I don’t sell it but I might start next week. On a 5cs (6pks) price (wholesale) this costs just over $3/bot less than Veuve at the max pricing (15-12bot cases). So I could sell it all day long at my shelf price for Clicquot and be happy but I could probably get more because the value is in the bottle.
Deep golden color, fine mousse with an intense mineral nose. Rich and creamy on the palate with bracing acidity and a long, mouthcoating finish. This is a fantastic value. The first time I have ever seen or heard of this house. It’s a ‘NM’ bottling from Ay and says ‘elabore par Malard’ so I assume he sources finished wine and quality could vary. YMMMV.
Blanc de Blanc from Ay? Interesting. Chiquet does a great RM example, but that style is pretty rare from that neck of the Champagne woods. Sounds good.
Not from Ay and nothing like the Chiquet. Malard sources these grapes from the Cote des Blancs villages of Avize, Chouilly, Cramant, and Le Mesnil-sur-Oger. Chouilly is the dominant village.
Brent,
Malard isn’t sourcing finished wine. I don’t know if they are sourcing grapes and pressing themselves or having someone else press and then take on the wine, but they are doing the work for this wine in the same way Clicquot does the work for Yellow Label. In general, I’m not a huge Malard fan as the wines are very hit and miss, but if you find one you like, it can be a great deal; you just can’t always rely on it being consistent year after year IMO.
I’m still waiting for someone to do a big push on their “Lady Style” cuvee as that has to go down as one of the worst Champagne names I know of.
I don’t taste the Malard range with any regularity so there may be an occasional really good release of any particular wine, but, yes, in general, I would call the wine mediocre. That said, if this is priced at less than $40 then it gives you something to think about. It is normally a down the middle BdB that isn’t complex and can please most folks.
Solid wine when sold for a fair price. This is the co-op in the Le Mesnil-sur-Oger village though it also sources grapes from other villages too. The NV (shown in your post) is normally all Le Mesnil and is a straight forward wine that delivers well in the $30-$40 range. The vintage wines are good too. All in all the wines are not memorable, but never expensive. In general, I find this co-op to care more about quantity than quality, but they do have some nice grape sources.
Thanks for the clarification. This is my first time tasting Malard and it was definitely more ‘hit’ than ‘miss’ imho. However if sourcing is always changing and some of the wines are mediocre I get your point.
Based on NYS wholesale $40-45 would be my pricing.
It isn’t so much as sourcing changing as the spots being sourced being more inconsistent. Mallard isn’t getting the top spots in the Cote des Blancs. $40-$45 is more than fair and I would expect would offer good value in NYS. I would just be wary at assuming that this batch will be as bright as the next. Is there better out there, sure, but not everything is at that same price point or when it is, is widely available.
I think you are doing a great service in tasting first and then possibly bringing this in. That alone should remove most doubt. Plus, you can always sample future releases and decide what to do. If this wine helps open someone’s eyes to a different or new style of Champagne then all the better and many times, it is bottles like this that do that.
Kris,
I have always kind of viewed the Le Mesnil co-op as a Feuillatte of Le Mesnil-sur-Oger. They should be able to do some very nice things, but always kind of end up middling. At least, the Le Mesnil co-op has wines that are well priced for the quality.
Unless Feuillatte has suddenly improved over the most recent releases I have tried, I have to disagree. The Mesnil co-op wines are good, if not great. The NF stuff the last time I tried them were so sulfur sick that I could barely get past their noses, and found nothing good when I did anyway.
I probably could have stated it better, but my main point was that both Feuillatte and the Le Mesnil co-op have the ability to do better than they do. Both have access to some very nice land/grapes, but never seem to put something out at the top level that in theory they should be able to. I’ve enjoyed many Le Mesnil wines and usually find them fairly priced, but I’ve never had one move me like something from Peters, Franck Bonville, Lilbert, Diebolt-Vallois, etc… has.
If we compare Mesnil co-op to top BdB growers, they will suffer, but they are priced accordingly (I plan to be drinking Lilbert Perle with this Sunday’s brunch - such a great wine that no one talks about!). If we compare co-op Mesnil to co-op Feuillatte, it’s the latter that suffers much more, at least in recent tastings. Perhaps we can make the case that Mesnil is doing less worse with their land? The wines are considerably better at NV, NV Rose and vintage level than respective NF wines.
Agreed. I would almost always choose to drink the Mesnil co-op wines over Feuillatte especially when price is considered. Feuillatte has a lot of good land sources, but also a lot of crap land sources. The raw materials Mesnil has to work with is, in general, on a higher level. Feuillatte will occasionally surprise me with something really nice, but often disappoints too. Mesnil is never really going to disappoint.
