Out to dinner with GlennK, his wife and Gaurv. Glenn brought a lovely 2010 beaucastel white and I brought a 06 Cathiard Malconsort. Gaurv thought they had a two bottle allowance for corkage so he grabbed a bottle off the list. I was looking at the Roulot village wines and Dujac 1er Cru, but he big timed us and picked the most stunning 2002 champ-agne I’ve had so far…
2002 Jacques Selosse Champagne Millésimé- France, Champagne (3/24/2013)
What a beast of a wine. We had the 88 Krug and 88 Tattinger Comte a hour before but this blew them out of the water (and I love 88 Krug and 88 Comte!). The palate was voluptuous and dense with copious amounts of sweet apple and lemon and just the perfect amount of acidity creating that perfect tension on the finish that lingers on and on and on and on. The seemingly most compelling part of this wine is that all the parts seem to merge and carry on to the finish, nothing drops off, the density of the flavor just continues as that roundness just expands as it gets to the end.
What an incredible wine and an incredible treat, without a doubt the best 2002 champ-agne I have had.
Sorry I thought I wrote it on the original post. It was at Bouchon in Beverly Hills. I think like 3600 bottles were made. I remember reading someone’s note on release that it was 130 euros! That import tax is heavy in the US 3 tier system
Interesting. I just had two bottles of this wine at Selosse’s restaurant and thought it was a disappointing bottling. One bottle was heavily oxidized (beyond the normal parameters of his style) and the other was just not all that wonderful- a bit overwrought and lacking in delineation. I would take 88 Krug or Comtes in a heartbeat.
That said, his Rose’ and two of the three “lieux-dits” wines we had (from Bouzy and Marueil-sur-Ay) were absolutely lovely. I was not as keen on the Avize bottling but I think generally his style translates a little more clumsily to BdB.
I love 88 Krug and 88 Comte, but they didn’t have the complexity that the selosse had on this day. The 88 Comte was a bit out of balance, far too much acidity right now (and I’m an acid whore). The Krug was good as always but didn’t pack the punch that the 88’s I’ve had usually do. I’m not kicking any of them out of my wine drinking rotation tho
For the first time in recent memory, a good amount (relatively speaking) of Selosse’s vintage wine actually hit the US shores. A lot of stores didn’t get big volumes, but even stores local to me in Michigan had the chance to get a few bottles. You may have had to ask in advance, but bottles were available. MSRP was ~$290 in the US on this though most sold for a lot more.
Was at Les Avizes last month and had a great dinner there. Also had a tour of the facility with Mssr. Selosse. The 2002 I thought was great but was outclassed by the 2003 which was disgorged for us. Will be interesting to see how he doses the 2003, as I thought it was absolutely brilliant without and will be one to look for. We also had the '95 for dinner which displayed more oxidative notes that took centerstage, although very enjoyable right now. Also enjoyed 2 curiosities, a “Ratafia” which is kind of like a sweet sherry or madeira, and also a Red pinot noir that Anselme made which had the high pitched nose of a Chambertin, but not much flavor or followthrough in the palate. By far the wine that showed the best was the Les Carelles. Was a showstopper.
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