1988 PIPER HEIDSIECK RARE BRUT MILLESIME- great bring; the golden color was followed by a nose full of nutty almonds, honeysuckle and caramel that continued on to be joined by orange marmalade and butterscotch; there was an unexpected hit of saline at the finish which was enhanced and extended by the creamy, feel good texture; what was interesting for me was to try to reverse the maturation process and figure out where this was at its apogee; you know it just had to be extra stellar.
Had yet another bottle of Lilbert Perle last night.
I’m constantly conflicted in preaching about it because it’s hard enough to find. But, it’s such a sensual experience with its lovely, creamy texture and unique interpretation of Blanc de Blancs. I want more people to try it and I also don’t want more people to try it, ha!
Production is doubling on the Perle (and on the vintage) so that will help out a bit. Bertrand Lilbert is keeping more of his juice now (rather than selling it off) and he has looked at his vines and determined that he could move some plots that currently go into the NV into the Perle and Vintage. It isn’t much as Perle and Vintage production was only 2k bottles per year and is now moving to a max of 4k, but when NV production was only 20k bottles, the impact of taking 20% of top juice out of the NV has the potential to be quite large. Bertrand is also playing with different ways to age his still wines to help even things out and, so far, while I have seen some changes in the character of certain releases, I haven’t seen a change in the quality. It will be fun to track over time and Lilbert remains a personal favorite and a hidden gem in the big picture.
Louis Roederer Brut NV is one of the best Champagnes I’ve had so far, so that one caught my eye. I know that one will be a lot different but I really want to try it.
For younger wines I prefer fruit/acid driven. The only aged Champagne I had so far is the Dom Perignon 2008, which does have dough on the backend but I found that to be neutral to positive considering the strong fruit flavors + toastiness in the wine.
Out of the Champagnes I’ve had and can remember, I’d rank them like this as far as my personal preference goes
Outstanding
-Dom Perignon 2008 (only vintage Champagne I had so far but it blew my mind)
Great
-Louis Roederer Brut NV
-Charles Ricciuti Brut NV
Very Good
-Moet Brut NV (I know it gets hate for being mass produced but it’s textbook classic Champagne IMO)
-Moet Brut Rose NV
-Michel Loriot Appolonis (First 100% Pinot Meunier I’ve had, very tasty but much different from the typical Champagne flavor profile)
-J Lasalle Preference Brut NV
-Drappier Carte D’Or Brut NV
Good
-Kirkland Champagne (great value for $20)
-Veuve Cliquot Brut NV
-Pol Roger Brut NV
-Mumm Brut NV
-Jack Legras BdB Brut NV
-Gonet Medeville Brut NV
-Nicholas Feuillatte Brut NV
-Nicholas Feuillate Brut Rose NV
-Lanson Brut NV
-Sadi Malot BdB Brut NV
(Some of these could probably go up a tier if I tried them again)
Not a huge fan of
-Charles Heidseick Brut NV (way too yeasty, had no finesse IMO)
-Laurent Perrier Brut NV (inoffensive but kinda meh for my tastes)
-Ployez Jacquemart Brut NV (ditto)
I appreciate all the recommendations from everyone!
Lowell, based on your preferences, and still looking only at that page you linked, I might steer you towards LeClerc Briant, Brut Réserve - NV. Even though it’s low dosage, it shows good concentration and density. It’s not too yeasty as you described the Charles Heidseick (it does not include reserve wines).
This is great news! Granted, 4K bottles is still pretty skint for the whole world, but it certainly makes me happy to hear this. I’m fully with you on them being a hidden gem. They are consistently a favorite and I’m extremely glad I now live somewhere where there’s a lot more availability
Thanks! I just realized that the “ascending price” option needs to be selected manually, I guess it doesn’t transfer over just by me pasting the link. But it seems like something I would like, maybe I’ll go all out and get that + one bottle of vintage Champagne.
I’m not sure if any of Tristan Hyest’s wines find their way Stateside, but I’m kicking off my Saturday evening with an excellent Tristan Hyest Blanc de Blancs Les Terres Argileuses Extra Brut. A 2011 base (20% from solera) disgorged 10/2020. Excellent value indeed for the ~US$37 that I can get it here in Hong Kong.
NV Cazé-Thibaut Champagne Jossias- France, Champagne (1/15/2022)
Wild strawberries, blood orange, a dollop of balsamic vinegar and a whiff of smoke with good concentration. There’s a nice salinity and a vinous quality that makes this this quite drinkable. Bubbles are quite refined. Acidity is nicely integrated and doesn’t steal the show. Unique, complex, and simultaneously easy drinking and worthy of contemplation.
This past year I’ve been buying and drinking a lot more Deutz. I’ve had several stunning bottles of Cuvèe Wm Deutz and Amour de Deutz Rosè and BdB. We visited them in October and it was our best winery experience. Count me as a fan.
I like wines that are a bit unique because even objectively great wines can sometimes be a bit boring. It was the balsamic note that did it for me. On wine searcher I saw a listing for pre-arrival at $50, which I think is a good value for a unique/scarce wine. I searched for the producer on here and I do believe that this is the first note (take that Brad Baker!).
The painting is by a Japanese artist named Chinatsu Ban, who works with the much more famous Takashi Murakami.
2012 Louis Roederer Brut Nature Philippe Starck - This is not for the faint of heart of weak enamel. The nose is lovely, with bright and intense lemon and green apple paired with chalk and a richer leesy/toast note on the back end. The palate is almost there. You can tell that there is an underlying richness, with a note of leesy, toasty nutiness that should round out this wine into something delightful. But it’s hiding in the corner, cowering in the back. It is dominated by screaming acidity and lemon-driven citrus. This is so acid-driven that it hits that spot in the back of your jaw and makes you almost grimace. This is one of those wines where if you’re a lover of the brut nature style, the bracing, high acid, pass me a rolaids type of brut nature, you’ll love this. But to me, the acid levels here actually detract from components that should make this a complex and deep wine. I find it a bit imbalanced. This is not the first time I’ve found this Starck bottling too acidic. I’ve stopped buying this altogether, but received this as a gift. This is, to me, yet another example of a wine that would be greatly improved if bottled Extra Brut instead of Brut Nature. I’ll stick with Collection 242 at 60% the price. NR
After you and Frank commented on this wine and noted you’d not had it, I decided to take one for the team and popped it this past weekend.
2016 Laherte Frere “Les Vignes d’Autrefois” Extra Brut 100% Meunier bottled at 2-4 g/l. This is delightful, with really pretty aromatics of orange, lemon, and white flowers. A bouquet of honeysuckle and orange blossoms. Medium bodied with really nice fruit hinting at apricot and white cherry, finishing with a hint of oyster shell, that chalky salinity. It’s quite nice and very bright. It also disappeared a little faster than I hoped. Good stuff, worth a buy or, in this instance, maybe a three pack or so. 93ish. Very nice. My first go with this wine and it’s childishly bad label.
Killer note! I have a small vertical and I badly need to add this in for it. I’ll “need” to buy a btl to open on its own for scientific reasons naturally
