A fellow amateur mycologist! You have my full trust now. Will definitely give that wine a try. I will look into the Diebolt Vallois as well. Been hearing about how nice the wines are, didn’t realize they were Chardonnay focused.
Yes, Diebolt-Vallois is known for Cramant fruit. The Prestige BdB is a brilliant QPR.
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First night on a cruise for my partner’s birthday. Of course he gets sea sick so I have the entire bottle of 2014 Marguet Les Saints Remys. Delicious wine but could age a bit more. Very fine bubbles. Ripe apple nose with green apple and lime on the palate. Saline finish. Very fine. I offered others at the table but they preferred their Pinot Gris, Gin and Tonics and Ice Tea. I have more at home.
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I focus mostly on BdB and Diebolt Vallois has been a nice recent discovery. I sampled their 2008 Fleur de Passion and straight away bought 3 mags of the 2013
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A new discovery and a good value producer from Aÿ, The Harmonie a blend of Meunier, Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, no exact dosage or degorgement dates given. A fresh, playful style of champagne, not intellectually challenging, more about conviviality. Has the tell-tale Aÿ aroamitcs and a nice saliferous minerality, for under 30 € really nice.
The Pinot Noir is at another level, needs about an hour to really kick start. A champagne that is not about power rather finess and balance. Nice red fruit aromatics leaning towards cherries, blood orange, hint of spices, really nice acidity, minerality is a bit subdued, good persisitent finish. Very young but great potential. I am really pleased to have found this producer.
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Funny they came on my radar a week or two ago too.
There is a craziness to Ledru’s pricing, especially considering what they used to cost ex cellar. A nice rosé with everything one expects from Ambonnay in the unpolished Ledru style.
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Ledru became a “totem wine” at some point about ten or so years ago, and prices have been insane ever since. I used to be a fan and customer, but I can’t say I miss the wines that much. (Also, many of her wines have, in my opinion, not really aged that gracefully, to say the least).
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It is more about the fact that she no longer produces and with each bottles that is consumed, it is one bottle less. The frenzy is due to Italy. They are nice champagnes, not polished and with big bubbles. I think the most important thing about Ledru is her absolute hatred of wood in champagne. I am sort of in the same camp, I am not against the oxaditive effect of barrel but I just do not like any form of toasting notes in champagne.
As to aging, i don’t think they were made for long term aging but saying that I have had coteauxs from her from the nineties and they were fanastic as long as you do not want a muscular coteaux.
I think the scarcity and the “madness” predate her retirement in 2016 (you’re probably aware of the circumstances, so no need to spell it out). Unlike you, I’m not entirely sure that you can lay the blame for this so squarely at Italy’s door. Also, I didn’t necessarily mean “long-term ageing”, more like mid-term: not sure if they were meant to or not, but I certainly expected better returns in that department (wouldn’t know about the Coteaux, though).
Had the new Cabot sparklers last night, served bliind. John Cabot is onto something here. Note–I wrote the identical note for both 2014 and 2016. If you read the entire note below, I comment on both.
@brigcampbell @Steve_Nordhoff @Chris_Seiber
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2014 Cabot Vineyards Blanc de Blanc Brut Zero Anderson Valley - USA, California, North Coast, Anderson Valley (2/24/2023)
First note! Honored to do it, John. I've heard about John's sparkling project for some time and last night, I got blinded on both the 2014 and 2016. Given our tasting group, I assumed that we had some Champagne in front of us, both because of how our group usually rolls with Champagne, but more importantly, how both vintages tasted. The flight has just these two wines, and no hints. It was only after we had guessed the varietal that Brig told us that we were guessing the wrong country. What was remarkable about these two wines for me, especially the 2014, was the similarity in energy and build to something low/sans dose out of Champagne. I was straight fooled on the 2014, pegging it as something out of the Aube. The 2014, a zero dose Chard from Anderson Valley, initially showed me thyme and mineral on first taste. I kept tasting, and then I found a core of grapefruit with some lemon oil. With more air, sour apple, tangerine zest and what I really thought was dried cherry/raspberry. Man, I enjoyed the 2014 and it really fooled me. As for the 2016, also zero dose from Anderson Valley, more characteristic of green apple with a distinct salinity/salt on first taste. Then, some toastiness appeared, followed by some lemon and the same green apple. Good concentration here and bit more rocky than the 2014. These are terrific sparkling wines, and that 2014 is the best US sparkler I have tasted. I do want to retaste them both, especially the 2016, to get another experience with them but as a first try, John has done some terrific work here.
Posted from CellarTracker
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That is exciting. Where did you get it and what was the cost? I have a friend who really loves Alexander Valley wines and I’d love to get him a bottle.
Brig got them via Berserker Day. I think Brig said that John is selling them on his website.
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@John_Cabot KILLED it, stunning.
I’m writing up a few notes now.
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You’re stealing my material!
I have a 2016 in the cellar, it’s yours. I’m buying more.
Notes coming…
The upside here is that we were seated at opposite ends of the table last night, and while we did have some cross-talk about some flavor markers, we will have a good independent yet confirming narrative. And Steve as well. Not sure how much Sean participates here but that gives us three voices.
I really appreciate this note, Brian. On release, I bought a bunch of this and the last time I had it was 2020. The 2014s in general for me were tight as a drum on release so to get some narratives like yours on Les Saint Remys is really helpful. Not surprised by the saline finish, but help me, overall was the wine approachable and also at what temperature (not exact but broadly–cold, chilled, cool, close to room, etc) did you use for your note here?
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We sometimes taste with a big influencer for Champagne from Italy and he like us still gets allocations from Ledru. He has said the whole situation in Italy for Ledru is crazy. Magnum 800 €, Goulte 500 € Rosé 300 €. He has said he is trying to calm the situation.
Each country in my experience in selling has demand for certian producers. Look at Tristan Hyest, fantastic producer, delivers a lot of pinot noir to Krug, has started as similair system like Rodez, who wants to emulate Krug. The demand for this producer is massive in Italy, in Scandinavia no demand. The same with Latour -Legrand, a colleague said take as much as you can take, the italians are crazy for this producer and its true no demand elsewhere.
Bereche 10000 bottles go to Italy and they could take 30000 if they got them.
Simon Rion massive in Denmark, nobody else seems to have caught on to him yet.
Scandinavia massive with Maillart, in other countries not so much.
Horiot, we don’t get much but it all goes to Brazil.
From experience, if you sell champagne in Europe, the first thing is to understand which country drinks what.
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I’ve tasted a lot of domestic sparklers like the under the wire, argyle triage, Rhys, and sea smoke sea spray.
This is the best domestic sparkler without question. So happy for @John_Cabot
The 2014 and 2016 were served side by side. First let me start by saying that these are the two finest sparkling wines outside of France and they’re on par with the best grower champagnes.
Both vintages possess the same angularity and cut on the mouthfeel. They’re medium plus acidity, if not plus plus. As Chris S said “this is a Frank Murray wine” along with another great call “these are boney”. Perfect.
I really felt like lime, lemon rind and Granny Smith Apple we’re the a predominant flavors for both but the 2014 showed a hint of some tropical or red fruit. That led some to believe that it might be a Pinot or blend.
Both had a nice foundation of minerals but the 2016 leaned more towards salinity.
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Damn wine influencers! I just ordered a pack of brut zero and a pack of Zin for a buddy. Check out requires Paypay, which I don’t use, but I called him and had a nice chat. He said he has lots left and that he made it for long-term aging.