Champagne reviews Archives

ARMAND DE BRIGNAC’S BLANC DE NOIRS LAUNCHES AT HARRODS

This week Armand de Brignac launches a new cuvée — Blanc de Noir Ace of Spades made of 100% Pinot Poir at Harrods, London.

Blanc de Noir Ace of Spades sells for the hefty sum of £695 per bottle and is presented in a dramatic gunmetal bottle.

There is a limited production of 3,000 bottles with 240 being allocated exclusively to Harrods.

“A marvellous strength of the Blanc de Noirs is its versatility; it can truly be enjoyed on its own, but it will also be the perfect wine for an entire meal. This is a very sophisticated wine for the pleasure of a lucky few,” comments Gerald Loparco, a representative for Armand de Brignac. “Harrods has a global reach and an unmatched reputation for excellence, so we thought that our common philosophies and traditional approach with a modern twist was the perfect match for this worldwide exclusive launch,” Gerald adds.

Liz Palmer

Moët & Chandon Pushes the Boundaries with Prestige Cuvee MCIII

Moet & Chandon is set to release a new prestige cuvee into the US market early October.

Their new cuvee “MCIII” is highly unusual as it incorporates base wines from the 2003 vintage and a range of older reserve stocks, includes non-sparkling vin clair wines, with an assemblage of vintage wines aged both in stainless steel vats and oak casks.

This unique blend is 50 percent of Pinot Noir from the grand cru village of Ay, and 50 percent Chardonnay from Chouilly and Cramant.

Gouez has also included a high proportion of still, oak-aged wines: nearly 40 percent of the blend is reserve wine matured in oak barrels, hailing from the 2002, 2000 and 1998 vintages.

The Chef de cave Benoit Gouez completed this truly unique blend by uncorking vintage Champagne from 1999, 1998 and 1993 vintages.

With the price set at $450, this new prestige cuvee is being introduced gradually, with a limited production of 15,000 bottles.

The presentation is quite dramatic — MCIII is presented in a black bottle with a metallic cap, medallion base and beautiful wooden coffret.

Chef de cave Benoit Gouez has stated: “We have created a cuvee of great complexity, which is composed of three strata” or layers.”

Liz Palmer
@ChampagneHouses

From one harvest to the next – Richard Geoffroy

“In only a few weeks my attention will be fully devoted to the 2015 vintage. The month of August is the calm before the storm, the perfect time to reflect on the past and contemplate the tasks to come. Since my last recap on the 2014 harvest I have had the opportunity to taste the wines several times.

In 2014 the selection of vineyards and grapes themselves were of utmost importance. The sanitary conditions created a scarcity effect, and we could only hope to reach our goal of excellence through careful and drastic sorting. The 2014 vintage was certainly heterogeneous: however there were hidden gems to be found throughout Champagne. Thankfully, through the diversity and quality of our grape sources, we could afford to be picky and to choose fruit only from the best vineyards.

The Pinot Noir grapes were few but had reached a high level of maturity. They contributed tropical aromas of exotic fruits, and were marked with generosity, fullness and amazing length. The Chardonnays, also quite mature and of high quality, were able to provide the much need acidic backbone to bring balance on the palate.

It is again too early to offer a final pronouncement about the 2014 vintage, which was certainly the most challenging since 2005. In this context I am already quite satisfied with what we have been able to achieve.”

Richard Geoffroy
Chef de Cave, Dom Pérignon

Veuve Clicquot RICH – The Champagne for Mixologists

Each year LVMH unveils exclusive new products that celebrate the summer season.
One of their latest sun-drenched offerings debuts with “RICH”, a new champagne from Veuve Clicquot. Enveloped in seductive silver foil, RICH is an exciting new expression of Veuve Clicquot’s savoir-faire, created specially to be used in mixed cocktails. RICH is sweeter than other champagnes and brings out the best in the fruit and vegetable that it’s mixed with.

Cellar Master Dominique Demarville reconnected with the origins of Champagne-making traditions, when sparkling wines were dubbed “rich” because of their sugar content. A perfect example is the 1840 Veuve Clicquot found at the bottom of the Baltic Sea off the Aland Islands, which contained more than 150 grams of sugar.

Intrigued by this style of champagne, Demarville set out to reinvent this tradition with a fresh approach. Working with mixologists, he composed a cuvée with much higher sugar content than other Veuve Clicquot champagnes, at the same time increasing the percentage of Pinot Meunier grapes in the assemblage to emphasize the freshness and fruitiness of RICH.

Designed to be enjoyed on the rocks or bring out the Clicquologist in you and combine Veuve Clicquot RICH with pineapple, grapefruit zest, cucumber, celery, pepper or tea.

“Sugar in champagne is like spices in a recipe: when the dose is perfect it reveals new aromas and transforms the palate,” Dominique Demarville explains.

