TN: NV Roses de Jeanne / Cédric Bouchard Champagne Inflorescence Blanc de Noirs

WINE TALK
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  • NV Roses de Jeanne / Cédric Bouchard Champagne Inflorescence Blanc de Noirs - France, Champagne (2/14/2012)
    Complex notes of Fuji apples, gingerbread, butter, lemongrass, and crushed sea shells. Full and rich on the palate, with great depth and length, finishing with some lemon cake sweetness. Ready to drink now, but I really think a few years of bottle age will make this wine even better. (90 pts.)

Posted from CellarTracker

2

Paul, do you find the quality to price ratio with this wine an issue?

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Just had a bottle of this last night (2008 “vintage”) and was fantastic. For a Champagne under $60, this is one of the better QPRs out there in my opinion.

4

Great stuff. Hard to come by. My girlfriend was allocated 6 bottles and she’s one of the top Grower Champagne accounts in Portland. Um, none of those bottles hit the shelf unless you count the shelving in our wine cellar.

5

That is my issue with it. It’s perfectly fine but there are lots of growers out there making better wine in the $50-60 range. I’d even rather go for Bollinger.

6

I really like Bolli, but noting compares in the $50 range for me to Bouchard. I love it. The wife loves it. The only problem is having to check a 6 pack when I travel East or West.

7

Inflorescence is wonderful champagne. I have bought the last 3 “vintages” and they are all great. It is also a champagne I have served to several nonChampagne aficionadosand t hey all love it and have had me order some for them.

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Rico, I paid about $57 for this bottle and was happy with the quality. Not sure if I would want to pay more though.

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People are using QPR in a way that assumes something else is fungible with the product. I don’t think there is another champagne, grower or not, that is with C. Bouchard.

A.

10

Thanx for the note. I guess I’ll hold off opening any of my 3 bottles for a bit.

11

You should open one bottle now. It may get better with time but it is wonderful wine right now. If you want more, it will be hard to find later.

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You can make that statement with virtually any wine. Bouchard is not so specifically unique.

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I don’t agree.

A.

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I’m another one who finds, for my tastes, Cedric Bouchard’s wines are unique. I don’t know of another Champagne that compares directly. I have no problem w/ the QPR. I put it in the same category as Vilmart- not inexpensive, but well worth the price.

I don’t think of it as one of my “bargain” Champagne buys. I put Lallement, Laherte Freres, Ledru, Aubry, NV Pierre Peters, among others, in that category.

15

Really, I cannot think of any. Maybe Bereche, but I don’t think they are quite as good.

16

I would rather drink Pierre Peters any day of the week. Billiot as well. I like Bouchard, but they are not in some alternate universe.

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Neither of those producers are like Bouchard just from a geographical perspective, let alone ambition and style. The Aube/Côte des Bar is really objectively different than Marne/Reims/Blancs. I get personal preference, but that is not the issue here.

Vouette et Sorbée would be another producer from that area with commonality to Bouchard.

A.

18

Ah yes, how things taste is irrelevant. I forgot that.

I’ve been up and down the range of Bouchard many times. The wines are always very good (though that Pinot Blanc bottling is not at all to my taste-very severe and little flavor interest), but they are very expensive for what you get.

At the end of the day it is about the delicious, not the backstory. Bouchard sometimes falls short on the delicious.