Pierre Peters Question For The Champagne Crowd

[Rico_Thompson]

Brad B, curious if you know if there’s anything different about the juice in Chetillon MAGS than the 750s?

[Brad_Baker]

Rico,

As far as I know, it is the same juice. Might be kept longer on the lees, but the disgorgment date would tell you that (if the bottle has one). In general, Rodolphe Peters has made it a priority to give Les Chetillons more time to age before disgorgement and release. He wants to make right around 8 years the norm. He also has been experimenting with cork aging vs. crown cap aging for the second fermentation, but that isn’t a Magnum only thing.

[Rico_Thompson]

thanks Brad!

[Barry_L_i_p_t_o_n]

How can one tell if the Mags on the market now are pure 2008 juice?

[Brad_Baker]

Magnums mean to be sold in Europe are currently 2008 juice. Magnums meant to be sold in the US are 2007 juice. The gray market can mix this up so if you are not buying an official import you can find 2008 based magnums in the US. This would apply to Q4 2012 disgorgements and probably anything disgorged through the end of summer in 2013. The only way to know 100% is to ask your importer (Skurnik in the US) or the winery.

[Mark_C_Johnson]

Brad,

I have a couple of mags of the Cuvee de Reserve disgorged in April 2012, any info on those?

Mahalo in advance!

[Brad_Baker]

Mark,

I believe these (if a Skurnik import) are all 2006 juice, but there is a chance that these are the start of the 2007 Mags as well.

[Cliff_Rosenberg]

@Lewis Dawson

Actually, two questions…

First, I have several bottles remaining of a six-pack of 1996 Pierre Peters “Cuvee Speciale”. Is this entirely from Les Chetillons? I believe the Les Chetillons designation was first used in 2000, but was the wine the same before that? (BTW, the wine is great, and I regret drinking four of my six bottles so young, planning to hold the last two for a few years.)

Second, just today I bought a non-vintage Peters “Cuvee de Reserve” blanc de blancs, disgorged in June 2011. Would that imply the base wine is 2008? I read on the Shurnik website the following… “What’s in the market now is based on ’06, disgorged 7/09. Coming up is an ’07-based wine disgorged 9/09.” If one could assume that sequence is just a bit outdated, it seems to make sense that the 6/2011 disgorgement is based on the 2008 vintage. That would imply approximately 27 months on the lees. Is that about right? Seems a quick turnaround to me.

Thanks in advance.

I had my first (of three) a couple of years ago and thought it was painfully young. Interesting to learn its the same juice as the current les Chétillons – that helps explain it.

[ybarselah]

i love this thread. need to get some mags.

had the 2005 chetillons last week. expected big and rich and it was early on, but then it settled down into some great spine and minerals. beautiful bdb. can be enjoyed now with about 2 hours of air.

brad, thanks again for all the infos.

[Barry_L_i_p_t_o_n]

@Brad Baker

Magnums mean to be sold in Europe are currently 2008 juice. Magnums meant to be sold in the US are 2007 juice. The gray market can mix this up so if you are not buying an official import you can find 2008 based magnums in the US. This would apply to Q4 2012 disgorgements and probably anything disgorged through the end of summer in 2013. The only way to know 100% is to ask your importer (Skurnik in the US) or the winery.

Many thanks!!

[Barry_L_i_p_t_o_n]

@Brad Baker

Magnums mean to be sold in Europe are currently 2008 juice. Magnums meant to be sold in the US are 2007 juice. The gray market can mix this up so if you are not buying an official import you can find 2008 based magnums in the US. This would apply to Q4 2012 disgorgements and probably anything disgorged through the end of summer in 2013. The only way to know 100% is to ask your importer (Skurnik in the US) or the winery.

Hi Brad;

Just double checking - Magnums disgorged in March 2013 could be 2007 juice if targeted for the US market? Or is that disgorgement pretty much a sure 2008?

Thanks!

[Brad_Baker]

Barry,

Skurnik told me that the March 2013 disgorged Mags were all 2007 juice with the Jeros being all 2006 juice.

[Barry_L_i_p_t_o_n]

Hi Brad;

Thanks!! You da man!

Is there a disgorgement date that I should be looking for?

Cheers
Barry

[Brad_Baker]

For pure 2008 bottlings meant as US Imports, I would look for something fall 2013 to be safe which means that it wouldn’t be for sale yet. You probably have to wait until at least Q2/Q3 of next year or find a batch currently sold in France.

[Barry_L_i_p_t_o_n]

I guess I’ll have to buy a 750ml of the 2008 Vintage in the meanwhile.

Thanks again Warrior!