Which Champagne are you drinking?

[ky1em1ttskus]

I fear that there may be pictures of me on the Internet wearing one of those on my head.

Sleuth-army assemble!

[Jon_Lawrence]

I fear that there may be pictures of me on the Internet wearing one of those on my head.

Sleuth-army assemble!

Damn, I should have kept my mouth shut.

[dbailey]

Some pedestrian rose

'12 Krug Rosé is one of the best I have ever had and it is drinking great right now. '08 DP Rose was unlike any other DP Rose I have had. This was full of chalk and flint, much less strawberry than normal, more meyer lemon. My buddy noticed a Rare gift box in my cellar and asked what it was so our final Champagne of the day was '02 Rare. As good as last week’s bottle. My buddy’s kids went to town on the bottle and removed the collar and the tiara.

Btw, we have great neighbors who let us use their pool whenever we want, so we took our glasses of DP and the bottle and sat poolside while the kids played in the pool.

From the photos, I’m guessing you meant cristal rose 12 rather than krug rose 12?

[Jon_Lawrence]

Some pedestrian rose

'12 Krug Rosé is one of the best I have ever had and it is drinking great right now. '08 DP Rose was unlike any other DP Rose I have had. This was full of chalk and flint, much less strawberry than normal, more meyer lemon. My buddy noticed a Rare gift box in my cellar and asked what it was so our final Champagne of the day was '02 Rare. As good as last week’s bottle. My buddy’s kids went to town on the bottle and removed the collar and the tiara.

Btw, we have great neighbors who let us use their pool whenever we want, so we took our glasses of DP and the bottle and sat poolside while the kids played in the pool.

From the photos, I’m guessing you meant cristal rose 12 rather than krug rose 12?

Oh, the irony as I don’t like Krug Rosé. Thanks for the catch!

[K_John_Joseph]

1998 Piper Heidsieck Cuvèe Rare magnum. Opened for a family gathering in my hotel room after a wedding. Obligatory crappy hotel wine glasses. I’ve liked the ‘98 in mag format since I first tried them a couple of years ago. Toasty and rich but not overblown or too mature. That said, Marybeth and I have a bias towards champagnes with some age, and my other family members didn’t seem to enjoy it as much.

I posted about that wine around the time of my wife’s birthday and thought that bottle was hedonistic loveliness and just singing. Our maggie was gone too soon!

[K_John_Joseph]

The few days before I opened an '06 Rare and finished it the next day side by side with an '08. I have always considered the '06 Rare to be decent but not in the same league as the '02 and this was no exception. I had high hopes for the '08 after trying it last December. It was tasty but not very complex at the time. This bottle was more like the '06, unfortunately. I am going to hold off on opening any more '08 rare and hope for the best.

Plastic collar on the 2002 Rare indicates it was an earlier release of the vintage. I have had the earlier and later releases, and find the earlier releases of the 2002 to be really exceptional champagne. Later releases do not have the plastic collar, and just have the gold foil look shown on your 2006 and 2008. Worth keeping an eye out if you see multiple 2002s for the same price and one has the collar. Grab it.

Do you think this quality difference might just be the extra age on the bottle? Should the collarless ones get there in a few years?

Yeah I really don’t know the answer to that because it’s time on lees v time in bottle, and then even with a 2016 disgorgement or something (I don’t even know) it’d been in bottle for a bit. I’ve gone a few rounds of 2002. The collared bottle was noticeable better enough that I think I raised the issue in here and had Brad Baker chime in on disgorgements and packaging which confirmed it was a later release. It’s one of those “not as much to my liking” meaning it was like a 95 instead of a 97 by my accord and so still a freaking yummy wine.

[Howard_Cooper]

Sunday night we had a 1999 Raphaël & Vincent Bérêche Champagne Grand Cru Côte from a magnum. I thought this wine was at the peak of maturity. Creamy and nutty notes but with enough acidity to keep the wine fresh. Would not hold this wine any longer, but it was in a great spot for drinking now.

[JoelD]

Sunday night we had a 1999 Raphaël & Vincent Bérêche Champagne Grand Cru Côte from a magnum. I thought this wine was at the peak of maturity. Creamy and nutty notes but with enough acidity to keep the wine fresh. Would not hold this wine any longer, but it was in a great spot for drinking now.

I’ll bet this was great. Sounds fairly similar to the 2008 that I opened recently. Just a lovely wine with the perfect amount of dosage for me at around 6 g/l I believe. Good to see that these can hold up with some more age. I’ll wait a bit on my next two bottles and see what they gain. These growers tend to disgorge much earlier than the bigger houses. If only it were easier to find back vintages around…

[alan_weinberg]

just opened Henriot BdB NV. Apple and pear, lovely wine that won’t hurt the wallet.

