Disgorged July 2021. 100% Meunier, no dose. Reddish copper with a touch of rose is the composite color. Cinnamon, a touch of green too. Stewed cherry. The bottle remains were left with me, so will retry once more later to complete my impression...retasted tonight and I am really fine with this wine. Yes, it's a little on the sterner side, and the red fruit shows that when cool, a cranberry comes thought but overall, when this is allowed to warm, it drinks fine.

After a bottle I had opened late last year (2016 disgorgement), I was very impressed so I went out and found a few more. I had held the previous bottle for some time so I wasn't expecting to find the same disgorgement. I ended up finding October 2019 as the replacement, sharing one last night with the group. 50% Meunier, with 30% Pinot Noir and the rest Chard. This has a savory character, featuring lemon and sour green apple, then saline. Some toasty quality to the wine, with some bitter citrus in the finish. I like this disgorgement but I want to open the other bottle and space it out for a few nights to really form a complete picture.

Not much on the back label to offer here. Bruce says it's a mixture of GC plots in the CdB, with 6-7 gms of dosage. Round in tone, a bit of churned butter here. Lime, snappy apple, little stony in the finish. This seems pretty complete to me, ready to go.

October 2018 disgorgement. I think about 8 grams of dosage, and about 2/3rds Pinot Noir and the rest Chard. Initially this started out very juicy, with lots of yellow apple and an impressive concentration with some moderate structure that came through the finish, along with pastry. I mentioned to Astrid that I thought there was a nice kick of ginger here too but she had a reframe of thinking that it was likely from the oak. Overall, this showed an opulence and richness with spicy oak that was very good. After a few hours, I tried some more and found more of the acid, a creamy lime and some stone. Gotta say, this is damn good and hard to put down the glass and not keeping drinking it.

First time trying this, and I have a few ready for delivery soon so I appreciated getting to taste the wine now. This wine caused some debate within the group, with me being more in the camp of liking its uniqueness. 100% Pinot Meunier, less than a gram of dosage and disgorged March 2023. My assessment of the aromatic was in the minority I think, as while I found some white pepper and smoke, I think Brian said it was more like asparagus or wax bean if I remember it right. Lemon oil, cooked meat (yeah, and along with white pepper, this has me thinking Cote Rotie in terms of the flavor markers which may sound bonkers). Tangy, lighter weight with a finish of savory lemon. After several hours, retried and it remains tangy (but less so), with a smoky, flint infused finish and some savory. I like what's here, as both because it's different, and it's a lot different than say the 2017 Mousse SC Forte Terres next to it, which is a very different expression of Meunier (and not far on the map from Nowack). It's the diversity and character of this Nowack that I like.

March 2023 disgorgement of 100% Chard with 3 gms of dosage. Initially I found both lemon oil and anise, with some spicy oak in the aroma, a signature of new barrique. Finish with lemon pith. With air, this becomes more juicy, it fills in the palate, zesty with same lemon pith. Would be interested to retry this today but leftovers went home with another palate!

March 2021 disgorgement. Alan brought this and we added it to the table, with each of us getting a few ounces right away. So, it didn't get a lot of time to sit, nor any retaste. I offer this detail to help simply frame the aeration time it got. Lots of creamy citrus. Tangerine, citrusy mineral finish.

March 2018 disgorgement. 4.5 gms of dosage, roughly 50/50 Pinot Noir and Chard. Spicy, dense lemon, a delicious spicy quality with good length. There's pastry here too and the balance is really good. Enjoyed this.

March 2015 disgorgement. The usual 80/20 split of Chard/Pinot Noir. This was from my cellar, I bought the bottle back in 2016. At that time, there was a stack of these on the floor locally and I recall balking at the price of $139 so I bought just one so I could add to my inventory. What a dope I was, as I was able at the time to buy a case or this stuff and while that would have pounded my wallet, and it was $20 more than I had paid for my original offer of the bottles from someone else, I took a short-sighted view. I know I am not alone in making this error. Floral with green apple, a honeyed apple actually, good energy and youthful. Powerful rich showing a chalky flinty finish. With more air, probably 4 hrs after I opened it, plenty of yellow apple and beautiful orange-driven citrus, which is such a hallmark of the Blanches Voies plot where this cuvee's fruit originates outside the village. Thankfully, the group left this behind so I can drain the last glass of this tonight....finished up the final glass tonight. My takeaway (the wine is pretty much still too) is a more plump, luxurious, juicy wine after the full day this has been open. There is a creamy lime element that is seductive, along with a gentle but persistent minerality that flows through the finish. This is aging so gracefully, a gorgeous wine in its presentation. This only makes me love Vilmart even more, if that was possible.

February 2020 disgorgement. About 4 gms of dosage, 0f 70% Pinot Noir and 30% Chard. Spicy green apple, snappy and fresh. Touch of licorice. Pear and some nutmeg. With air, the Pinot Noir really comes through, with black cherry and red apple skin.

Disgorged January 2022, with just a tiny touch of dosage. 100% Pinot Meunier. Tangy and even a little oily on first taste. Lots of imprint of peach, both tangy, flesh and skin, plus lime zest. The acid is moderate, just enough to balance against the stone fruit.

Damn, I just had a bottle of this a few weeks ago and I really liked it. I had a sense the 2014s were starting to soften and show well given the bottle's showing. Last night's bottle came from Brian's cellar, the same disgorgement date of my previous one, March 2019. No dosage, 100% Chard. Lots of clove on this bottle, way more it seemed than my bottle from a few weeks back. The wine seems rough over the first few hours, with dominant lime. After 4 hrs, tried again and the oak seems problematic to me. Clovey and dried herb. The group happily (or ??!!!) left the bottle remainder for me, so I am gonna try again tonight in my usual quiet setting and give this one more assessment....tried to get through another glass tonight and the wine is just out of balance. The oak is really affecting the wine, both from a clove and dried herb note, and the acid is further pushing the imbalance further. This is much different than the bottle a few weeks, and perhaps there is bottle variation, but I was happy to finish that bottle, but decided tonight to dump out what was left of the bottle from yesterday as it's just not great.

February 2022 disgorgement. This is from the same source that the bottle from a few weeks ago. I pulled it so we could again assess it, especially given the smart palates I had around the table. Creamy impression, a grapefruit-like acid here, seemingly more overtly tangy than the 2012-2014 vintages. Juicy. Tangy (what Bruce called under-ripe strawberry, which is accurate to me), along with peach and stone fruit. I saved (or maybe more accurately no one wanted it!) the leftovers, sending 4 ozs home with Brian to try again, as well as me to retry again tonight to get what I hope is a final, clearer picture of this vintage of Emotion...I finished the last glass tonight. My conclusion is that there is a distinct pink grapefruit impact from this vintage, and it sits in the core of the wine. Around that core is the expected strawberry, orange creme, and some zingy raspberry in this vintage, which seems to accentuate the pink grapefruit quality. Perhaps we have become accustomed to the balance of 2012 - 2014, and so some of us are struggling with the aspect of 2015 where the acid and red fruit feels sharp, even disjointed. Maybe in time this will balance out, I guess we will see.