I heard there is an '08 Late Disgorgement coming and it will be priced around $450.
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Unfortuantely with these it was cashews and almost a sherried note.
That doesn’t sound like the bottle I tried. Too bad about the variation. The one I drank was a screaming bargain.
I went back and looked again. It appears I read it wrong. It’s aged for 1 to 5 years in the bottle before disgorgment. Still a large variable window.
From the importers website: “ The grapes are harvested by hand—from 9 different sites—at their maximum ripeness before being destemmed & gently pressed. The fruit undergoes complete malolactic fermentation & no sulfites are added to the blend. The wine is aged in new & old barrels for 12 to 24 months and held in bottle for 1 to 5 years until it is disgorged, corked & released.”
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2016 Marguet Champagne Grand Cru Ambonnay - France, Champagne, Champagne Grand Cru (4/15/2023)
Less obviously expressive than a 2017 base consumed last year, with more backbone and structure. The nose is complex and slightly exotic, with apricot pastry and pistachio. Touch of gaseousness, but nothing beery or "natural" to me. On the palate, there is good energy and freshness, balanced acidity, and some roundness, with an excellent and classy finish. Light on its feet, without being simple. The quality of the fruit is evident. I don't at all get the comments on oakiness, unless one translates anything but pure racy steeliness into "oak." I like this quite a bit, but don't see it aging for real, and don't feel it's a great value at current prices. At zero dosage, it's not my preferred style, but is an excellent example of the category that I quite enjoyed. And before FMIII asks, yes, I started with a slight chill, but let it warm over time.
Posted from CellarTracker
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I’ve had one other wine from this producer and they are definitely not afraid of dosage. And the end result is rather nice in this case!
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NV Champagne Alain Mercier & Fils Champagne Cuvée Duramen - France, Champagne (15/04/2023)
80/20 C/PM. Brut (and clearly not in the extra-brut part of that range!). No dosage or disgorgement info, although the Lot code of L2110D suggests a disgorgement of 10/2021. Vinified in oak barrels.
The colour is quite a golden straw. The mousse is very fine and dissipates quickly. The nose is exotic fruits, wild honey.
The palate is rich, complex, but not without a certain citric (grapefruit) bite to it, particularly towards the finish which is crisp and clean and quite enduring. With air and warming I find several different notes on the palate: guava, white chocolate, nougat, bruised apples, ... a lot of stuff.
Normally I would suggest wines at the higher end of the brut range as food wine, but because of the crispness that appears towards the back end of the palate this is working well for me as an aperitif with just some light nibbles.
At the ~US$41 that I paid I find this quite decent QPR for a wine that is rather different in style from most grower champagnes and clearly not following the trend towards extra-brut / zero dosage. (92 points)
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Frank
I’m a lucky guy to have every vintage of CdC from 2006 onward to 2015. I’ve only opened a couple of ‘06s, ‘08s, ‘09s. To my palate, only the ‘06 was close to a prime drinking window. Even the ‘09s were tight. These age at a glacial pace, and I’m happy to have them all, even the 2010’s and 2011’s. I’ve been opening Laurent’s Grand Cellier d’Or, which aren’t as neanimorphic. A recent 2008 GCd’O had me wondering how it wasn’t at the top of the Vilmart hierarchy. I’m thinking my 2008 CdC will emerge soon and be revelatory.
Thanks for checking in on the 2011. It’s always a treat to read your notes. I think it was you who originally piqued my interest in Vilmart’s wines.
Cheers,
Warren
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.
Cheers,
Blake
Blake,
Thanks for saying it better than I could. I agree with your description, especially the “Elegance” part.
Someone on this board recommended the 2008 (Warren?), which impressed more than we expected. I got more of the 2008, and the supply dried up fairly quickly just after. On a flyer, we got 2012 and no regrets. At all.
The 2012 resembles 2008, although slightly less uumph to it. I haven’t side-by-sided, so this may reflect tasting conditions more than the wine.
I will probably buy more, which seems like a better measure for a wine than a point score.
I thought I read somewhere that LP is somewhat choosier than most about vintages for Brut Millesime releases, but details now elude me.
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We had two last night.
Guiborat GC BdB Prisme 15. Cramant and Chouilly. Older vines, mostly stainless steel, 44 months on the lees, 4.5 g/l. Round, balanced, slighty sweet but not cloying or “sugary.”
