I won’t repost the entire thread I just added to Wine Talk. The 23rd was our Annual Champagne Tasting. I have notes and photos of the following in the link:
2018 Marie Courtin Champagne Blanc de Blancs Extra Brut [amphora]
NV Elise Bougy Champagne Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs Chetillon de Haut
2012 Déhu Père & Fils Champagne Cuvée La Rue des Noyers Extra Brut
2016 Chartogne-Taillet Champagne Les Barres
NV Egly-Ouriet Champagne Premier Cru Les Vignes de Vrigny
2013 Vilmart & Cie Champagne Premier Cru Rosé Emotion
NV Egly-Ouriet Champagne Grand Cru Brut Rosé
2006 Dom Pérignon Champagne Lady Gaga Limited Edition Rosé
2012 Dehours Champagne Extra Brut La Croix Joly
2012 Bollinger Champagne La Grande Année Rosé
NV Jacquesson & Fils Champagne Cuvée No. 745 Extra Brut
2012 Gosset Champagne Brut Grand Millésime
2008 Champagne Jeeper Champagne La Grande Cuvée Millésime
This was so enjoyable. Bouquet and palate have both moved into the transitionary state — between bright fruit and caramel, coffee, toffee. Not oxidative, but properly maillarded (neologism!). There’s a tiny bit of sweetness to the palate, but balanced with acidity and delicate but persistent mousse.
I was excited to try this but it wasn’t really to my liking. It was interesting but not sure it was actually “good” and not worth the $70(US) I paid for it. It started really extremely funky but calmed down in a little while and improved with some time. I had the taste somewhere between lemon and lemongrass, as it had that lemongrass or ginger type of tingly/prickly thing going on. There was pretty good “creamy” sensation in the middle and the finish was a little bit mineral and very salty. Again, very interesting but I wouldn’t buy again.
We had this bottle Christmas Eve. I think your note is spot on. I found a lot of pear and yellow orchard fruit. When I first opened it, it was mostly sour pear, but that became sweet after an hour. Very vinous and complex. It felt it was much better with food. Unfortunately we were not drinking it at Addison. This shows more oxidative notes than the ‘08 GA. Reminded me a lot of Grande Siecle.
Just a note to everyone here that the theme for the coming week of the annual WB Charity Virtual Tastings is fizz of all sorts, but particularly rosés. I hope you can help send money from my wallet (and maybe even from yours) to a good cause here in Hong Kong.
[list][*]2008 Krug Champagne Vintage Brut - France, Champagne (12/21/2023)
The 2008 vintage is an absolute show stopper. Late December, on a cold day in Florida, she is singing! It seems there is a melange of white citrus, red pear, box of chocolates, tart apple, and sweet crystalline granite, that assault the senses all at once. The focus seems to carry me to the, is is white or is it red fruit dominated? It seems to be a tie, as the red apple peel and confectioner’s shop traits, spar with the green apple, pear, and sweet grapefruit. The myriad small traits give balance, complexity. This is a quintessential power without weight wine! (98 pts.)[/list] Posted from CellarTracker
[list][*]2014 L. Aubry Fils Champagne Premier Cru Sablé Rosé Brut Nature - France, Champagne, Champagne Premier Cru (11/28/2023)
This is easily one of the best roses I’ve had in a while. I promptly bought six more at the first sip basically. So, if you’ve ever seen shipwreck gold coins, they sometimes have their own patina, specific to the wreck. The SS brother Jonathan in particular gold coins that have been under a sea for a long time have a slight apricot gold color. I was handling one recently in this wine, had that color to me perfectly. This one definitely took it up a notch from the regular bottle of rose. It’s loaded with an air dryness where the fruits extracted in its perfect, shining. With rhubarb, desiccated, apricot, dried, apple skins, dusty, clay road, sweet granite, dried grapefruit. this was a delight to drink, who was playful and easy, but also super serious. It’s dead in the bull’s-eye of the flavor profile that works for me. Highly recommended. (97 pts.)[/list] Posted from CellarTracker
The Gervais Gobillard wines I bought all had cages that said J.M. Gobillard. I couldn’t find anything online about Gervais; I am assuming it’s the exact same wine sold under an exclusive label for Total Wine.
I think JM Gobillard et Fils is a large parent producer (Jean-Marie was another of Gervais’ sons) that markets wines under both JM Gobillard and Gervais Gobillard labels, and likely Pierre Gobillard as well. I’m guessing many of the wines are identical across lines. The distribution of the labels may depend on country, Gervais appears to have been used also in other countries, JM appears more common in most of Europe.
I’m a fan of R.E. It’s not pretending to be Champagne but it has its own style and I think it’s high quality. We signed up for their magnum club quite a few years ago when we visited. It’s nice to have the magnums around for any occasion. I’ve shifted my order to all rosé as I like that one even more.
The Triptyque Brut Nature from Stroebel is a blend of Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier, and Chardonnay from the 2018 and 2019 vintages. The soils consist of a mixture of Sable, Craie, and Argile. In the current landscape of grower-producers, you’ll come across many good to very good champagnes, but original champagnes are a rare find. If you don’t have a preference for natural champagnes, I wouldn’t recommend trying this one. However, for those seeking a complex, highly individualistic, and avant-garde champagne, this one fits the bill.
What’s truly fascinating about this champagne is its low-pressure aspect. It has a light froth when poured but no significant perlage. Despite this, there is great tension in this champagne. The nose is pure yeast with notes of apples and quince. To fully appreciate it, allow the champagne to open up and lose its initial funkiness. Describing this champagne is a challenge; with each sip, the aroma profile undergoes dramatic changes, the champagne is medium bodied, Stroebel is not going for power, yet there is great persistence. My advice is to savor it on its own and observe its evolution over a few hours.
Stroebel allows the vinification process to proceed at its own pace, which imparts a deep and layered texture to this champagne. If Marcel Deiss were to produce champagne, it might taste something like this. This isn’t champagne for beginners or lovers of maisons or conventional high pointing champagnes; I can see a lot of contradictitory arguements dismissing this champagne, the flaws etc, yet for someone like myself, I would say this champagne offers sublime moments of unique singularity.
I’ll take a look around for this but with 178 bottles, I doubt I’ll see any in Dallas Texas at a reasonable price. I was a big fan of the Guillaume Sergent’s first few releases of Chemin les Chappes, which showed obvious potential for excellence. I thought his 100% chardonnay was disappointing and missing some weight and complexity. I hope that extended lees aging improves the chardonnay as it appears to have improved the noirs. Sergent clearly has skills and potential.
I’m catching up on this thread after a week away and my mouth is watering as I jealously read post after post of wonderful champagnes. Covid struck out house hard last week and things don’t quite taste just right yet for me. So no big bombers this Christmas. I’ll play it by ear as I get closer to NYE.
I’m with you on this statement and most of Timothée Stroebel’s wines fit this line perfectly. I find his wines interesting and have enjoyed a glass or two of some, but overall they are too variable and often bizarre for me. That said, I know many who love their uniqueness.
