Grower - Only

Imperial Treasure NanBei @ Taka
Tasted Monday, August 13, 2012 by Sleepy Dave with 651 views

Flight 1 - Aperitif - Pyramid Valley Orange Wine (1 Note)

Something that we don't get to see often and it tastes unusually delicious, too.

  • 2010 Pyramid Valley Pinot Blanc/Pinot Gris Growers Collection Kerner Estate Vineyard 88 Points

    New Zealand, South Island, Marlborough

    Alcohol :: 13%
    2/3 Pinot Blanc, 1/3 Pinot Gris. Vineyard yeast fermentation, natural malolactic, and five months on skins before being lightly pressed in our tiny basket press. No sulphites.
    This wine started slow, but getting better and better every visit. Persimmon, red cherry fruits, lots of sweet tones but with underlying mineral precision to it. Taste natural and bright, with red fruits, persimmon and complex, fine-grained tannin and mineral. Chewy, long lingering finish. Very good and enjoyable. Tons of character.

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Flight 2 - 2006 Lilbert-Fils (1 Note)

- Oldest vines of the domaine, Cramant, Côte des Blancs. Dosage - 4-6g/l

  • 2006 Lilbert-Fils Champagne Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs Millésimé Cramant 88 Points

    France, Champagne, Champagne Grand Cru

    Alcohol : 12%
    Label as NV but from 2006 fruits. Opened for 45mins. Very fine, persistent bubble. Pale golden. Fresh and bright on the nose with bright citrus, stone fruits along with mineral, a little bit of herbs with underlying sweetness. Medium bodied, excellent mid palate sappiness yet with great precision and focus as well as grippiness that gone from dry to a bit juicer, clean finished that's lingers with soft, rounded mineral. I would expect more complexity and scale for a Grand Cru plot though. A good start nevertheless.

    Edited: Label as 2006 instead of NV.

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Flight 3 - Chartogne-Taillet :: From young, affable, dynamite star in Champagne - Alexandre Chartogne (2 Notes)

- Fiacre :: Dosage 4-6g/l
- Les Barres :: Ungrafted 55-year old vines of Pinot Meunier. Dosage 0g/l

  • NV Chartogne-Taillet Champagne Fiacre 90 Points

    France, Champagne

    From 2004 fruits but label as NV.
    - 70% Chard, 30% Pinot
    - Fermented and age in used oak barrel.

    Opened for 70mins. Tiny beads, fine and focus. Wow, what a nose! It shoot through to the olfactory but yet it is not aggressive or intrusive. A lot to offer here. It is precisely focus and most important of all, the brightness and liveliness. Just a hint of yeast accompany by tons of crushed stones, citrus fruits as well as white floral. It displays more honey and caramel note with air but all is fine and mild. Medium bodied, it has excellent brisk acidity and focus on its well delineated flavors which consists citrus, lemon, mineral that wrapped in a polished and pure package. Lovely finished. This is a good introduction of grower Champagne.

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  • NV Chartogne-Taillet Champagne Les Barres 93 Points

    France, Champagne

    Alcohol :: 12.5%
    100% Pinot Meunier from 2006.
    Opened for 70mins. My second encountered and I think I understand this better now. I believe the additional bottle aged help it to develop and show more, too. Oh boy, was this Pinot Meunier gorgeous? Tell me Pinot Meunier is meant for blended, after you had this, please! This is absolutely haunting and it is 0g of dosage. Superb! Super fine heads, disappear quite fast though. Exotic with its wild floral, cherry fruits as well as honey citrus fruits, green apple as well as a touch of iron, oxidative and spicy notes. Medium - full bodied, it is also exotic on the palate with more flesh compares to the 1st few wines. However, the backbone is solid that keep this in a harmony whole. Layer of bright fruits and spices leads to the rounded, lovely texture at the long, intensely long finished that refuse to let go. 60mins later, it gone absolutely wild, flavorful with almond and sea salt complexity tailing at the extremely long finish. Great.

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Flight 4 - Marie-Courtin :: From Dominique Moreau (2 Notes)

- Natural, pure, mono-cépage and mono-vintage as her work principles dictate. Dosage 0g/l for all cuvee.

  • NV Marie Courtin Champagne Resonance Extra Brut 90 Points

    France, Champagne

    Alcohol :: 12%
    From 2009 fruits. Small beads. Lively and energetic, it has the sense of feminine and elegance. Yellow fruits, a bit austere but the floral scent already compensate that. Medium bodied, flavorful but also has a bit of bitterness there. Finished off with soft, rounded mineral, full of stone fruits but lack of length. I believed this is due to the low temp. When it sits in the glass with more air and temp increase, the wine get the right balance as well as harmony. Getting more exotic with pineapple and high tone ginger spice, finished is getting longer too.

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  • NV Marie Courtin Champagne Eloquence Blanc de Blancs Extra Brut 92 Points

    France, Champagne

    Alcohol :: 12%
    From 2008 fruits. 2008 is a excellent vintage in Champagne and this Eloquence is.... simply stunning. Absolutely elegance here, with breathtaking fragrance of underripe mangoes, citrus, lemon, almond, sea breeze and bright acid core. By far a wine with the most focus and laser like precision. It has brisk acidity, delineated complex flavors and solid, polished backbone all integrated in a harmony whole. The energy within driving the wine from the entry to the ethereal finish smoothly and flirting with purity, finesse and elegance. Yum!

