdb. Lovely, fresh, uplifting nose with a hint of sea shell. Bracing acidity and a bit shrill and short on the palate though. Correctly guessed the ruinart bdb with some bottle age. (88 pts.)

  • NV Jacques Lassaigne Champagne La Colline Inspirée Blanc de Blancs Extra Brut - France, Champagne (22/03/2023)
    Double blind. Gold colour. Gorgeous nose of spices and wild flowers. Weird, sour/lactic note on the palate that developed into old furniture polish. Good length/material here but spoiled for me by the weird chemical notes. Would like to try another bottle as this had good potential. I wrongly guessed this as the Egly and certainly didn’t have it as a bdb. NR (flawed)

  • 2014 Lancelot-Pienne Champagne Grand Cru Cuvée Perceval - France, Champagne, Champagne Grand Cru (22/03/2023)
    Single blind. Bright gold colour. Huge, classic nose of grated ginger and a hint of black treacle. Rich and powerful but with great balance. Very well resolved, with no hard edges. Surely had to be the krug!!? No! A real surprise to everyone who’d never heard of the producer before. My 2nd favourite of the night and the group’s 4th favourite behind the three tied for 1st place. (95 pts.)

  • NV Egly-Ouriet Champagne Grand Cru VP - France, Champagne, Champagne Grand Cru (22/03/2023)
    Single blind. Gold colour. Interesting hint of botrytis on the nose that was additive rather than a negative. Became quite toasty and with the cold rolled steel turning to black treacle that I associate with reductive DP. Turned out to be the Egly though. Very impressive. My 5th favourite on the night. (94 pts.)

  • 2002 Billecart-Salmon Champagne Cuvée Nicolas-François Billecart - France, Champagne (22/03/2023)
    Single blind. Darker gold colour. Rich and clearly more mature than the wines so far. A well rounded, more mature version of the previous wine! My 4th favourite and the group’s 5th. (94 pts.)

  • 2004 Taittinger Champagne Comtes de Champagne Blanc de Blancs Brut - France, Champagne (22/03/2023)
    Single blind. Pale yellow colour. Horribly sulphurous nose that just wouldn’t blow off. The sulphur completely crushed the underlying wine for me. Not at all my experience of prior bottles. Others found the sulphur to blow off quicker and/or be less intrusive and somehow this ended up being equal WOTN! I guessed Ray’s mystery wine on the basis that I’d never had a comtes with this level of sulphur before or frankly with any noticeable sulphur. NR (flawed)

  • NV Krug Champagne Brut Grande Cuvée Edition 168eme - France, Champagne (22/03/2023)
    Single blind. Slightly gold colour. Richer and rounder than the 08 comtes and dp 12 that followed but without their presence and energy. Still a good showing. I guessed the L-P Cuvee Perceval but turned out to be the krug 168. Interestingly, more than half the group got these two switched around and the former costs a third of the latter…! (93 pts.)

  • 2008 Taittinger Champagne Comtes de Champagne Blanc de Blancs Brut - France, Champagne (22/03/2023)
    Single blind. Pale yellow colour. Delicious! Drinking really well. Clearly a bdb and I was confident it was the 04 comtes. Was surprised to see it was my 08 instead as it was definitely more rounded/mature than other bottles a few months ago. My 3rd favourite and the group’s equal 1st. (94 pts.)

  • 2012 Dom Pérignon Champagne - France, Champagne (22/03/2023)
    Single blind. Very pale colour. Very young. Incredible energy on the nose and palate. Still very one dimensional but what a perfect dimension that is! I guessed the 08 comtes but it was the 12 dp. My favourite of the night and the group’s equal favourite. (96 pts.)

Posted from CellarTracker

8 Likes
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Ok, I’ll try it! They are serving it by the glass here, only $37.50 for 100ml.

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3

12 cdc would likely beat it atm, although 12 dom is very good.

4

Not side by side but prefer 08 Comte

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Comtes often shows reductive - I don’t think this was “flawed”, just bottle variation. I’ve certainly had this experience with Comtes, including with the 04.

2 Likes
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All this talk of Comtes yesterday and you did not bring a '12 CdC that would have bested the DP! Sounds like a great night, nevertheless.

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7

yeah me too and have had side by side recently.

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8

Thought about it at the last minute but didn’t have the time to run and grab one!

9

I’ve had hundreds of bottles of comtes from numerous vintages. Not one of them has ever showed as downright stinky in the way this one did. Specifically re the 04, I’ve had it multiple times from bottle and mag and none of them have showed like this. It was the very definition of faulty ie basically undrinkable for me. If it was my bottle I would have returned it to the merchant.

3 Likes
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Fair enough! I’ve had a fair number show quite reduced.

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Had a glass in Tokyo last October and it was really very impressive.

12

My only question is how you did blind tasting with such recognizable bottle shapes, lol

13

and you didn’t include DP 2008?

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2012 DP right now is way too polarized. The handful of times I’ve had it felt linear without dynamic depth. 2008 CDC at a minimum far outclasses it in my opinion but maybe the 2012 DP has room from here.

15

Somm poured all the wines in another room before bringing glasses to the table so nobody could see the bottles.

08 dp was already trading well above the release price of the 12 when the latter was released so it didn’t qualify.

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16

The joys of blind tasting - I thought that the 12 dp was the 08 comtes!

17

Opened another bottle of the LPCP tonight. It really is everything you would hope a krug would be.

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1 dimensional, 96 pts and WOTN?

19

I find this to be an interesting comparison.
Krug is fermented and aged in oak, albeit used oak, whereas LPCP is fermented strictly in stainless steel tanks and bottled the year after harvest, then cellared 60 months. The producer makes no mention of oak barrels.

???

20

Try one and see.