Spring Champagne Tasting

Binny's Highland Park, highland park IL
Tasted Friday, May 9, 2014 by KeithAkers with 504 views

Introduction

This was a free tasting with a very obvious theme. I didn't stick around too long and more had a set group of wines I wanted to hit up. It wasn't too packed and the tasters were done in a circle so that people wouldn't get crowded around each other.

Flight 1 (11 Notes)

  • NV André Jacquart Champagne Premier Cru Blanc de Blancs Brut Experience Vertus 87 Points

    France, Champagne, Champagne Premier Cru

    Nose: The nose is on the toastier side with brioche, red apples, buttered bread, pears, and some bits of oaky notes in there too. There is medium depth to the nose, but the oak and toast somewhat interferes with the other tones.

    Taste: Medium/full bodied with medium acidity. The acidity is crisp with a rounder feel along with brioche, red apples, buttered bread, and some oak notes.

    Overall: This is a very good Premier Cru bubbly. It lacks some depth along with having oak be a bit too prominent on both the nose and palate.

    Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue

  • NV André Jacquart Champagne Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs Experience Le Mesnil 90 Points

    France, Champagne, Champagne Grand Cru

    Nose: There is excellent depth and style to the nose with leesy tones, peaches, green apples, baking spices, and some toasty notes. Some oaky notes poke through, but it's handled very well.

    Taste: Medium/full bodied with medium+ acidity. The acidity is noticeable, but it isn't obtrusive with peaches, toasty tones, green apples, and baking spices. The oak isn't really noticeable on the palate and the feel is very rounded.

    Overall: This is a classy Blancs de Blancs. There is good body to it with a polished quality as well. The oak on the nose doesn't follow through on the palate, so hopefully with a small bit of age on this disgorgement it will integrate.

    Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue

  • NV Jean Vesselle Champagne Brut Réserve 89 Points

    France, Champagne

    Nose: There is a real nice freshness to the nose with white fruits, berries, white florals, mineral tones, warm bread, and some apples. There is medium depth on the nose with excellent balance as well.

    Taste: Medium bodied with medium acidity. The feel is polished and classy with white fruits, apples, berries, warm bread, and some bits of mineral tones.

    Overall: This is a lovely NV champagne. The pinot noir influence comes through well and this is a real excellent value NV bubbly for under $40.

    Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue

  • NV Egly-Ouriet Champagne Premier Cru Les Vignes de Vrigny 91 Points

    France, Champagne, Champagne Premier Cru

    Nose: The nose is extremely unique and introspective with leesy tones, baking spices, white fruits, spiced pears, minerals, and lemon curds. There is excellent depth with really good balance too.

    Taste: Medium/full bodied with medium/high acidity. The acidity has some real punch to it with baking spices, leesy tones, white, spiced pearks, with a really nice mineral base.

    Taste: This has a 7/13 disgorgement. Yet again this is an intriguing and one of the more interesting bubblies I come across.

    Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue

  • NV Egly-Ouriet Champagne Grand Cru Tradition Brut 92 Points

    France, Champagne, Champagne Grand Cru

    Nose: The nose is very fresh and balanced with pears, baking spices, red and green apples, baked bread, white fruits, stone fruits, and a touch of minerals.

    Taste: Full bodied with medium/high acidity. The feel is polished with layered tones of pears, leesy notes, baking spices, cinammon spices, red and green apples, with some mineral notes on the back end.

    Overall: This is from a 7/13 disgorgement. This is a fantastic champagne that brings the unique Egly-Ouriet style in all its fun and glory.

    Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue

  • 2002 Pascal Doquet Champagne Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs Le Mesnil-sur-Oger 92 Points

    France, Champagne, Champagne Grand Cru

    Nose: Very open and aromatic nose with white fruits, sea shells, crushed rocks, loads of minerals, pears, baking spices, and a bit of red apples. There is excellent depth and class to the nose with a refined style as well.

    Taste: Medium/full bodied with medium+ acidity. The acidity is a bit pronounced, but it more provides a good spine than being overbearing. On top of the structure there are balanced and classy tones of white fruits, sea shells, biscuits, baking spices, red apples, and mineral tones.

