Just picked up a few grower bubblez and noticed some were very recently disgorged:
2002 Andre Beufort Brut: October 2012
NV Beaufort Rose: January 2012
does it matter?
Very producer dependent as style and liqueur d’expedition choice play big factors, but a good rule of thumb is a minimum of 6 months though I’ve had wonderful stuff that was only aged a week post-disgorgement so there are no hard rules and only general guidance. You need time to marry the Champagne and the wine or wine+sweetener that is added after disgorgement. You also need to allow the wine to settle after the shock of oxygen and the often addition of sulfur (though Beaufort adds none). Most producers will wait at least 3-4 months before shipping something out with the goal of it hitting the shelves with at least 6 months of age. Personally, I would like to always wait at least a year, but it doesn’t always work out that way. Selling anything that was disgorged just a couple months ago is irresponsible in my view.
thanks brad - i’ve heard the 6 months thumb rule as well.
the october 2012 on the 2002 Polisy seems really strange as it’s on the shelf in NYC.
I’m pretty inexperienced in Champagne, but of course have preferences whenever I drink some. The last bottle that I enjoyed immensely - immensely - is a Chartogne-Taillet Sainte Anne. 50% Chardonnay/50% Pinot Noir. The print on the back label says
509/Degorgement 10.2012. I assume this means just 2 months ago? I assume I am not supposed to like this? Or it is virtually guaranteed to get better?
Again, thanks Brad for your expertise; I consider this to be very important information and am paying more attention to the nuances of different disgorgement dates, producer to producer and Bottling to bottling.
One of the classics for me has been in the difference for the 1995 Dom Oenoteque disgorgements of 05 and 06 and the times thereafter Ive tasted them up to the present. [BTW, I prefer the 06 over the 05`]
Merrill,
You don’t have to wait and wines can be great right after disgorgement, but they can also be disjointed and not often give you a true picture of what the wine is and where it is going. I’m shocked at wines being on the shelves in the US with less than two months of post disgorgement age. This would essentially mean the winery disgorges, packs, and ships, the wine crosses the ocean, goes through import and distribution chains, and is put on the shelves - all in less than 60 days. Not optimal IMO and has more to do with cash flow for the parties than care about the wine.
Brad - thanks. I have a lot of learning to do. For several years I went to an annual Champagne dinner with a bunch of wine folks, and I never really got into any of them. Oh, I have had a bottle or two of Dom that was nice, but nothing memorable to my taste at the time. It was more of an attitude that if there was an occasion where Champagne was appropriate or expected for celebratory reasons, then I usually found something passable. But not memorable. Then last year I wanted something for a celebration, and I picked up some Chartogne-Taillet Rose. We went through several bottles and enjoyed them a lot. Then I went on to 2004 Belle Epoque this summer, and ran through that happily. Then some hit and misses, and now finally this C-T has caught my fancy. Is it because my taste has not yet evolved in Champagne that I did not find this recent bottle disjointed?
Hmm.
Merrill,
No, it has to do with the wine and not you. I recently had a Chartogne-Taillet Rose with less than a week of post-disgorgement age and it was pretty darn good, but I think you are playing with fire when you drink Champagne with this little amount of post-disgorgement age as you may not truly see what the wine is or will be. In the case of Chartongne-Taillet they use MCR as their dosage which integrates in with the wine much more quickly than traditional liqueur so that explains some of it, but it isn’t something I would recommend.
I noticed that some of my Beaufort Rose is January 2012 and some October 2012. The October is a different color - more primary red ruby.
Just a single data point, and thus virtually meaningless, but the June 2012 disgorgement of the Pierre Peters NV Brut was stunning last Wednesday night.
I generally try to get to a 6 month point, so this may or may not have been in the window. Close enough!
Didn’t Peters for a long time resist noting the disgorgement date, at least on his NV? Or did you decode a lot number, David?