Which Champagne are you drinking?

Had the 2014 CdC at a dinner on Wednesday, it was delicious. Not sure if it would be a little to rich for your tastes these days, but it was so tasty!

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Looks like all the 2013 GCdO finally sold out. I’m glad I got the 3 more when I did.

@Alan_Rath waiting on mine. But I am intrigued by the currency/fx impact on the 2014 CdC. I am seeing it for less than $120 and that is fantastic. Not too rich for me, at least based on having it back at May @ Vilmart with Laurent. He poured it for me and it hit me just right. I am very curious to try it again and see if the same experience happens.

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Cool, you’ve had it. I’d go ahead and load up at that price, I’m confident you’ll still love it :blush:

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  • 2014 Vilmart & Cie Champagne Premier Cru Coeur de Cuvée - France, Champagne, Champagne Premier Cru (5/25/2022)
    Tasting with Laurent Champs of Vilmart (In Rilly la Montagne): Disgorged March 2021. I haven't got an offer yet on the 2014 so this is for me a treat to get to taste this out ahead of the purchase. Hell, I'd just buy a bunch of this anyway as I do each vintage of CdC but at least now I have some intel as to what is inside the bottle. 80% Chard and 20% Pinot, with the usual 6 years or so on the lees. Damn, this is good and I starred my notes. There is both richness and breadth here. Mandarin/tangerine, lime skin, yellow apple with a powerful core of energy and freshness. If my notes bear out here (I do like to taste things a few times before I gush over something as confirmed to be a real winner), this may end up going into that level of great. We'll see but let's color this first experience with the 2014 as fantastic.

Posted from CellarTracker

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Appreciate the note as I buy all the vilmarts sight unseen every release. The 14 was released in the uk back in march so not sure why you haven’t seen it in the US yet.

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The ‘14 Vilmart CDC was just released here. It’s always a little delayed compared to Europe. I thought it was fabulous. As was the Emotion.

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There is some here…I just have not seen much talk about it yet nor it all that spread out across the shops. But there is some locally and I will plan to get a few now until my pre-release stuff finally arrives. I want to get that 14 into a blind format this month and see how it shows.

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Just had the chance to taste Champagne Les Mesnil 2015 Sublime Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs. Delicious! Bought a case.

It was a very nice dinner and great to see Laurent again. The 2008 (though still far too young) and 2013 CdC were my favorites of those wines, though the 97 Cuvee Creation out of mag was my favorite overall.

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I highly recommend the Vilmart Creation. :sunglasses:

Special treat with the 95 and 96 side by side.

There are only 5 bottles of 95 Creation in Cellartracker.

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I’m a big fan as a well - the 97 Cuvee creation was a bottle my friend Nancy and I brought to the dinner.

Etienne Calsac L’Echapee Belle BdB. Base 2019, disgorged october 21, dosage 3g/l. Opened and left in fridge fir a couple of hours before serving. Nose redolent of classic bdb with lovely toasted white bread note. Palate initially disjointed and harsh but a few minutes in the glass saw it come together beautifully and build from there. Really good stuff and ridiculously so for the price point. Back up the truck.

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For a few bucks more more, I personally think the “Etienne Calsac ‘Les Rocheforts’ Blanc de Blancs Premier Cru Extra Brut” is a great champagne and a noticeable step up from the L’Echapee. Give it a try if you see it.

Will definitely look into that.

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Tonight, a magical Guy Larmandier Cramant GC, 2015 base, disgorged 2020, no dosage. Magical by virtue of it simply materializing in my wine fridge. I have no memory or records of ordering it, receiving it, or paying for it.
It has an interesting savory spice thing going on that my brain labeled ginger, for lack of a better descriptor. It’s not up to the level of the only other wine I’ve had from this producer, which was a 2008 Signé François Vieilles Vignes Blanc de Blancs. That said, it’s a very nice weeknight wine with dinner.


2008 Saint-Chamant Champagne Brut Cuvee de Chardonnay

Slightly developed golden color. Nose has nice aged complex notes of toffee, toasty nuts, yeast, some honey and bruised apple. Palate is very fresh yet rich with zippy acidity, great lively bubbles, very minerally with chalk, the fruit is mostly in the background in this, green apples, classic Champagne-y bread and hazelnuts. Finishes long with more green apples, toasty nuts and acidity. Very good stuff.

