TN's: Seven Decades of Veuve Clicquot

WINE TALK
1

Just returned from dinner at Jewel Bako with a vertical of Veuve Clicquot hosted by Antonio Galloni and the Wineworkshop.

First time at this venue. Sushi was great.

'02 Veuve Clicquot - When I hear a speech that is short and sweet, I’m a big fan . When it applies to the finish and the palate of the champagne I’m drinking, not as big a fan. Good

'96 Veuve Clicquot - Brighter fruit, with some smoke and good acidity. I liked this a little more than I expected. Very good plus.

'90 Veuve Clicquot La Grande Dame - this wine and the following two all came out of a custom owc that was released about a year ago. Although not marked on the bottle, these wines were surely later disgorged. All three were very fresh. This vintage lacked a bit of structure and was slightly flabby. My least favorite of the trio. Very good plus

'89 Veuve Clicquot La Grande Dame - more caramel and touches of creme brulee. Drinking very well I’m not sure this gets any better. Decent finish but could use some more acidity/structure. Excellent minus

'88 Veuve Clicquot La Grande Dame - true to the vintage. Good fruit with seemingly more chardonnay characteristics to the wine. Not sure if the blend supports that or not. Great acidity. My favorite wine so far. Excellent plus

'85 Veuve Clicquot - some coffee aromas mixed in with good fruit. Good acidity and balance to the wine. Not earth moving, but it drinks well. Very good plus.

'75 Veuve Clicquot - the first fully mature wine of the night showing third plenitude - oops, wrong house :wink: - flavors. Some mocha and creme caramel. You can see how the quality of the straight VC vintage was superior in this era than what it currently is now. Probably due to less La Grande Dame production taking away so many of the best grapes and less production overall. Excellent plus.

'73 Veuve Clicquot - better than the bottle I had from the same case last month. While it had the similar notes of mocha and creme caramel like the '75, it also had touches of nuttiness and some marzipan. Still a fair amount of effervescence and excellent acidity. Staggering minus

'64 Veuve Clicquot La Grande Dame - sexy shaped bottle. That was the highlight of this not commercially released second vintage of La Grande Dame. DOA

'61 Veuve Clicquot Rose - This didn’t even have the sexy shaped bottle. A cloudy, murky mess. DOA

'55 Veuve Clicquot - I saw the color and effervescence of this wine as the glass was handed to me and I had great hopes for it. took a first whiff and got a blast of white chocolate. I’m saying to myself, this is going to blow away every other wine served. Antonio takes the glass and says its corked. I say to myself, no way, it’s got to be his glass. Nope, he was right, slghtly corked which grew with time, but was never overwhelming. you could tell how grerat this wine would have been if not for the taint. With it you could still smell the fruit and complexity. N/A

'53 Veuve Clicquot - Skunky nose. Smelled like cooked cabbage left on the kitchen counter for two weeks. At least what I guess that would smell like. DOA

'49 Veuve Clicquot - Almost as pale colored and effervescent as the corked '55. Fortunately, no TCA with this bottle that had its youthful appearance to marry the mature and complex notes of white chocolate, slighty burnt toast and caramel. Firm stucture and acidity. Staggering minus

'45 Veuve Clicquot - Take the '53, except leave the cabbage on the counter for an extra week. DOA

'43 Veuve Clicquot - some funk and oxidation on the nose. Dark golden colored. Better on the palate than the nose, but the fruit is gone. Caramel dominates. Good plus

Always a minefield with a vertical of this age but I was hoping for a better ratio of hits to misses.

Still a fun evening.

2

Always a reliable producer, gets a lot of unjustified criticism. (Although I’m sick of the stuff after being stuck in Mexico for a week, where VC was the only decent wine available within 500 miles).

3

Hi Ray,

The lineup looks fantastic- pity you did not run into a bit better luck with the mature vintages. Your note (minus the TCA) on the '55 immediatly took me back to why I used to really love VC- that white chocolate note was a signature of their wines at maturity prior to their achieving iconic status and dramatically plummeting in quality. When I first started in the trade you could not give the stuff away and the Brut NV was stellar and the vintage bottlings were simply amongst the best of their class to be found in the market. I miss the '75 and '79 Grande Dames priced in the high twenties or low thirties a bottle as well- both white chocolatey and very refined in style in those days. I am happy that the house finally had commercial success, but it is a pity that they could not maintain a semblance of the quality they delivered when no one in the states would even look at the label.

Best,

John

4

Great stuff, that '75. I have one bottle remaining.

On a side note Ray (or John or Brad, etc), which '70s have you tasted recently that are shining? My friends and I are planning a 60 day debauch to celebrate our 40th birthdays in the late Spring and I just realized I was out of 70s. Time to do some shopping (or trading?)!

5

Peter,

I’m not a big fan of the 1970 vintage (it wasn’t really a good one) and most of the wines are past their peak IMO. The last one I had that I really enjoyed with the 1970 Taittinger Comtes de Champagne Blanc de Blancs. If you do go after some 70s, Mags will give you more of a chance of success (as expected). I’m not saying that most Champagne from 1970 will be bad, just that it is likely to be not all that great.

Ray and others can likely lend more insight.

6

Brad is correct.

Safest bet is probably a later disgorged Mag of '70 DP and that more than likely still won’t be killer.

Either that or go conception year.

7

Well, that was the problem: I haven’t had a great '70 Champagne. Oh well, the piles of Port and Bordeaux will keep us happy!