De Castelnau
Millésimé Brut Champagne Blend
Champagne, France
Incredible body with 11 years on lees. Nice and creamy. Lacks a mid palate and finishes short but pleasant.
Green apple, pear, white grapefruit, some lemon…more lime, apple cider notes, dryish white peach, white spice, whip cream, ginger-ale, bread dough, yeast, saline, crumbed limestone, understated chalk, withering spring flowers, racing, crisp acidity and a even wire to wire finish that does come up short. Maybe, some more time will improve things?
Photos of; Castelnau, chalky cave entrance, barrel room and a shot of one of their vineyards.
Incredible body with 11 years on lees. Nice and creamy. Lacks a mid palate and finishes short but pleasant.
Green apple, pear, white grapefruit, some lemon…more lime, apple cider notes, dryish white peach, white spice, whip cream, ginger-ale, bread dough, yeast, saline, crumbed limestone, understated chalk, withering spring flowers, racing, crisp acidity and a even wire to wire finish that does come up short. Maybe, some more time will improve things?
Photos of; Castelnau, chalky cave entrance, barrel room and a shot of one of their vineyards.
A purchase from Last Bubbles. Not familiar with this producer, but coming from a nice vintage and spending almost 11yrs on the lees was enough for me to take a flyer.
Paired with a massive spread of caviar, sashimi, oysters. As mentioned below, this was a bit one dimensional upon opening but fleshed out nicely an hour or two later. If comparing against a bigger name, I’d say this is in a vein of Bollinger (slightly big/rich, but balanced; toasty). Fresh lemon scone and puff pastry aromatically, but it goes a bit more salted popcorn, nougat-like on the palate and finish. While this doesn’t sport a ton of layers, it’s tasty and will hang in this drinking window for a while. I’d buy again.
Paired well with the 3L of 1999 SQN “Marauder” behind it!
A purchase from Last Bubbles. Not familiar with this producer, but coming from a nice vintage and spending almost 11yrs on the lees was enough for me to take a flyer.
Paired with a massive spread of caviar, sashimi, oysters. As mentioned below, this was a bit one dimensional upon opening but fleshed out nicely an hour or two later. If comparing against a bigger name, I’d say this is in a vein of Bollinger (slightly big/rich, but balanced; toasty). Fresh lemon scone and puff pastry aromatically, but it goes a bit more salted popcorn, nougat-like on the palate and finish. While this doesn’t sport a ton of layers, it’s tasty and will hang in this drinking window for a while. I’d buy again.
Paired well with the 3L of 1999 SQN “Marauder” behind it!
Lovely mushroomy, round and elegant. Showing its age well, yet fresh.
Lovely mushroomy, round and elegant. Showing its age well, yet fresh.
May 17th, 2023