Thank you both! Very much looking forward to opening one soon.
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Lol, that’s fantastic.
After looking at the pic I just wanted to check in to see if you’re okay, having to drink still reds and all.
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hold that seat for me. Thanks. In our Salon tasting I brought 96 and a blinded wine—also 96. Nobody guessed it.
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Oddly, I don’t feel like myself today…my only conclusion today is to blame those still reds. Those guys forced that stuff onto me and I should have showed better will power in saying ‘No’. 
I did guess the Cornas correctly, but that damn Gaunoux, I thought it was nebbiolo that had started to age. See, WTF do I know? 
How was the Laherte Frères Champagne Les Empreintes?
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Oh yeah, forgot about that one. For context, my 5th bottle this year (had not realized it was that many), and last night’s was again delicious.
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2014 Laherte Frères Champagne Les Empreintes - France, Champagne (12/2/2022)
I served this blind last night, to get the reaction of my wine group to what I had only told them was one of my WOTY candidates. I wanted their feedback. Overall, the feedback was favorable and it served as a good contrast to another 2014 I had poured blind next to it, which was the Vilmart Coeur de Cuvee. That wine is more showy now, more energetic and youthful as compared to the 14 Empreintes, FWIW. January 2020 disgorgement of 50/50 Chard/Pinot, with 4 grams of dosage. I really think highly of this wine, as it drinks with a sense of completeness. Pounded rock and citrus aroma. Honeyed lime, cranberry, finishing with some mineral, and what is most notable for me, the gentle yet persistent flavor, especially when still. With air, some lemon and saline entered the wine, to join the honeyed green lime finish. This is drinking beautifully and will be for me in the drinking window for the next few years. Balance, fruit and pleasure.
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Regarding the 2 Coeur De Cuvée bottles, one has a thin label showing Alc % by vol. My bottles have this strip and were imported by Adventures in Wine. Was the other bottle a different importer? I believe Skurnik is the official importer. The two bottles I drank were definitely like your bottle, dense powerful, concentrated. Really good!!!
Daniel, the thin label alc bottle was mine, bought from Woodland Hills WC. Not sure where they got it, sounds like your source, too. The other one was from a reliable person but I am unsure as to where he channeled the wine from. However, I have a handful of bottles coming from him so they will taste like the non-label one…I think! WTH knows. Both bottles tasted bitchen, just different. A couple guys at the table last night said that other source’s bottle tasted more like a big house tête de cuvée. Pretty interesting.
Correct. Got mine from Woodland Hills Wine. And I really like Vilmart CdC. Consistently good!
With the14 CdC now out, it’s time to do the Grand Cellier d’Or (GCdO) and the CdC side by side blind. We did that with the 2013 CdC and GCdO earlier this year when I did some blinds for my group. It’s a cool contrast, to play with these two wines blind. Have you tried this yet?
Haven’t seen the 2014 GCdO offered anywhere, but sounds like an interesting tasting. I do see that WHWC has the 2011 CdC coming in. It is the only recent vintage I have not tried. Worth getting a few bottles? It is a few dollars more then the 2014.
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The 2011 is excellent, not as good as the 2012 but nevertheless it’s terrific. Haven’t opened a 2014 yet so I can’t compare. BTW, WHWC had the 2010 not that long ago for $130 which was a good price for one of the top wines of a not so great vintage.
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14 GCdO was already offered and likely gone. A few of us cleaned out a case of it from a Chicago store earlier this year and I have not seen it around much since. The 17 GCdO is the current release, although I don’t have mine yet and there is still 16 out and around.
The 11 CdC is great. For $125, yeah, it’s worth a few if you have the funds.
Hi Donald, just opened the Les Hauts d’ Epernay 2017. Love this wine, it has so many layers and develops and changes every minute. Left something for day two and even better. Are you sure this is a 100% chardonnay? According to my wine shop and also others it is a blend of chardonnay, pinot noir and meunier.