    Overall: This is showing extremely well. It's very youthful and has much more to give, but it would be hard not to open it up right now.

    Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue

  • 2002 Ruinart Champagne Dom Ruinart Blanc de Blancs 93 Points

    France, Champagne

    Nose: There is a lot of elegance and poise to the nose with green apples, white fruits, baking spices, peaches, warm dough, and some pears. There is a lot of depth too, with a refined sense to the tones.

    Taste: Medium bodied with medium/high acidity. The structure is clearly youthful with green apples, white fruits, peaches, warm dough, pears, with a mineral base. There is a precision to all of the tones with excellent balance as well.

    Overall: This is a wonderful young champagne. It certainly needs more time, but the materials here right now are extremely good.

    Post a Comment / 1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Report Issue

  • 2004 Veuve Clicquot Champagne Brut La Grande Dame 93 Points

    France, Champagne

    Nose: The nose is very perfumed and feminine with white and red florals, peaches, red berries, apples, warm dough, with a fantastic mineral base. The nose is very fresh and youthful, but ever so balanced with depth to spare too.

    Taste: Medium bodied with pronounced medium/high acidity. The acidity is extremely tart and showing off the youth of the wine. While the structure doesn't overpower, it most certainly is there with white florals, peaches, red berries, apples, and mineral tones underneath.

    Overall: This is a gorgeous and classy La Grande Dame. It will definitely need some time to fully come together as it feels like the wine isn't giving us close to everything just yet.

    Post a Comment / 1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Report Issue

  • 2004 Dom Pérignon Champagne 91 Points

    France, Champagne

    Nose: The nose has a very pronounced yeasty and bakery-esque quality to it along with apples, pears, baking spices, and some mineral tones to compliment it all. There is medium depth to this, but the nose seems a bit reticent and not as expressive as I would expect.

    Taste: Medium bodied with medium/high acidity. The structure is very youthful and pronounced, but it isn't overbearing. There is excellent balanced to the tones of apples, pears, yeast, warm dough, and some mineral notes.

    Overall: While this is still an excellent wine, it does leave a bit to be desired. It could be because it's young, but it doesn't have the class and poise I would expect from both 04 and Dom.

    Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue

  • NV Lilbert-Fils Champagne Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs Brut 88 Points

    France, Champagne, Champagne Grand Cru

    Nose: Right away, the nose screams textbook Blanc de Blancs with green apples, fresh picked lemons, almonds, white fruits, some white florals, and mineral notes. There is very good depth to the nose with an airy quality to the tones.

    Taste: Medium bodied with medium/high acidity. The acidity leans much more to the refreshing side rather than being overpowering. The initial attack of green apples, white fruits, almonds, and minerals is quite good, but the mid-palate and finish are lacking somewhat.

    Overall: This has everything going for it until the final hurdle. The thinner mid-palate and clipped finish really took away from what would've been a fantastic wine. It's still very good, but it's also priced in the mid-50s where there are a lot of better NV Bubblies.

    Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue

  • NV Jacquesson & Fils Champagne Cuvée No. 736 88 Points

    France, Champagne

    Nose: There is a real salinity and precision to the nose with loads of minerals, sea salt, white fruits, crushed rocks, pears, and some bits of citrus. The nose is almost steely and laser-like while providing medium+ depth.

    Taste: Medium/light bodied with medium/high acidity. The feel and structure are almost a study in contrast with sea salt, crushed rocks, saline, and white fruits. The palate is almost too light and somewhat lacking.

    Overall: I feel like a slightly higher dosage would've filled out the wine more. This is a very good wine, but it just doesn't have that extra gear to really get it going and is a bit too dainty.

    Read 1 Comment / Post a Comment / 3 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Report Issue

Closing

On the whole the quality was excellent. Some of the growers did leave me wanting a bit more, but you can't always get what you want. I was there for about 30-45 minutes and made sure to get out before things got too packed from people just wanting to get drunk for free.

×
×