Diebold Vallois BdB Brut. Cuis, Chouilly, Epernay and young vines from Cramant. 70% 2016 / 30% 2017. Stainless steel. 3-5 g/l. This seemed more dry, crisp, and linear. My wife preferred the Guiborat while I preferred the DV. What a great buy at sub $40.
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Hold off on the 08 vilmart cdc - not showing anything like the majestic gcdo yet.
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That’s a fair point, but if I was running a wine list and took the hit on very many oxidised bottles I would probably have to start looking for different producers as well. Profit margins for restaurants are not good even for the best restaurants and no distributor I worked with would take back non-TCA based flaws. Oxidised bottles would be a very difficult challenge to return as a restaurant as the bottle becomes more so as it waits for the distributor rep to come check it.
We had 3 bottles of 2012 L-B VV du levant, and one was quite a bit more evolved than the other two. Still a passably nice bottle but if I had purchased it at restaurant pricing I would have been unhappy. The other two were absolutely phenomenal though. I like L-B(and Egly-Ouriet) enough that I would probably still eat the cost of an off (non-TCA) bottle, just to support the producers presence on the list.
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Marcus - are you saying that you believe a restaurant should not be responsible for, or bear the cost of, an oxidized bottle because they cannot (or cannot easily) in turn be made whole, or because we should be appreciative that they maintain a list with good choices in the first place?
A couple of great wines this week.
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2013 Dhondt-Grellet Champagne Grand Cru Extra Brut Blanc de Blancs Vieille Vigne Le Bateau - France, Champagne, Champagne Grand Cru (4/14/2023)
Recommended by the staff at Bar Le Dokhan's, the champagne bar at the hotel of the same name (Paris). This is a new producer for me. Biodynamic/organic farming (although not "certified"). Native yeasts. Wines aged in barrels; + malolactic.
The Bateau it their tête de cuvée, 65+ year old vines from a single Grand Cru lieu-dit in Cramant.
This wine was abrupt and powerful on the attack. It blossomed with air and a little warming, showing lemon pie, peach and pear pastry. It balances power and freshness well. i liked it a lot, and it improved through the last glass. -
NV Guiborat Fils Champagne Grand Cru Prisme 15 - France, Champagne, Champagne Grand Cru (4/13/2023)
This producer was originally recommended to me by the sommelier at Granit in Paris a couple of years ago. This particular cuvée was then recommended the other night by the maitre d' at Boutary. 1.5 gm dosage. It paired beautifully with the tasting menu with caviar. Also quite powerful, yet very fresh and energetic. Creamy citrus and white orchard fruit. I bought a case in the states for a song; it drinks well above its fare.
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Warren, I had the Guiborat last night too. Where did you see that it is 1.5 g/l? I did not find dosage listed on my bottle and the importer (Guiborat | Coeur Wine Co.) says it is 4.5 g/l. It certainly didn’t taste particularly dry.
First time with this and from magnum. Showing lots of toast, chalk, acidity, red and golden delicious apple. Mature and ready to go.
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I have a ton of those D-V in .375 I got a deal on, one of my better champagne buys.
Good notes, thanks.
I think I mean to say that it’s not a black or white choice for me.
The motto of all really good restaurants is that the customer is always right. So bearing the cost for an oxidized bottle is on the restaurant.
But as a consumer, I would take a minute before returning a bottle that was moderately oxidized (if it’s simply DOA then returning the bottle is a no brainer) to determine whether what I want more is to have a better bottle tonight or better choices going forward. The restaurant will have a harder time being made whole on a bottle returned for be tired than one that is corked (and perhaps rightly so if storage is poorly managed by the restaurant). And as an ex-somm, I had margins to hit for the company. We would replace bottles for customers, basically for whatever might be wrong with them. I had to be careful with not having too many bottles that we comped but couldn’t get refunded ourselves.
That sometimes meant not choosing producers that I really wanted to have on the list, eg Chateau Musar. Long story short, while I think the restaurant should comp an off bottle there are times I proba ly would not ask them to.
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I’ll need to try one, 2008 on deck for tonight.
I read it in @William_Kelley’s note.
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Restaurants charge multiples of cost for several reasons, one of which is to account for flawed/returned bottles. If I’m paying 3x retail, or more, I’m not hesitant about refusing flawed wine. Same with flawed (bugs, etc) food.
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