| | A full roll-up of Rotters settles into a warm February night with a first-time theme; just Champagne. Maybe we should have had a breakfast? Special mention to Bruce, whose idea of Champagne is a St Julien…! - N.V. Billecart-Salmon Champagne Brut Rosé - France, Champagne
{cork, 12%} (DavidM) Salmon-hued. Bright, youthful nose of fresh strawberries. Dry palate, fresh and crisp, with light red berry flavours, just a little yeast character, medium-sized creamy bubbles; all making a light-bodied, medium-length wine which is uncomplicated but delicious. A second bottle (Gordon’s back-up) was perfectly consistent with the first.
- N.V. Pol Roger Champagne Brut Réserve - France, Champagne
{cork, 12%} (Geoffrey) White flowers, white bait. Hard to describe. Very chardonnay-like. The dusty white flavours on the palate are a touch cheesy, but this remains a resolutely light-bodied wine. It has delicately-textured bubbles and a medium-length finish; I just wonder whether this is supposed to taste just a little fresher than this? Still, this is pretty satisfactory as is.
- N.V. Taittinger Champagne Brut Réserve / La Française - France, Champagne
{cork, 12%} (Glenn) Youthful, bread and apple aromas. Medium-bodied palate, lots of leesy flavours. Even but soft palate; discreet acid. Medium-sized bubbles, medium-length finish. Mainstream but sound; middle-of-the-road champagne to please the crowds.
- 2006 G.H. Martel & Co. Champagne Duperrey Brut - France, Champagne
{cork, 12%} (DavidC) Youthful, sweetly candy-cane aromas. Only a light/medium-bodied palate, but has big, soft-drink-like aggressive bubbles. Quite sour, lemon-like flavours with a touch of smoke; might have held the interest better had the finish not been so relatively short. A bit disappointing for a vintage champagne.
- 2004 Lanson Champagne Gold Label Brut - France, Champagne
{cork} (Greg) Very youthful, light grapefruit aromas. Young, explosive palate. White flower/chardonnay flavours, acid-driven. Light/medium-bodied, with small but quite aggressive bubbles, this has good presence on the mid-palate and really needs a bit more time. Terrific potential, at least in the context of aging vintage champers.
- 2002 Lanson Champagne Gold Label Brut - France, Champagne
{cork, 12.5%} (Stephen) Way darker than its to-year-younger sibling, surprisingly so. Lots of sourdough and cheese aromas. Medium-full-bodied, perhaps helped by the seemingly over-aged profile; this packs plenty of yeasty flavours, with medium-sized bubbles, and the longest finish of the fizzes we’ve had so far tonight. I had bottles of this that tasted a little younger, however. This is very fine, though.
- 1999 Charles Ellner Champagne Brut Millésimé - France, Champagne
{cork, 12%} (Graeme) Cheesy and aged. Full-bodied, still with large, quite aggressive bubbles. Getting to that degree of maturity where you need to have a taste for this sort of thing. Despite the weight, seems to leave most of its medium-length finish towards the front of the palate. Drinkable, but past its best, and no advert for cellaring this style of wine.
- 1999 Perrier-Jouët Champagne Belle Epoque - France, Champagne
{cork} (Gordon) Brioche, bakery aromas. This has a lovely texture – fine, creamy bubbles, medium weight – but there’s a stale bread/browning apples character to the palate. A mustiness that’s hard to love (although nothing seems cork-related). Medium-length finish; structurally very fine. Perhaps the magic is just lost on me. Drink now on this showing!
- 2001 Clos du Marquis - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Julien
{cork, 13%} (Bruce) The ring-in! Dark garnet. All tobacco and cigar; a curranty aromatic note is tinged with a bit of jammy sweetness; and then the palate arrives, rather low in acid, a touch stalky in character and even a bit greasy in texture somehow. Less fruity than you expect from the nose. Seems fairly loose-knit and open, with medium slightly coarse tannins, medium body and a dry (and drying) medium length finish. Decent claret, ready to drink.
- 2011 Pooley Late Harvest Riesling - Australia, Tasmania, Coal River
{500ml, screwcap, 9.6%} (Graeme) Youthful nose of light apples and walnuts.There’s a touch of sherbert on the light/medium-bodied palate, along with sweet apple fruit and some lemon-butter. This is fresh, with medium acidity; it’s about medium-sweet, pure (botrytis-free) and clean; it has a gently persistent medium-length finish.Good over the next 3-5 years, I don’t think it’s tightly-enough wound to go longer than that.
An interesting night, but none of us has going home muttering “I must cellar more Vintage Champagne…” |
