Alexandre Lambot worked under Jerome Prevost. He then returned to the family winery and had lots of trouble convincing his family to implement changes resulting in him working secretly changing the vineyards etc. Planting trees, moving away from monoculture.
Things have settled down now and he is on a good way. Due to the small size of production and the Prevost connection the prices are quite high. I would recommend buying and trying to see if one likes the style. For me a very serious producers and worth following.
No, the '04 BdM is not going to supplant the '95 as the best BdM ever - yet. This was drinking really well. The nose is still somewhat closed, showing some white flowers, but the palate was more giving with lemon, grapefruit, ginger and nutmeg. Finishes with red apple, espresso, lots of chalk and acidity. The '95 was a bit more flashy (when it was in its prime) and that may just be the vintage differential. Much better than '07 I had recently. Opened it on Thursday and finished on Friday with the Krug.
The Krug was a 160 which is '04 base. This comes across as much higher in acidity with fresh lemons up front. Finishes with some toast, brown sugar and Meyer lemon cake.
'06 Cristal rosé was a pleasure to drink. Oddly enough it has a decent amount of watermelon and rhubarb up front with a long lemony chalky finish that goes on forever. '04/'06 Cristal brut and rosé are underrated IMO and some of the best Champagnes of those vintages.
This one was a head-scratcher. When I tasted it upon opening, the first thing that came to mind was Korbel, ugh. It had a metallic, bitter flavor that I associate with those bad sparklers served at weddings. It did get a little better over a few hours and it was from magnum, but a No. 25 a few weeks prior was much better. I don’t plan on opening another one of these for a long time.
2012 LAURENT PERRIER BRUT- tasted blind; 50% Pinot Noir, 50% Chardonnay; the Pinot Noir is sourced from five villages: Bouzy, Verzy, Aÿ, Mailly, and for the first time in the history of this cuvée, Rilly-la-Montagne, which is not a grand cru village; the Chardonnay comes from the villages of Le-Mesnil-sur-Oger, Oger, Cramant and Chouilly; following its light yellow color came inviting aromas of first apple and pear, then peach and nectarine and eventually some citrus which on the palate translated into orange peel and grapefruit along with a light coat of honey; although fruity, it was all in nice balance enhanced by its light, frothy mousse which added to its elegance and ease in gracing the palate; the operative word for this bubbly is elegance.
Maybe an off bottle, or just catching it at a grumpy stage? I’m not giving up on this wine. In my experience, the Grand Siecle needs more time to shine than any other MV champagne. A history of great iterations at reasonable prices has kept me buying. This one is 2002-2004-2006. I’m happy to have several bottles and a magnum of the 23.
This week I had one of those moments when a bottle made me stop and appreciate what was in my glass. We were at dinner, I had brought a bottle of the wine below to share with my wife and her brother and his wife. We were early so I pulled out my StandArt stems, opened the bottle and poured she and I each a glass. I tasted it and it was one of those wine moments when I paused and thought, wow. Tasted again, wow. I then told her I would be back and I grabbed my phone, walked outside the restaurant to open up my CT account and figure out what was what.
As quick backdrop, the cuvee below is a perpetual stainless steel raised Meunier that started back in 2014, and was bottled for the first time once Cedric had 2014 and 2015 bases tanked together. Since that time, and each successive disgorgement, he has added 2016 base, then 2017 base, and then 2018 base, which happens to be the wine we had this week. This is a zero dose cuvee from plots around Cuisles ('kweel") where the winery is located. Turns out this was the first bottle of the 2014 - 2018 I had opened, and damn is it good. I have been drinking and replenishing this cuvee since the first release and subsequent new base and disgorgements but this 2018 is the best.
4 of us ordered another case of it today from Woodland Hills Wine. Of note, if you decide to try the wine, keep in mind that WHW also has a further disgorgement of the wine, which is the 2014 -2019 version, which is also good, but it didn’t stop me in my tracks like the 2014 - 2018 did this week. It’s $55 and based on what is in the bottle, to me at least, it’s excellent. PS…I pasted my note on the 2019 base below in case anyone was interested.
NV Moussé Fils Champagne Blanc de Meuniers Premier Cru Brut Zéro Les Vignes de Mon Village - France, Champagne (4/10/2023)
December 2021 disgorgement, inclusive now of the 2018 base. My only experience with the 2018 so far, and man this was good. I excused myself from the dinner table, walked outside the restaurant and called the wine shop to see if they had more. This bottle has a reductive, smoky note, that was first in the aromatic but later only in the palate. Pear, pink grapefruit and good depth that gave the wine a refined presence. This disgorgement really feels complete to me, one that made me stop and pause. We finished this over dinner and I will be grabbing more of this as backfill this week. The best version of this perpetual cuvee so far.
NV Moussé Fils Champagne Blanc de Meuniers Premier Cru Brut Zéro Les Vignes de Mon Village - France, Champagne (2/4/2023)
First bottle of the 2021 disgorgement, with the perpetual now including the impact of the 2019 base (at 50%). 100% Pinot Meunier, no dosage. Opened yesterday, consumed over 2 days. When I first opened the bottle, it was very fruit driven, flush with stone fruits (like peach) and a red berry that seemed more raspberry in tone. Later on the first day, it started to become more linear and less fruit-centric (I'm thinking I had it too chilled). Stoppered overnight, then retasting today. Lots of fleshy pear in this disgorgement, with mandarin orange, crisp apple, a light shading of grapefruit, too. And yesterday I mentioned raspberry, and there is a bit of raspberry compote here, too. I'm gonna have to revert back to my comment about this being fruit centric, as it really is. One thing is very certain here: no one should have any argument that the missing dosage here is leaning down this wine. Quite the contrary, as there is plenty of stuffing with the vivid fruit.
I haven’t seen a drop in quality in recent years however, I’ve had enough oxidized bottles to think about dropping this producer altogether. Instead, i keep more than one bottle so there’s always one ready to replace a faulty one… Not necessarily the best approach but I’ve grown fond of this Champagne over the years.
Light golden color. Nose is very honeyed and somewhat sweet with honeydew, caramel, ripe orchard fruit, and some salinity. Palate is dry but a little cloyed and almost artificially sweetened with peach, honey, touch of minerality and reduction, and honey roasted peanuts.
It’s simple and even though technically dry, it has this somewhat artificial sweetness that’s not well controlled, it lacks freshness and generally just isn’t firing on all cylinders.
Laherte Frères Rosé de Meunier Extra Brut
Disgorged 07/2022 2.5g/l dosage.
My girlfriend got a promotion after a long year of work. I didn’t have any special bubbles saved up (we drank our 1911 Clouet a couple weeks ago). We had already decided on Pizza and this pizza place by me actually has a randomly awesome wine list. I need to have some drinks with the owner. They have an option for dealers choice of champagne and they gave me this.
Love the color. Super fresh, lively mousse. Tart strawberries, raspberries and other red fruit. Way more yeasty than I was expecting, pleasantly surprised. Has a streak of minerality and a long finish. Fun wine to drink on a Tuesday.
What other oxidative flavors do you get from this bottling other than nuts? The bottle I had had obvious nutty flavors, which I personally enjoyed, and I felt like it was just a hint of maturity. It was otherwise really fresh and electric. I note the importers website said the wine is aged in the cellar between one and five years after disgorgement. That’s a large window, and perhaps that accounts for the bottle variation? I didn’t see any explanation as to why some bottles would be held back for four extra years.