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I had his about a year ago courtesy of @dcornutt and promptly bought six. Your note reminds me that I need to revisit it.

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From last night, and had the luxury to retaste them all tonight, with multiple small pours. The notes below reflect that gift of time, to do them over one after the over in a quiet setting. The 12 Les Bermonts will be on my short list for WOTY 2022, as it’s that good. The Le Parc is just hair behind, I love the stony lemon quality but I just like the Les Bermonts a touch more. Thanks for reading.

  • 2012 Marguet Champagne Grand Cru Extra Brut Les Bermonts - France, Champagne, Champagne Grand Cru (11/7/2022)
    Hot dang, this is the best tasting bottle to date. September 2017 disgorgement again, 100% Chard, no dosage. We opened this yesterday and a small group of us worked through most of it, but I have enough for another go with it tonight. Yesterday, this was tangy, more softer with a good imprint of fruit, glossy apple, lime yet plenty of life with a citrus touch. Today, man, this is even better. The color remains perfect, showing no signs of age at 10 years old. Creamy with a smoky herb infused into the wine. The saline seems more like flint today, buffering the finish with apricot, savory apple and citrus peel. Just alive, complex, fresh, balanced. I'm putting this on my 2022 WOTY short list, and damn, wish I hadn't finished all of mine but it's good to have friends around with these still hanging around their cellars.
  • 2014 Marguet Champagne Grand Cru Le Parc - France, Champagne, Champagne Grand Cru (11/7/2022)
    Been about 3 years since we got one of these open, recalling the bottle from 2019 that was pretty tight and lean. Bottle was open last night, working through the final glass tonight. 100% Chardonnay, no dosage nor sulfur, disgorged March 2019. The air, the age, time...it's all seemed to finally unlock this wine. Yeah, still powerful and concentrated. Yesterday the wine had a big signature of lemon--bright, concentrated, curd-like. Today, I can still sense the lemon but it's more integrated into the wine, kind of a lemon flesh note, with an added ginger. I'd say what attracts me to the wine is the stoniness, which is delicious. Like a wet stone minerality. Crisp green apple is there too, but it's simply sitting alongside the lemon, along with some mint. Best way to describe this wine....classy, bitchen, a wine drinkers kind of Champagne.
  • 2015 Marguet Champagne Grand Cru Ambonnay - France, Champagne, Champagne Grand Cru (11/7/2022)
    I just got this bottle a few weeks ago but decided to let it rip as I have not done much tasting of the 15 Marguet range. This is 53 Chard / 47 Pinot Noir, disgorged September 2020 (i think, or it's 2021 but I ripped the back label), no dosage. The smoky aromatic is pretty well established here, even being open since last night, I can still sense it in today's pour as I work through the final few ounces. Pretty soft, but fresh and quite fruit dominant. Lots of pear, pineapple, some green apple, orange and a flash of cranberry or dried cherry from the Pinot Noir. This is rich yet elegant, as the middle weight of the wine gently hits my palate. Finishes with a gentle push of acidity, the juicy orange flesh capturing the finish, along with some cardamom (that I also found yesterday). More delicious then complex, but a wine that I can just keep pouring and finishing...kind of addicting in that way.
  • 2019 Ruppert-Leroy Champagne Papillon - France, Champagne (11/7/2022)
    No disgorgement date on the bottle. This is Day 3 for the wine, and it's gonna make it to 4 days so maybe it changes again. But for now, this is the Day 3 note. I want to say there is some gold in the color but I believe it's more accurate to say there is a little Rose tinge in the wine--it just darkens the color slightly, almost as if it has some skin color influencing the wine. Big time apple and mineral here, and the texture fans out on the wine, filling my palate. Then, into the finish, still a lot of tension, a rockier tannin even after 3 days open. No dosage and no sulfur, and given this is 100% Pinot Noir, it makes sense that there is red apple here, as it comes through very well. Finishes with a good refreshing hit of saline, and even a bit of apple pie filling/crust. At this point, a cerebral kind of wine, true to R-L

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I’m admittedly not on the Marguet bandwagon, but the 2015 Ambonnay was the first one I thought was complete and fabulous.

Agreed. A recent `08 Comtes de Champagne was superlative.