TN: 3 Diebolt-Vallois Champagnes

WINE TALK
1

Part of my continuous quest to drink everything tasty in the Universe with bubbles:

TN: Diebolt-Vallois Brut Tradition - rated B/B-

A solid wine but most critics seem to like it more than me

Nose - fresh cut apples and minerals with floral tones.

Palate is lively/refreshing tasting with a some apple juice taste at first. A fruity wine with good balancing acidity and some minerals peering through the fruit.

A bit simple and fruity to rate higher.

TN: Diebolt-Vallois Blanc de Blancs Prestige - rated A- and I love it!

The nose has a chalky minerality with light fruits. A slight citrus yet without the acidity. Wonderful restrained spicy maritime quality.

The palate is very creamy and fresh tasting immediately on opening. A cornucopia of high toned fruits; quite precise yet indistinguishable fruits at first. With air, pear, high toned red apple, spicy apple, and traces of of orange citrus

TN: Diebolt-Vallois Blanc de Blancs 2005 rated B+ and possibly underrated by me. I have another bottle I’ll try in perhaps a year or two. Tasted twice

Nose - fine white beach sand, a little apple and citrus at first. Chalkiness and creaminess as it breathes.

The palate is a wonderful rolling apple with low acidity and gentle lime. Interplay of apple and lime are wonderful and delicately balanced. Certainly a wine of finesse. Plenty of minerals add to the mix 15 minutes after opening as well. Touch of watermelon rind. Cantaloupe on the aftertaste.
The palate is far more expressive than the nose right now.

A solid wine but I greatly prefer the Blanc de Blancs Prestige above at this point in time.

Full Ramblings: Diebolt-Vallois

I have a mag of the Prestige left and that makes me very happy!
I haven’t tried their Tete de Cuvee Fleur de Passion yet

2

Courtesy of Martin Steinley, Alan Weinberg and I had the 2005 Fleur de Passion at Addison late last year. A very good Champagne in the fresher, crisper style. I haven’t seen much of it but it’s one to look out for and give it a taste.

3

Hi Jerry,
Haven’t tried the Fleur de Passion yet but hoping to before long.
Right now, very happy I have a mag of the Prestige!

4

Their rose is one of my favorites.

5

The '02 Fleur de Passion is outrageous.

6

Fleur is great stuff, as is the Prestige. I wish I had more, though I did get quite a few of the 04s.

7

Wonderful wines. They get the nod from me ahead of Lilbert in Cramant, and Lilbert is great.

8

Tvrtko,

That is a tough call as Diebolt has a larger range. I actually think I would go Lilbert for the sheer quality of the entire range, but Diebolt’s Fleur de Passion is normally better than anything Lilbert makes. Outside of Europe, the biggest issue is price where Fleur de Passion has gone from $50 to well over $100 in the past 7 years.

I agree that the 02 is a great wine though it (along with many other 02s based on Chardonnay) are maturing a bit faster than many may expect. The 05 Fleur is also really singing right now.

I agree with all that the Prestige is something special and the value spot in the D-V range.

9

Yes, it’s a very tough call. I’ve been thinking - if I was limited to just two wines from Cramant, one would have to be the DV Prestige and the other Lilbert’s Perle. (Fleur is a great wine, but I don’t need it as much, or indeed as often, as I need these two).

10

While I see your point, neither Lilbert Perle or DV Prestige are all from Cramant… :slight_smile:

11

The price increase is inside Europe too Brad!

12

Russell,

Yeah, but at least a good amount of Europe has direct winery access where the pricing is reasonable (though still a lot higher than where it started a decade back).

For pure Cramant, I’m going to go way off base here and say my favorite is Perrier-Jouet’s Belle-Epoque BdB - just awesome stuff that deserves way more attention. A single vineyard (or dual vineyard if you count the road that runs down the middle as halving the vineyard) that is situated beautifully.

13

Whats the next Fleur up Brad, 06? tried it?

14

Indeed. Edit that to read “Cramant-based producers”. Glad you see my point, though :slight_smile: