Did a 16 bottle - including a couple of mags - vertical a couple of nights ago. '71 CdC was my favorite with great mature Champagne aromas and flavors with still enough yellow fruit to make it Staggering Plus. The '81 was one of the better examples of the vintage that I’ve had, and there was a stylistic consistency among '95, '96, '98, '99, '02, '04 and '06. I was surprised how well the '98 showed. '96 CdC Rose out of mag was my favorite Rose of '81, '96 and '06. The '90 was the youngest vintage that started to show some maturity. Unfortunately, the '89 was flawed.
Ronny Emborg’s food at Atera was the best I’ve had since he’s been there.
Ray, I too was surprised by how well a bottle of the '98 Comtes showed last week. Depth and complexity above and beyond expectations. Drank it next to the '02 which was in the same mold but needs more time IMO - should eventually be even better.
Rank the wines? Awesome evening.
98 Comtes is lovely. Not quite at the 95,96 level but really fine indeed
Seeing this thread reminds me I still have 6 pack of the 06 and I'm taking the lady out for dinner tomorrow night so, this and a 95 Williams Selyem Hirsch Pinot Noir is accompanying us. TNs coming.
Big fan. So good. Recent-ish notes
October, 2017
2006 Taittinger Comtes de Champagne
More heft here, baked bread, hint of limoncello. Smooth, deep, caresses your mouth. If it doesn’t have quite the depth and finish of the 02, it has arguably more in reserve than that wine in terms of palate colour. I have been very spoiled to taste 3 vintages of Comtes already on this trip.
2005 Taittinger Comtes de Champagne
Peter (I think) commented how he could discern in a wine like this that it was a BdB. For me, nice straw and baked bread scents. And on the tongue, it’s long and delicious for the vintage. Lovely tart apple, ginger, salted cracker and a fine match with the opening caviar course as well. Very enjoyable
2002 Taittinger Comtes de Champagne
Real hay and straw tones to lemon and apple scents. This is damned good. It has remarkable crispness and clarity, while still being very gulpable with tremendous drive on the mineral-enhanced aromatic replays. Revelicious, just gets better with each sip. Don’t know why I should be surprised that Amy brings the WOTD
and from a month ago
2006 Taittinger Comtes de Champagne
This was my auction win from FallTacular this year, and while I might have saved it…
a truly ethereal bouquet filled with flowers, light flaky pastry/bakery scents and even a wisp of honey. And…can any Champagne be this smooth? Incredible velvet touch as it hits your tongue and just keeps on going, yet the length is superb and accentuates beautifully the lemon zest, apple cider/core and light yeast finish here. I have started to tend towards the bracing side of Champagne, but I could drink this as many days as you were willing to serve it to me.
I like how your are drinking recent-ish Mike. Taking Roelanda out for dinner tonight with an 06 in tow as posted above. Had some other choices for the CdC including 95, 98, 02 04 05 and 06, but the 06 is just singing to me. See you soon my friend.
Posting my notes on our dinner with the 06` CdC on a separate thread.
I just received my first offer for the ‘07. Private client offer from an online retailer.
What was the price?
Big spread between London and the US for the offers I’ve received - $100 vs $135.
$115. Hard to justify when the '06 can be found for about the same (slightly less), but I’m an expert at rationalizing my purchases.
At $115 a big no thanks.
I sold all of mine off a week or so ago. Done with Comtes and the poor bottle shape, amongst a few other reasons.
LOL, seriously? I am curious what the “other” reasons are. The bottle shape is kind of a pain, but I got some champagne racks to take care of that (Taittinger is not the only offender). I love the stuff.
I’ll take a wild guess…Frank has a strong preference for low to zero dosage bubbly.
Everything being equal I do too, but everything is almost never equal, and I love this champagne. But I have drawn some pretty dogmatic lines too so I get it
In part, Russ is correct. My palate prefers the lower dosage wines, which mirrors my regular preferences now for food. I don’t typically like sweet desserts, don’t drink soda and really avoid anything that is sweet b/c I don’t care for it. So, low to no dosage wines work for me and match what I enjoy. A couple recent Comtes bottles seemed a little too much lemon-lime soda in tone for me.
And, the other thing that is perhaps dogmatic and I accept that is I want to drink organic or bio farmed champagne. The recent trip really left a deep impact upon me and when I got back, I decided to sell off my Comtes. As I have said, I don’t begrudge or judge those who like the big houses like Taitt but I will not buy them any longer. With the dozen or so producers from Champagne that I now continue to drink and support, they all fit my dogma. Taitt Comtes does not.
I just saw the 07 about two weeks ago at Duty Free in the Frankfurt airport. If I remember correctly it was about US $130 (??).
Had another stellar bottle of comtes 06 over the holiday. Easy to store.