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No it is not 100% chardonnay, that was our mistake. We have now tasted through all the new releases, the Cramant and the Fine Fleur are also really good, more linear in style, I think they will need a lot of aging. The Le fonds du Bateaux is the difficult one, not so clean, more vegatile notes though great structure and with time I am sure it will improve.
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Just opened a bottle of Suenen Oiry Blanc de Blanc to accompany me watching Argentina-Australia. Great wine. Pale lemon colour. Very delicate mousse and slightly oxidative in a very good manner. Brioche, lemon, stone fruit and nice minerality. Must try.
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Welcome. Bienvenue.
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Laherte Freres BdB Brut Zero, disgorged 3/21.
Deliciously easy to drink - without either flaws or thrills. Excellent for a Tuesday, but tonight is Saturday.
Please tell us the whole story….
Amongst all the CA Pinot Noir last night, I found my happy place and just pulled all three of these bottles up in front of me and just sip tasted them over and over for about 45 mins at the end of dinner. Just tiny pours to get a sense of how they compared. The Les 7 is cool, unique. Just a half hectare, planted in 2003 by Aurelien and his father, first harvest was 2005. The wine now is a perpetual starting with 2005. Farmed by horse and organic, and I think if I remember correctly that is is all co-fermented, made with about 4 grams of dosage. As for the 740, that wine is in a really good place, and my sense is that it continues to ascend the arc for pleasure. 10 years out now and it’s got some good polish, yet there is a structure too sitting within the wine that gives it a complementary pleasure. As for the HG Millesime, wow, did that hit me right between the eyes. Strikingly good, with a cleansing and transparent expression. Beautiful. I have some coming and will joyfully drink these over the next many years. Reminds me of Marguet. Thanks for reading.
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2012 Hugues Godmé Champagne Grand Cru Millésimé - France, Champagne, Champagne Grand Cru (12/3/2022)
Disgorged February 2022. 60 Chard / 40 Pinot. Labeled as EB, and I think it's 3 grams of dosage but the back label doesn't show that. Rocky and cleansing. Honeysuckle, dried purple fruit like a blueberry accented by lavender, plus red apple, mineral. I sip tested this about a half dozen times at the end of the dinner, when the wine was pretty still, and the temp was near room temp. So, it was pretty well exposed, not cloaked by chill. This is a gastronomic delight, and a wine that made me pause as I found it superb, really to my liking. And, it's the most structured 12 I have had from the vintage. I am thrilled to have some of these on the way already, and was glad my buddy brought this over to the dinner--thank you! -
NV Jacquesson & Fils Champagne Cuvée No. 740 - France, Champagne (12/3/2022)
My final bottle. Disgorged March 2017 from 2012 base, with dosage of 1.5 grams. Poured next to the 2012 Hugues Godme Millesime. The 740 has similar structural features to that wine although not as strikingly gastronomic. It does though exhibit a good amount of slate with a dried cherry, pear, dried lime and green apple. Powerful yet with fruit texture, whereas the Godme is more mineralized and grippy. Both wines are excellent, it's just a difference of palate expression. I do see that the 740 DT is now out, and I think if I can find one for a fair price, I will get one to compare. -
NV Laherte Frères Champagne Les 7 Extra Brut - France, Champagne (12/2/2022)
Decided to go grab another one of these and taste it more slowly, study the wine over a few days without any other wine distractions around it. This is the 07-17 solera composition, with the January 2021 disgorgement. The breakdown 10% Fromenteau (Pinot Gris), 8% Arbanne, 14% Pinot Noir, 18% Chard, 17% Pinot Blanc, 18% Pinot Meunier and 15% Petit Meslier. The ripeness on this version is terrific, with a hint of tonic and mineral, both working there thing in the finish, i.e. a nice tingly, minerally impression. Red apple, melon, tropical (like a guava or green banana), pink grapefruit, and those who mentioned nuts/almond in their notes, I can see that pretty well, too. Letting this get a little warm and still in my Glas StandArt stem, it's really a gentle, polished, flavorful expression. Finished the following day, drinking about the same, feels more resolved and expressive. Be curious to see how the new disgorgement that now includes the 2018 base is showing...that wine is now here on the West Coast.
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