Great notes. Regarding the '96 Cristal, any thoughts about its drinking window and is there another vintage you would compare it to?
What an absolutely tremendous tasting. That’s a dream-come-true lineup of champagnes for me. I’m sitting at my desk at 10:00 am and my mouth is watering thinking about all of those bottles. Just amazing. Sounds like you Krug and Dom Ruinart notes are consistent with my relatively recent tastings of those wines. I find Krug’s vintage wines to be really excellent and age worthy, but almost always more restrained and refined than the opulent MV offering. As for Dom Ruinart BdB, it’s been one of my go-tos for serious champagne for a while. It’s such a wonderful, complex, and enjoyable wine year-in-year-out.
What a great event.
I have to wonder, did your PR-WC get exposed to heat by the distribution chain, is it possible you got a bad batch? I loved it, and it remains my best Champagne experience…even over the '96 KRUG & '96 DP-O.
I purchased a case of this on release back in 2006 from the Wine Library. It has sat in my cellar at 55 degrees since. This is the eighth bottle opened since then and I can say for sure there has been a definitive dropoff in the last few years. The last bottle I had 2 years ago was a little advanced, the one before that in 2012 was fabulous. This one was clearly advanced.
Maybe it wanted to fit in with all your pre-moxed white burgs. There might have been a lot of peer pressure over the last 10 years.
The freshness and complexity really separates it from other years. I would hope the 2002 comes close to this, but I’m not holding my breath. This easily has another 30-40 years ahead of it.
Regarding all the 96 SWC chatter, I lost track of how many times I’ve had it, and from multiple sources, and I never had one that was better than good. I think the 90 PR Brut blows away any SWC made from 96 and forward, and you can still buy that wine for less than SWC. For reference, the 90 SWC is one of my all time favorite Champagnes, so it’s not like I’m adverse to the house style. I wonder if the chef de cave changed in the mid-90s?
Ian - Great notes from your tasting!! Fun stuff and interesting about the 96 Cristal. I’m holding on to a mag but it needs a celebration of some sort to open with like-minded wine geeks. 
From our trip to Champagne two years ago we tasted over 70 different champagnes over a week. Hands down the best one at that time was the 96 DP Oeno. My notes say GREAT!!! The winemaker mentioned fairly low dosage 5 g/l and high acidity in that particular wine. I had my poker face on because it was in some pretty amazing company but it was the real deal. I wish I had some in the cellar. 
Awesome tasting. We did something similar in DC approx. two years ago. I also recently brought 96 Dom Ruinart BdB and Rose to a dinner and they both showed tremendously well. I love 96 for Champagne! Agree on 96 DP Oeno, though - I have always preferred the P1 when drinking side-by-side, and prefer 95 Oeno to 96 Oeno.
Shannon, this is the fifth time I’ve had the '96 DP Oeno since release. It’s the least expressive bottle yet. Every champagne was decanted and poured over a two hour period. In the past I’ve found that DP Oeno takes hours to open up and we may not have given it enough time in the decanter.
I rated the Dom Oeno in my top two for the night. It was much better after a few hours in the glass.
Shannon, this is the fifth time I’ve had the '96 DP Oeno since release. It’s the least expressive bottle yet. Every champagne was decanted and poured over a two hour period. In the past I’ve found that DP Oeno takes hours to open up and we may not have given it enough time in the decanter.
Interesting - when we had the winemaker said it was in an “active” phase meaning (I think…) that the acidity was prominent. I could see how it would improve with air and went back for another pour to be sure just how good it was.
Pity your Clos des Goisses was not on form. That is a really nice '96.
Biggest disappointment for me in the vintage has consistently been the Bollinger RD.
Interesting the Charles Heiseick elected not to make a Blanc des Millenaires in 1996, having reservations about the balance of the vintage. Seems to me some of the wines have turned out a bit shrill and mean, though I should add none that match that description for me made it into your tasting. Maybe '96 was of a high-wire act than was typically perceived at the time. The upside, I suppose, is that '95 has remained rather underrated, leaving nice pickings to be had.
William,
Charles Heidsieck did make a Blanc des Millenaires in 1996. They contemplated releasing it for many years and finally gave up on it ever getting to the point where they would be comfortable with it as a main release. Fortunately they had plenty of 95 in supply and didn’t make all that much 96.
The main issue was the balance of the 96 (as you noted). The acidity just always seemed to overwhelm everything.
So where did all the bottles go? Some went to reserve wine stock. Some are still in the cellar and may be released one day as a library release. Most went to an airline for International First Class service similar to the phantom 2000 Clicquot Grande Dame and a majority of the 96 Pommery Louise.
Brad, great intel on that “ghost” vintage. Any idea of what airline? Love to find out if any Berserkers tried it!
96 Pommery Louise went primarily to British Airways though a decent amount hit retail too (though still far, far less than a normal release).
00 Clicquot Grande Dame went to Air France; there was no retail release though some was available for sale to employees.
96 Charles Heidsieck Blanc de Millenaires went to ANA; there was no retail release and it was not made available for sale to employees as far as I know.
All were served in international first class only and the vintage was not made a primary subject/topic of conversation unless asked.