Somm David T

Independent Sommelier/Wine Educator

9.4

Lovely champagne. Dig the style.

It has beautiful mousse with lively acidity. Green apple, lime zest/pulp, lemon pulp, pineapple flesh, slightly, bruised red apple, a touch of apple cider, Bosc pear, kiwi, soft ginger, graham crackers, whipped cream, limestone minerals, dry chalky bits, yeasty bread dough, grey volcanics, sea spray, yellow flowers, jasmine, white flowers, excellent acidity with perfect tension/struture, balance for days with smartly executed elegant finish that lasts minutes and long finish settles on spice & minerals.

Grapes are a 100% Grand Cru Chardonnay
sourced from Oger and Le Mesnil-sur-Oger.
Aging is 7 years on the lees, followed by an additional 12-18 months of rest after disgorgement. Dosage is 4.5 g. Disgorgement in May, 2021. This saw 25% neutral wood.

Photos of; Champagne House of Bruno Paillard, Bruno & Alice Paillard, stainless tanks and harvesters. — a month ago

Vanessa

9.3

This is the 2018 Marc Hébrart Brut ‘Special Club’ – a beautiful bottle of vintage bubbles hailing from a collection of premier and grand cru sites in the Marne and Montagne de Reims regions of Champagne, France.

When you see “Special Club” on the label of a bottle with this distinctive shape, you’re dealing with essentially a prestige cuvée of a grower-producer who’s a member of the “Club Trésors.”

Marc Hébrart joined the Club Trésors in 1985, which is an association of quality-minded grower-producers. Grower-producers operate differently than the big champagne houses (e.g., Veuve-Clicquot) in that they are smaller-scale vignerons who own the entire production process from the vineyard to the winery and cellar.

They have helped raise awareness and appreciation of artisanal champagne wines that speak to a sense of place and personality, unobscured by extensive, widespread blending.

To achieve the status of “Special Club” a wine must undergo a rigorous application process and meet minimum quality metrics culminating with in two blind tasting panels – the first tasting evaluates the base wine after the first fermentation; the second and final tasting occurs after a minimum of three years aging sur lie.

From our studies we’ve learned the 2018 vintage bore above-average fruit; the warm and dry summer paved the way for a riper expression in an otherwise marginal climate. This wine is made with 60% Pinot Noir and 40% Chardonnay.

The bouquet has a medium (+) intensity of yellow and green apple, lemon zest, white peach, gardenia, almond biscotti, nougat, pastry, biscuit, and toast notes. The palate is creamy with vibrant acidity, adding lift, a fine-beaded, persistent mousse and long, elegant finish.

— a year ago

with Deked1

Joseph Barsky

9.4

Non vintage rose. At Nepenthe, Big Sur, CA. Lovely wine and views. — 4 years ago

Martijn

9.3

Deg. July 2021
7 years sur lie. Amber color, full body. — 2 months ago

Vanessa

9.5

Happy New Year’s Eve to you all! 🎉

To celebrate the holiday, we’re popping this special bottle of bubbles we’ve been eager to try. 😝

It’s Champagne Philipponnat’s 2004 vintage champagne made with 65% Pinot Noir and 35% Chardonnay hailing from a single clos – Clos des Goisses – surrounded by a traditional stone wall in the Village of Mareuil-sur-Aÿ.  🍾

Talk about a singularity of place!  It was first produced as a single vineyard wine in 1935, a pioneering approach for a Champagne House in a land known for regional blending.

After fermentation, this wine aged on the lees for 10 YEARS in Philipponnat’s historic cellars in Mareuil-sur-Aÿ; a Premier Cru Village of the Grand Vallée de la Marne, located on the southerly flank of the Montagne de Reims, where Pinot Noir dominates like in the Grande Montagne.

Okay for the tasting note!  Wow. 🤯 It has pastry, brioche, nougat, and marzipan for days, next to toasted almond, lemon curd, white peach, baked yellow apple, dried chamomile, blossom, and wet slate notes. Despite its unequivocal richness, it has a spine of acidity lending balance and brightness.
 
Cheers to 2025; may it be filled with hope, health, joy, adventure, and amazing sips! 🍾🥂 — 10 months ago

with Deked1

Somm David T

Independent Sommelier/Wine Educator

9.5

This 2000 spent an incredible 15 years on lees. Bottled in 2017. This cuvée is roughly 2/3 Pinot Noir and 1/3 Chardonnay. Pinot Noir is from the Montagne de Reims - Mailly, Cumières and Vertus. 35% Chardonnay in from the Côte des Blancs (the best region for Chardonnay)- Le Mesnil-sur-Oger, Oger, Avize, Vertus. 10% oak.

