light body, bright ruby red, relatively thin in the mouth.
the first nose offers a very distinct smell of sulfur. Could be the preservative or bottling issues, or perhaps something in the wine making process. Not entirely off-putting as it dissipates after 10-15 minutes.
Beyond the sulfur nose (which is impossible to get beyond until it has subsided) the wine offers restrained dried fruit aromas, as well a subtle new oak.
On the palate the flavors are light, again restrained dried fruit and some fresh red fruit, leaning towards cherry. At 13 % ABV it's very pleasant for a lower-end wine, hardly any heat at all. I would certainly recommend this at the price point. it's on the delicate side but I would image this to be very nice in the summer or with lighter flavored fair.
if you keep it longer than the first day that sulfur smell will come back strongly. May have been just my bottle, but you will need to give it a good amount of time in the glass before trying to enjoy the aromas. it didn't affect the taste in my opinion.
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color has a purple hue to light garnet in the rim, showing more brick color in the rim than I would have expected for the age, though then again it isn't an expensive Burgundy.
The nose is dense, strong notes of old wood, damp earth, I know there's jammier fruit in there somewhere but it's strongly overridden by the stronger earth notes.
medium light body in the mouth, nice balance of acid and alcohol up front. New oak, dense, but convoluted fruit. I can't pick out any specific fruit notes. Very interesting herbal notes on the finish. Very clean, almost cilantro finish. Lingers for a good length of time despite the lighter mouth feel. Tannin is soft.
*Day 2*
I drank a single glass on day one so most of the bottle is left. Today the nose has changed. The earth notes have subsided and given way to surprisingly ripe fruit. A really nice mingle of ripe strawberry, blueberry, and blackberry. Fruit is confirmed with the palate. I really enjoy day 2. With a young wine like this I really think an hour or so in the decanter could get it to this place, though the opening notes were enjoyable to experience as well.
My one recommendation, as is often the case with younger, less expensive burgundies, I would serve this cooler than you might want. even close to cellar temp of 55F. Otherwise you do get some unpleasant heat from the alcohol in your nose.
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Beautiful Fuji apple nose, citrus (lemon and grapefruit juice) bright and deep. Best nose and flavor around 50 Fahrenheit. Nice medium body comes through even with the carbonation. Very pale Amber color.
In my opinion this is the ideal entry level champagne. The important thing is that it is a nice wine, champagne or not, which is not always the case with sparkling wines. If you are interested in getting into champagne, bollinger is a great place to start.
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2012 Bernard Dubois Savigny-lès-Beaune Les Ratausses
1/15/2016 - viperdmf Likes this wine: 88 Points
light body, bright ruby red, relatively thin in the mouth.
the first nose offers a very distinct smell of sulfur. Could be the preservative or bottling issues, or perhaps something in the wine making process. Not entirely off-putting as it dissipates after 10-15 minutes.
Beyond the sulfur nose (which is impossible to get beyond until it has subsided) the wine offers restrained dried fruit aromas, as well a subtle new oak.
On the palate the flavors are light, again restrained dried fruit and some fresh red fruit, leaning towards cherry. At 13 % ABV it's very pleasant for a lower-end wine, hardly any heat at all. I would certainly recommend this at the price point. it's on the delicate side but I would image this to be very nice in the summer or with lighter flavored fair.
if you keep it longer than the first day that sulfur smell will come back strongly. May have been just my bottle, but you will need to give it a good amount of time in the glass before trying to enjoy the aromas. it didn't affect the taste in my opinion.
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2009 Joseph Drouhin Vosne-Romanée
1/4/2016 - viperdmf Likes this wine: 90 Points
color has a purple hue to light garnet in the rim, showing more brick color in the rim than I would have expected for the age, though then again it isn't an expensive Burgundy.
The nose is dense, strong notes of old wood, damp earth, I know there's jammier fruit in there somewhere but it's strongly overridden by the stronger earth notes.
medium light body in the mouth, nice balance of acid and alcohol up front. New oak, dense, but convoluted fruit. I can't pick out any specific fruit notes. Very interesting herbal notes on the finish. Very clean, almost cilantro finish. Lingers for a good length of time despite the lighter mouth feel. Tannin is soft.
*Day 2*
I drank a single glass on day one so most of the bottle is left. Today the nose has changed. The earth notes have subsided and given way to surprisingly ripe fruit. A really nice mingle of ripe strawberry, blueberry, and blackberry. Fruit is confirmed with the palate. I really enjoy day 2. With a young wine like this I really think an hour or so in the decanter could get it to this place, though the opening notes were enjoyable to experience as well.
My one recommendation, as is often the case with younger, less expensive burgundies, I would serve this cooler than you might want. even close to cellar temp of 55F. Otherwise you do get some unpleasant heat from the alcohol in your nose.
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NV Bollinger Champagne Special Cuvée Brut
12/31/2015 - viperdmf Likes this wine: 94 Points
Beautiful Fuji apple nose, citrus (lemon and grapefruit juice) bright and deep. Best nose and flavor around 50 Fahrenheit. Nice medium body comes through even with the carbonation. Very pale Amber color.
In my opinion this is the ideal entry level champagne. The important thing is that it is a nice wine, champagne or not, which is not always the case with sparkling wines. If you are interested in getting into champagne, bollinger is a great place to start.
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