Roederer launches Brut Nature 2006 in Toronto

Louis Roederer Champagne, known for its tête du cuvée Cristal, has launched its first new cuvée “Brut Nature 2006” in more than 40 years.

The new cuvée was created in collaboration with world-renowned French designer, Philippe Starck and is the first non-dosage for Louis Roederer.

This non-malolactic, zero dosage vintage champagne was unveiled by Roederer’s Chef de Caves, Jean-Baptiste Lecaillon, during a launch event in Toronto a few weeks ago. In attendance was a select number of wine journalists and members of Authentic Wine & Spirits Merchants.

According to Lecaillon, his team carried out a series of bottling trials for 2003, 2004, and 2005 (extra-brut cuvées – 3-6 g/l of sugar). These wines were fine-tuned and culminated in the selection of the 2006 vintage and marked the birth of Louis Roederer Brut Nature.

“Before 2003 we didn’t have the raw materials…the grapes, the terroir, sufficient ripening with this texture—the natural ingredients that would allow uw to go further with [lowering the dosage] in Roederer’s non-malolactic style.”

“The land and soil are the keys to great wines” says Lecaillon in between sips of champagne.

The 2003 growing season was ideal – it was an excessively warm, sunny and a dry year. The grapes come from 10 hectares of south-facing, biodynamically-farmed vineyards in Cumieres. Lécaillon says “You have a higher ripeness with biodynamics, different texture and fruit,” he said. “This wine might not have been possible without biodynamics.”

Lecaillon further states that all the grapes were picked on the same day and pressed together ‘I didn’t want any varietal taste. The idea was to eliminate the varietal characters and let the terroir speak’.

The grapes were picked much riper than usual and as a result, the lower sugar level of the wine-making process was altered. Fifty percent of the wine was aged in 9,000 litre oak casks and bottling at the lower pressure of 4.5 atmospheres versus the widely used 6 aided the wine’s texture. “Pressure and texture interact,” explained Lécaillon. “If you’re too high in pressure, you lose the texture.”

‘This is a small production with 60,000 bottles. The next warm year to expect a no-dosage cuvee will the 2009 vintage’ says Lecaillon.

Brut Nature 2006 contains 56% Pinot Noir with equal parts Chardonnay and Pinot Meunier.

Tasting Notes:

Brut Nature 2006

This cuvée is ample, elegant, and pure.

The deep golden color with lively bubbles.
Layers of fruit with hints of lemon peel, pear, flowers with some hints of
hazelnut and spice.
On the palate – stones, fruit, mineral freshness with a creamy texture,with a
long powerful finish.

“It’s a very good Champagne – definitely for foodies and sommeliers! “ Liz Palmer

Other Champagnes Tasted:

Brut, Blanc de Blancs, 2008
Pale yellow with active bubbles and soft effervescence.
Roasted nuts, orchard fruits, with white flower aromas.
On the palate – elegant and fresh with a creamy texture, refined acidity with
hazelnut, slight minerality with a long finish.

Brut Vintage 2007

Pale gold with lively bubbles and soft effervescence.
Toasty, apple, pear, hazelnut, and vanilla aromas.
The palate is characteristic of Roederer’s vintages with the attack
being ample and dense with apple, pear, subtle citrus, almond, white chocolate and caramel flavors, ending with a long finish.

Brut Rose Vintage 2008

Salmon color with active tiny bubbles.
Intriguing complex red fruits, orange peel, subtle spice, floral with chalk aromas.
On the palate – full-bodied, creamy, well structured, cherry, raspberry, orange peel, some spice flavors with some minerality ending with a Long finish.

Cristal 2006

Pale gold color with plentiful lively bubbles.
Layered aromas of lemon, orange and toasted nut aromas, followed by apple, peach, ginger and mineral aromas.
On the palate – creamy delicate mousse with some pear, apple, citrus zest flavors and spicy notes, with some minerality, ending with a long finish.

Cristal 2002

This 12-year-old wine comes from 30-year-old vines.

Brilliant yellow with some amber highlights.
A beautiful mousse with fine beads
Intense and delicate on the nose, revealing hints of Biscuit, honey, cocoa, toasted hazelnuts and candied citrus.
One the palate – savory explosion of ripe fruit on the attack, revealing red fruit, white chocolate, caramel and pastry.
Intense, powerful, beautiful balance with a long finish.

Cristal 1995

Tasting this was another special treat – there is only a few hundred bottles left in the world.
This 19-year-old wine has been 10 years on lees.

“Time on less is powerful and important” says.. says Lecaillon

Bottles were opened two hours before serving in order for them to breathe.

Light golden color with a very strong mousse, with lively bubbles.
Deep, yeasty aromas which are dominated by toffee, butterscotch and toast.
Fresh in the mouth, with hints of yellow fruits, strawberry and toasty flavors.
Finishes long and lean with some mineral.

Liz Palmer