2000 Agrapart & Fils Champagne Mineral Blanc de Blancs Brut- France, Champagne
An intriguing Champagne, one that keeps drawing you in. Notes of talc and chalk and cheese rind are followed by crisp green apples and pear. Even though the midpalate does drop out a little, I loved the citrus-laden acidity of this wine. 89-90 points. (89 pts.)
N.V. Lilbert-Fils Champagne Blanc de Blancs Brut Grand Cru- France, Champagne, Cramant, Champagne
Intense and austere with notes of crushed minerals, lemongrass, and bread dough. Crunchy texture with a saline finish. 87-88 points. (87 pts.)
2004 Diebolt-Vallois Champagne Brut Blanc de Blancs- France, Champagne, Cramant, Champagne
Precise and pure with notes of lemon-lime, oyster shells, and bread dough. Tangy on the palate with good cut and definition and a lime zest finish. An excellent example of wine from the Cote de Blanc. 91-92 points. (91 pts.)
N.V. Rare Wine Company Champagne Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru Le Mesnil- France, Champagne, Le Mesnil Sur Oger, Champagne
Notes of red apples, baking spices, and celery stalk. Caramelly and layered on the palate with a discernibly higher dosage than what I typically like. Nonetheless, a very good wine for the price. (89 pts.)
N.V. Pehu Simonet Champagne Brut Blanc de Blancs- France, Champagne, Verzenay, Champagne
Robust aromas of key lime pie and oyster shells. The palate, however, falls short. It essentially tastes like the rag water from a lemonade stand. (82 pts.)
2001 Pierre Peters Champagne Blanc de Blancs Brut Cuvée Spéciale Les Chétillons- France, Champagne, Le Mesnil Sur Oger, Champagne
Aristocratic in character with notes of honeysuckle, fresh linen, cut grass, and leather – like something out of a Virginia Woolf novel. Unique and refined on the palate with traces of tobacco and celery stalk on the finish. 90-91 points. (90 pts.)
Though for your students, it will snag them, what?, a B-???
I know… . you ARE a tough grader… but I do know your system, so I know that an 87 for you is a drinkable wine while for me, while maybe drinkable, it would not be one that I would buy again. I’ve calibrated to you… your 87 is my 89…
I was also there, of course, as I orchestrated the whole thing, and with all due respect I will say that a lot of people, myself and Jim Duane of HI-Time included, thought several of the wines showed exceptionally well. And only a few of them were wines I represent, although I had some input as to what the others would be that were included.
I will say - and I can assure you this is not meant to convey any value judgment whatsoever - that Champagne lovers tend to either favor white- or red-grape-dominated cuvées.
Although I like both, I will freely admit to a Blanc de Blancs preference, whereas other experts and even critics - you can observe this quite casually by looking at their scores - seem to prefer red-grape dominated stuff.
For me, personally, I found this first tasting to be the most exciting of the three.
An interesting mix of champagnes you tasted.
Since I’m not familiar with your scoring system can you give me a few pointers? For example I was surprised to see that the Pehu Simonet ,which clearly didn’t do it for you, still rated 82, whilst the Jean Milan which you seemed to enjoy far more, got only 86. I would have expected a lower score to the PH perhaps
If you come over to Champagne often please get in touch . I live here and as well as an interesting conversation maybe I could introduce you to a few producers you haven’t found yet.
By the way, the Pehu Simonet you tasted was a Blanc de Blancs of course, but not from La Côte Des Blancs like all the others. Verzenay is in the Montagne de Reims ( Pinot Noir country) which I think goes some way to explain the difference between that and many of the other Blanc de Blancs you tasted and also if you ar enot a fan of PN style champagnes then it also may explain why Pehu Simonet wasn’t to your liking
Cheers
82 points for me is the top end of a B- grade, which pretty much represents how I felt about the Pehu Simonet. While I enjoyed the nose very much, it was the palate that let me down; I always try to take both into consideration. However, had I evaluated the wine solely based upon the palate, I probably would have given it much a lower score.
The “Cote de Blanc” title was the name of the tasting put together by George Pavlov at Hi-Time, so I was just reproducing it here.
Actually the Pehu-Simonet BdB comes entirely from Le Mesnil-sur-Oger. David and his wife have a small vineyard there that they use to make the BdB and sometimes add to the vintage wine.