The body is thick, heavy and creamy with that much time on lees. The fruit has settled and the complexity has arrived. Bruised apple & pear, a touch of apple cider, pineapple if it were an oil, an array of soft citrus- lemon, lime, orange peel, tangerine, ripe, juicy, yellow peach, some blackberries, marmalade, meringue, cream, malt, some caramel notes, brioche, baguette crust, sea fossils & spray, limestone marl, fine powdery chalkiness w/ speckles of grain, white spice-ginger, withering yellow flowers, excellent acidity, well knitted, perfect tension, balance and a long finish that lasts minutes. — 2 years ago

Vanessa

9.0

This wine has a pale lemon hue with a delicate mousse. 🥂 🍾

👃 On the nose, this wine has a medium intensity of bright and youthful aromas including primary notes of white peach, yellow apple, pear tart, lemon zest, white blossom, and wet stone; also secondary notes of yeast, pastry, brioche, and marcona almonds.

👄 On the palate this wine is dry (Brut), with crisp, medium(+) acidity, a light body, medium alcohol, and medium intensity of flavors consistent with the nose, but with a stronger citric focus. The finish is medium.

🤔 This wine has a high proportion of Chardonnay (40%) for a non-vintage (NV) Champagne; it also has Pinot Noir (35%) and Pinot Meunier (25%) 🍇 . It is delicate and light. This wine spent 3-4 years "on the lees." Aging "on the lees" or "sur lie" is a wine-making practice (legally mandated in Champagne!) leaving the wine in contact with dead yeast cells, a.k.a. yeast particles that were used up in the fermentation process. In Champagne, an NV wine must undergo a minimum of 15 months aging with at least 12 months "sur lie". Taittinger has exceeded these minimums, which undoubtedly contributed to the presence of yeasty, bready, doughy, toasty, pastry notes that typify Champagne. 😍😍

I love that this Champagne House remains owned and operated by the founding family (who also owns the beloved Domaine Carneros in California). 💕💕 Having a glass and you get a sense for the love and attention to quality, carrying on the family tradition of excellence, elegance, and finesse.

Did I mention @champagnetaittinger is now planting vines in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧, near a village (Chilham) in Kent? This English sparkling is expected to be on the market in 2023/2024.

Cheers to always innovating, but also staying true to your roots 🙌🙌 — 4 years ago

with Deked1

Vanessa

9.4

This stunning bottle of bubbles is made with 100% Pinot Noir coming from a lieu-dit in the heart of Bouzy called ‘Les Maillerettes,’ which is the Paillard family’s oldest vineyard parcel originally planted in the 1970s and propagated through selection massale.

It was barrel fermented and aged sur lie for 48 months (4.5 years), well exceeding the legally required minimum aging of 12 months on the lees (36 mos in total) for a vintage champagne, a demonstration of patience and commitment to quality!

This wine was disgorged in December of 2023 and has since enjoyed some time aging in the bottle allowing its elements to further integrate and evolve. It could easily continue down this path, gaining complexity for many years to come.

In appearance, it has a deep gold hue (w/ flecks of rose gold).

Its aromatic profile is layered & multifaceted with vibrant notes of red apple skin, cider, raspberry, dried bergamot & poached pear with cinnamon spice, next to richer notes of cherry clafoutis, red licorice, baked quince, almond paste, nougat, marzipan, toasted hazelnut, & brioche with a spine of minerality including wet stones, chalk, & saline notes.

The palate is dry (extra brut!) with a medium body, creamy mousse & mouthfeel, mouthwatering acidity that lends balance & lift, and a long elegant finish. — 6 months ago

Jay Kline

9.2

Maurice Vesselle is a récoltant whose small estate of maybe 15 acres, is in Bouzy and Tours sur Marnes. Most of their vineyards, all Grand Cru, are dedicated to Pinot Noir with the balance, Chardonnay. They are a strict no-malo, all INOX producer. One other note, the corks on these bottles are so stubborn. I had one hell of a time getting it extracted in an elegant fashion. We had people over and I was multitasking, making the risotto which, of course, needed my undivided attention. Ultimately, I ended up grabbing the Wüsthof and sabering that mf’er.

So, sabered and poured. The wine is a straw color with medium- viscosity and a persistent mousse. On the nose, the wine is developing with notes of strawberry, light brioche, lemons, marzipan and limestone minerals. On the palate, the wine is dry with high acid. Confirming the notes from the nose. The finish is long, mineral driven and zippy! This needs a ton of air at this stage but if you allow it, what a treat! Better after 2025 through 2043. The Millésimé is typically 80/20, Pinot Noir/Chardonnay. Dosage 4g/l (and seems it). Disgorged June 2023. — a year ago

Matt

9.5

This has always been up there for desert island wine selection. I could drink this everyday. Missing the prices this used to be at (which was still expensive 😂 for me). Structured yet incredibly refined with this disgorgement. Savory depths abound. Crushed ripe strawberries, peach skin, tangerine, chalk, prosciutto rind, salt, cream, a kiss of cooling brown spice, orchard blossoms. 70 PN 30 CH, 63 months sur lees, 10/2020 disgorgement — 4 years ago