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Flight 5 - Geroges Laval - 1 of the 2 first Domaines to go organic in Champagne back in 1971 (2 Notes)

- Les Chênes :: 6 barrels. Dosage - 0g/l
- Les Hautes Chèvres :: 3 barrels. Dosage - 0g/l

  • 2006 Georges Laval Champagne Premier Cru Brut Nature Les Chênes 93 Points

    France, Champagne, Champagne Premier Cru

    Alcohol :: 12.5%
    No dosage. Opened for 2.5hrs. Small beads, not a lot of them. This 0g dosage BdB is gorgeous. Large scale on the nose with broad spectrum of flavors: caramel, honey, hoisin sauce, citrus, almost dry sherry like complexity. Medium bodied, this has pretty flesh, substance, complexity and a touch of oiliness that exhibits in this village that added better depth and character to it. It is dense and loaded but thanks to the solid, polish acidic backbone to keep it lifted and focus. The long and intense finish is lingering with orange peel oiliness and substantial scale and volume to please. Stunning.

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  • 2006 Georges Laval Champagne Premier Cru Les Hautes Chevres 94 Points

    France, Champagne, Champagne Premier Cru

    Alcohol :: 12.5%
    Zero dosage. Opened for 2.5hrs. Similar to the Les Chenes (100% Chardonnay), this BdN (100% Pinot Noir) is nothing but spectacular. The hint of reduction can't seems to hide the super deep and intense bouquet here: iron, oxidative, herbs, red cherry, bright white and yellow fruits, tons of mineral and amazing floral scents. On the palate, this has tremendous (as expected from Pinot) volume and scale to offer. Mouth coating, but in an elegant and quiet way instead of the usual power coating. Complex layer of fruits, dry extracts, saline mineral, almond nut and absolutely pure and finesse thru out the palate. Unreal length. Hard not to get hooked.

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Flight 6 - 2006 Jean Lallement (1 Note)

- From parcels in Verzenay with mere 720 bottles being produced.

  • 2006 Jean Lallement Champagne Grand Cru Brut Millésimé 89 Points

    France, Champagne, Champagne Grand Cru

    The very first vintage released by Jean Lallement. With 4-6g/l dosage, this juice offers seductive, also friendlier personality of intense sweet core of fruits, wrapped by saline mineral, herbs and austere character. Essentially sweeter on the palate compares to the rest of the Champagnes tonight. Also it has a different expression of mineral as a result of late harvest, the mineral is sweeter and mild, while not exactly complex nor deep, this is immediately engaging as it is no hard edge and so delicious right away. Good length.

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Flight 7 - David Leclapart - The grower that get me hooked! (2 Notes)

- L'Artiste :: Dosage, 0g/l. BdB.
- L'Alchimiste Rose :: Dosage 1-3g/l. BdN.

  • NV David Leclapart Champagne Premier Cru L'Artiste Blanc de Blancs Pas Dosé Trépail 92 Points

    France, Champagne, Champagne Premier Cru

    Alcohol :: 12% - 13%
    From 2006 fruits. Zero dosage. Opened for 3hrs. It is hard to dissect the fragrance here as the harmony here is, impeccable. If I really had to: mineral, mineral and mineral with bright white and green fruits merging together seamlessly. All about Zen likes harmony, focus and sleekness. It is salivating, and boosted with finesse, purity and energy. Stunning lingering length. Yet another wine from Leclapart that deserves full attention to enjoy every detail out of it.

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  • NV David Leclapart Champagne Premier Cru L'Alchimiste Extra-Brut 88 Points

    France, Champagne, Champagne Premier Cru

    Alcohol :: 12% - 13%
    From 2007 fruits. 1-3g/l dosage. Opened for 3hrs. This is one of the most singular Rose Champagne, or even wine. Salmon pink. Distinctive notes of nail polished, a hint of barnyard with red cherry liqueur, raspberry and mineral. Almond nuttiness emerged when it sit in the glass. On the palate it is similar to the nose, with exotic, seductive flavors of sweet raspberry, macerated red cherry and dry mineral extract that is sweet by nature. Overall this is quite compelling but I thought this is a bit forward and less tension and focus, compares to the one that I had two days later.

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Flight 8 - Domaine du Coulet by Matthieu Barret (1 Note)

- Biodynamic, minimal use of sulphites. 5500 bottles produced.

  • 2009 Domaine du Coulet (Matthieu Barret) Cornas Billes Noires 90 Points

    France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Cornas

    Alcohol :: 13.5%
    Dark purple. The aroma is cold and discreet, highly focus and lifted: cool peppery spice, leather, nail polished, sweet pure blue and red fruits, boosted with purple floral scents. This has really good focus, a bit rustic but there is enough of round, ripe fruits to polish. Mineral, mild spiciness and long lingering bright fruits. This does tastes really natural and so easy to down, delicious. The tannin take place and fruits goes under hibernation after 2hrs or so though. 90-91+

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