NV Egly-Ouriet Champagne Premier Cru Brut “Les Vignes de Bisseuil” - France, Champagne, Champagne Premier Cru (10/20/2023)
– tasted non-blind over 2.5 hrs –
Wow … really nice. Rich, slightly oxidative, but with plenty of fruit, acidity, and tension. Due to the ongoing hype and rising prices with this producer, part of me was hoping I wouldn’t love this, but that wasn’t to be. Solidly excellent.
Wasn’t expecting such a serious wine at the price. It was a real treat.
I was referring to the 26, but for my palate and current pricing it applies to both. In that $100 - $200 range, I would rather spend my money on Comtes and Bollinger LGA.
Which champagne are you referring to, Donald?
sorry Trichet, Authentique extra brut
2006 Piper-Heidsieck Cuvée Rare.
Tonight’s the first time I opened the 2006. For me, the ‘06 Taittinger Comtes is generous and the champagne of the vintage. This is a serious contender. Not a BdB, but a very bready, generous wine in terms of body, nose and flavors. Doughy apple and apricot pie, lemon, and a slight reductive note. Luscious mouthfeel and a long finish. I’m going to start opening these with some regularity.
Jon, I consistently find some notes in Rare including the 2008 that are difficult to accurately describe, but my best choices include licorice, pepper, mint, spice and anise. Any detection of such in this one?
Parallel to this we drunk Pierre Paillard’s Les Parcelles, 70% pinot noir and 30% chardonnay from this years releases. Much more explosive than the Renoir, the action plays in the front of the palate, more bright red fruits and better acidic grip than the Renoir but lacks the depth and complexity. A nice champagne, but for me not a rebuy.
As this was at a tasting, the reactions were mixed, no clear winner. However the concencus, in terms of aromatics/articulation of terroir, not really much difference.
Blake
if my notes are attributed to @Jon_Lawrence, I’ll take that as a high compliment.
I remember you’ve mentioned those impressions before. Maybe it’s the power of suggestion, but the licorice note rings a bell. I’ll pay more attention to my next bottle(s).
When I’m looking for a rich, robust champagne, these do the job. A great success for 2006 (and ‘98, ‘02, …)
Cheers
Warren
How was it? Been eyeballing this bottle at my local shop.
Sorry for the slight drift, but how was the Sandhills? I just pulled a 2012 Wenzlau from the cellar.
Really nice, my bottle blossomed with some air, frankly I should have decanted it. Nice bright fruit, balanced acid, a little spice. Had this been blind it would have been called Pinot in about 8 seconds.
Easy drinkin, not terribly complex, pretty simple…nice raspberry and cream, elegant tingly bubbles…light biscuit mousse…VERY good for the beach though! I’d say 91pts.
Thanks CJ.
NV Palmer & Co Champagne Amazone de Palmer Brut
51% Chard from Trépail and Villers-Marmery, of which 18% is Solera; 49% PN from from Mailly and Verzenay; Bottled 5/2013; Disg 12/2020; 6g/L dosage.
Palmer was formed about 75 years ago by 7 grower families as a champagne house in Reims. It has been described as a “Grande Marque,” but based on what I have read, it operates more like a cooperative. Feel free to correct me.
Stunningly tiny and vivid bead. Light golden color. Nose of brioche. On the palate, ripe green apple - perhaps a touch of browning apple?, a bit of almond (but not cloying), lime zest, nice acidity, with a long, fresh brioche finish. This was very nice and easy to drink, but I’m not sure it’s worth the price of $100… then again, given my many grower champagne misses recently (haven’t written notes for most of them lest I come across as an irredeemable grouch), perhaps it’s priced OK.
Other notes The bottle is oval-shaped, which is kind of cool and thankfully didn’t cause storage problems. Though the back of the bottle doesn’t have detailed information, it provides a code that one can enter on Palmer’s website and get bottling, disgorgement date, blend and dosage.
Warren,
Thank you Warren and the feeling is mutual. I find your notes and posts so informative and useful.
I am glad you posted about the '06. I have not had it in a couple of years, but looks like it is time to open another bottle.
Best,
Jon
Grouch is accepted and appreciated here. Please post.
H. Billiot Cuvee Laetitia:
Another bottle with noticeable VA, though at a lower amplitude this time. The VA was mild enough I could over look it, but this bottle lacked the complexity of the previous bottle and felt rather flat and dull on the palate, despite vigorous acidity and ample carbonation. Drank over two days, and while it came together a little more on day two, it didn’t really evolve and was ultimately rather boring. Seven more of these to go. I hope this was an anomaly.
This is a solera wine, with 85% of the wine from the solera, which dates back to 1983. I was expecting this wine to have a considerable amount of mature flavors, but it drinks quite young.
Louis Roederer 2015 Brut Rose:
This is a wine I buy every vintage, not because I am particularly enamored with it, but Costco always seems to have it at attractive prices and I wind up buying it on impulse. It’s objectively good wine - elegant, mineral, and reasonably concentrated- but it lacks complexity and reliably fails to excite me. I see it trades close to a $100 a bottle in many quarters, and that is abject madness.
With all that said, I do like this bottle. There is a no universe in which I am not got going to like a wine with this much back end acidty and length, but relative to the Taittinger Prelude I drank two nights ago, at the same price point, this is under performing.
Whatever their flaws might be, I always love drinking Roederer wines. They consistently conjure up memories of Steve Martin in “The Man with Two Brains:” https://youtu.be/spefM2OjKp4?si=EcupckM1addAxrdz
Oh, and @Warren_Taranow, thank you for the heads up on these Jamesse Champagne glasses. This is by far the best Champagne glass I have tried and don’t know how I ever lived without them.
What size of jamesse champagne glasses do people recommend and are these the hand blown or machine made version?
