Community Tasting Note

dbg wrote:

Sunday, June 20, 2010 - A Wine Berserkers thread (http://www.wineberserkers.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=24839&p=332976#p332976) trashing NV Veuve Clicquot inspired me to do a blind comparison of NV Gruet Blanc de Noirs and NV Veuve Clicquot last night. Both are locally available. The Gruet gets a fair amount of love for a $16 cheapie, and I was curious to see how it would stand up the Veuve, which is twice the price and has been getting trashed here.

Wine 1 – very pale yellow, copious fine mousse, citrus, slight artificial peach nose, creamy mouthfeel, light-medium body, a bit flabby, sweet artificial flavor notes on palate, short finish, average. Guessing this is the Gruet, which I’ve never had before. (75 pts)

Wine 2 – pale yellow, a shade darker than wine 1, bread and toast plus citrus on nose, light-medium body, fruit and minerals and nice balancing acidity, bit of earth, medium finish, very good. (84 pts)

I was pretty sure which wine was which, based on past experience with the Veuve, even though I had never had the Gruet before. So perhaps there was some unavoidable bias. But there was a clear difference between the wines, and I think I described what I tasted.

Wine 1 – NV Gruet Blanc de Noirs. My wife, who also tasted these blind, didn’t find anything to like about this wine. I wouldn’t buy more, and uses the rest of the bottle for Mimosas today.

Wine 2 – NV Veuve Clicquot. Not a killer Champagne, and yes there are more interesting things around in the same price range, but they have come back from a very lackluster bunch of years. Not worthy of the bashing it’s been getting in this thread. IMHO, of course.

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