[Warren_Taranow]

A few weeks ago, I opined it would be hard to imaging the 2012 Vilmart Coeur de Cuvée could be much better than the Vilmart Grand Cellier d’Or 2012, after trying the latter for the first time. Yesterday, I brought my first '12 CdC to a restaurant pre-concert.
Despite the restaurant wine glasses, it was another magnificent wine from Vilmart. The '12 CdC is dense and lush, with lemon, honeysuckle, minerals and brioche. The GCd’O had more orange notes, and is probably a bit more open for business at the moment. I’m happy to have more of both. I plan to lower my future ratio of CdC:GCdO purchases, as the Grand Cellier d’Or is so fine for the money.

Cheers,
Warren

[alan_weinberg]

opened 08 Vilmart CdC. So good I had to start a thread on it. Simply a wow.

[dbailey]

I’ve come to the conclusion that GC d’or in mag trumps cdc in bottles. Similarly, krug nv in mags always trumps krug vintage bottles.

[B_Buzzini]

• NV Lanson Champagne Green Label - France, Champagne (6/4/2022)
  100% Bio-Organic, 50%PN,30%PM, 20%CH 6g/l dos 2015 base…this one grew on me as it opened…crystalline pear, peach skin, apple fruits…smoky flint strike, lees nuance, crushed saline minerality…creamy and somewhat sweetened, yet nice tart streak of lemon squeeze and green apple skin…bubbles dissipate fairly quickly…soft cookie crust mousse…finishes refreshingly simple and easy going, yet pleasing, with pretty florals and a Chablis like sea air funk and chalky limestone crunch. Nice wine, but nothing really exciting for me…other than the highly applauded farming practices. (93 pts.)

Posted from CellarTracker

[alan_weinberg]

Vilmart Grand Cellier that I bought 7-8 years ago. A bit sweet but nice wine.

[Russ_Williams]

A few weeks ago, I opined it would be hard to imaging the 2012 Vilmart Coeur de Cuvée could be much better than the Vilmart Grand Cellier d’Or 2012, after trying the latter for the first time. Yesterday, I brought my first '12 CdC to a restaurant pre-concert.
Despite the restaurant wine glasses, it was another magnificent wine from Vilmart. The '12 CdC is dense and lush, with lemon, honeysuckle, minerals and brioche. The GCd’O had more orange notes, and is probably a bit more open for business at the moment. I’m happy to have more of both. I plan to lower my future ratio of CdC:GCdO purchases, as the Grand Cellier d’Or is so fine for the money.

Cheers,
Warren

I also recently had my first bottle of the ‘12 GCd’O and I concur with you that I need to lower my future ratio of CdC:GCdO purchases as the QPR is definitely better.

[Dennis_Atick]

Dhondt does often over-deliver. Happy to be a buyer. This has some room to grow, but already quite vinuous and nice.

[alan_weinberg]

Dhondt does often over-deliver. Happy to be a buyer. This has some room to grow, but already quite vinuous and nice.

IMG-6214.jpeg

agree. An 08 sold me. Had 04 recently, also quite nice and bought 14. Haven’t had your 13.

[Dennis_Atick]

Dhondt does often over-deliver. Happy to be a buyer. This has some room to grow, but already quite vinuous and nice.

IMG-6214.jpeg

agree. An 08 sold me. Had 04 recently, also quite nice and bought 14. Haven’t had your 13.

Right on. Was on the lake yesterday and just got back tonight to the bottle that was opened Friday. Still in the groove. Lovely stuff.

[Jon_Lawrence]

Another Saturday, another get together with friends we have not seen in forever. '12 DP continues to drink very well at the moment, this bottle of '02 Cristal was much fresher than the bottle from NYE, and from the same 6-pack. Obviously not Champagne, but the '19 Jadot MG was drinking nicely, a bit of butter up front, but the tropical fruits, lychee and white peach were there too.

[Jon_Lawrence]

On Friday, I opened a '15 Roederer Rose and a half-bottle of Roederer 243. The Rose was showing more fruit than the '14 version as well as some carob and cashew flavors. I am going to try another bottle in a few weeks. I am not sure if the 243 has been officially released because I can’t find it for sale anywhere on WSPro. This is based on the '18 vintage and is shows plenty of fruit, but still retains nice acidity. I preferred this to the 242. Decent value.