TN: N.V. Pierre Peters Champagne BdB Brut Cuvée de Réserve

M_M_c_C_a_l_l · August 10, 2009, 4:24am

N.V. Pierre Peters Champagne Blanc de Blancs Brut Cuvée de Réserve - France, Champagne, Le Mesnil Sur Oger, Champagne (8/9/2009)
With le petit gres champenois and a good baguette. This Champagne is delicious. Smoke, toast, caramel apple, marzipan… a little citrus. The attack is full, lush, and bready, but in the middle, the texture is ethereal and the flavors are nutty, fruity, and sweet even though the Champagne is quite dry. Could happily drink this all night.

Frank_Deis · August 10, 2009, 4:32am

I had a bottle of that last night for our Anniversary dinner.

With a shrimp and mozzarella appetizer. Perfect.

M_M_c_C_a_l_l · August 10, 2009, 4:55am

Glad you enjoyed it too Frank, although I barely recognized you without your long blond Taylor Swift locks

Michel_Abood · August 10, 2009, 1:48pm

Yeah, Pierre Peters does not suck.

Guillaume_Deschamps · August 10, 2009, 2:24pm

What Michel said. I am very partial to his “Perle du Mesnil” BdB, Melissa you should try that if you have the opportunity.

M_M_c_C_a_l_l · August 10, 2009, 2:25pm

I have not seen it around, but I’m highly motivated.

Guillaume_Deschamps · August 10, 2009, 2:44pm

Hmm, I checked on wine-searcher and they don’t seem to be able to locate a bottle in the whole USA, so maybe nobody is importing it.

M_A_T_T_H_A_R_T_L_E_Y · August 10, 2009, 3:52pm

Poor mans Salon…

M_M_c_C_a_l_l · August 10, 2009, 4:12pm

Woman’s, too!

Josh_Pitcl · August 10, 2009, 4:46pm

I tried my first bottle of this, on the recommendation of the board, and enjoyed it immensely. This was a great sparkler that could appease the wine geek a well as most crowds.

Brad Baker and CT have a lot of talk of variability, due to disgorgement dates, but I loved the bottle I had!

Brad Baker:

Daniel Posner:

pierre peters?

Good call. My only problem with Peters is that the latest run of NV cuvees has been variable. The 02 Base and 06 Base NVs are wonderful wines, but I’m not big on the 04 and 05 that came in between (the 05 base has improved, but I just plain don’t like the 04 based NV). I really don’t know why as Peters really didn’t do anything different in these years; something just didn’t mesh all that well. The basic vintage is a good deal and the 2003 is drinking wonderfully right now though it doesn’t taste like any other Peters. For most of Peters’ vintage wines (Millesime and Cuvee Speciale), you need to let them sit a long time for them to truly bloom. This also comes into play when making recommendations as not everyone just getting into Champagne wants to sit on their bottles for a decade or two.

M_M_c_C_a_l_l · August 10, 2009, 5:06pm

Josh, is there any way to tell the disgorgement date from what’s on the bottle?

Josh_Pitcl · August 10, 2009, 5:17pm

There is, and I hope Brad will chime in since I couldn’t figure it out. Apparently they just recently changed the code and Brad was going to check with them. Here’s the thread I was looking for earlier:

Brad_Baker · August 10, 2009, 5:21pm

I do think that Peters hit a bit of a rough spot with some of the recent NV releases (as noted in the post above; I did not like the 04 and 05 based NVs though the 05 is an okay wine and I can folks enjoying it more than I did), but overall, this is a great producer - remember that everyone hits a bump in the road every now and then. The Cuvee Speciale is an absolute bargain especially when you let it sit in the cellar for at least a decade after release. I profiled Peters in Issue 3 of my newsletter (most recent issue) and all I can say is that the wines are great.

As to the Perle de Mesnil, I was surprised to see this mentioned as I never recall seeing this in US (though maybe it was imported at some point). The Perle is a slightly less sparkling bubbly (like Mumm’s Mumm de Cramant) that is a different wine than the NV Cuvee Reserve as the Perle includes some wine from the Sezanne which I think makes it very attractive right on release.

For disgorgement dates (Peters has now changed this slightly, but I’m not sure if the newer bottles have hit the US), look on the side of the front label and you will find some small print that starts with L and then the year and month of disgorgement (can’t recall the order of the year and month off the top of my head). You can then use this disgorgement date to back out which release you have.

As for the new codes, I don’t have the info with me, but I will post it once I can get to my notes. As mentioned above, I’m not sure how many of the new code bottles have hit the US yet.

Guillaume_Deschamps · August 10, 2009, 5:26pm

It’s probably because I am not based in the US…

M_M_c_C_a_l_l · August 10, 2009, 5:29pm

The code on my bottle is L.CDSA02US. Does that translate to an '02 disgorgement?

Brad_Baker · August 10, 2009, 5:44pm

That is what I thought, but then I saw your location as Denver and I guess I just started thinking too much!

Brad_Baker · August 10, 2009, 5:47pm

Melissa,

No, you have the most recent release which is based on 2006 and is a very good wine. It was likely disgorged earlier this year.

Tony_V_e_l_e_b_i_l · August 10, 2009, 5:52pm

I believe that was the code on the bottle I opened and posted about a few weeks ago.

It is unclear what the 02 refers to unfortunately.

A_Fenster · August 10, 2009, 9:46pm

I used to buy a lot of the basic Peters nv. Sorry to hear he went through a rough patch and hope the current disgorgements will show the promise Brad mentioned.

The 95 Cuvee Speciale was special indeed, but I could not keep my hands off it. Had it in magnum to boot courtesy of Carolina Wine of all things.

The few bottles of 96 Cuvee Speciale I am cellaring and hoping to keep them for a while before opening.

M_M_c_C_a_l_l · August 10, 2009, 9:55pm

Thanks Brad, I certainly enjoyed it. I’d like to load up-- any thought on how this will progress over the next few years?