Park Palace, Grand Park Hotel
Tasted Saturday, July 20, 2013 by Paul S with 894 views
The Loire (aka wine geeks) group got together for our first dinner for a long time, and this one was about as wine-geeky as it gets - a vertical of Nyetimber, the Rolls-Royce of English sparkling wines. I missed these ultra-geeky gatherings, with everyone poured over their notes and Chad leading some really serious discussions on the wines.
Tonight, we had a rather shocking 10 sparklers (9 Nyetimbers of various ilk along with a Champagne ringer), all served half-blind, with the deck shuffled by the maitre'd, amongst 6 drinkers. The notes are arranged in the order that they were served. Thankfully, alcohol levels were blessedly low and that we had reinforecements in the form of Leonard and Jillian coming late in the evening! To compound matters though, it turned out that Desmond Foo and friends were in the next room drinking some really top-notch stuff, which they generously shared with us. Add a super-tasty 1979 Haut-Brion that Peter brought to the mix, and it made for a quite a night indeed.
Just a note on the Nyetimbers. The only one I had tried previously was an almost undrinkably acidic 2000 Blanc de Blancs some two-and-a-half years ago, so I was not expecting much coming into the dinner. I am glad to say that I was very pleasantly surprised though. All the wines were decent, and the Blanc de Blancs, in particular, were consistently good and, in the case of some vintages, excellent. They all had a rather pronounced character - chalky mineral, appley fruit, bright lemony acidity, subtle mousse and a round, fleshy character when a bit older - all enjoyable wines; given a bit of age, the vintage differences come out very nicely as well. I was very impressed. These are wines that will put some of the soulless drivel produced by big Champagne houses to shame.
2008 Nyetimber Classic Cuvée 90 Points
United Kingdom, England, Sussex, West Sussex
A decent start to the night. Pleasant, but probably the last complex and interesting of the wines on the night. The nose showed a pronounced chalky note, some flinty mineral, a touch of spice, and then some bread and a hint of chicken broth floating amidst apple flesh aromas and some green strawberry notes. Nice. The palate was marked by a lot of nicely bright acidity, but past that, you could actually see that it was quite ripe and round, with some savoury chicken soup notes and a very appley midpalate couched in a rather subdued mousse – in fact, this was so subtly sparkling that it almost came across like a white wine at points if not for that really bright freshness. A bit simple, especially at the finish, which drifted out gently on a bed of some chalk and spice, but pleasant. Very good value at its price.
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1992 Nyetimber Blanc de Blancs 93 Points
United Kingdom, England, Sussex, West Sussex
Really excellent - this was my favourite wine of the vertical. It had a beautiful nose, full of golden honeyed tones and lovely red apple notes chased by sweet lemon aromas, a drift of osmanthus flowers and, finally, little savoury scents of earth and soup stock and mineral - a very complex, alluring bouquet. The palate was excellent too. Obviously developed, but still very much alive, it treated us with beautiful flavours of red apples and ripe lemons on a base of slightly savoury earth and mushrooms, all draped with a lightly honeyed patina. Just ridiculously delicious. This was at a perfect place - absolutely integrated, wonderfully balanced, subtly complex – a complete wine all the way from its attack into a long, lacy finish seasoned with little touches of spice and baked bread. So yummy, I just could not stop drinking this. A Champagne ringer – served blind, I doubt many would have picked this as English. It may not have the depth or power of the great Champagnes, but boy this was a solid sparkling wine.
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1996 Nyetimber Blanc de Blancs 91 Points
United Kingdom, England, Sussex, West Sussex
Pretty good. This too had a really nice, complex nose – some honey and chicken soup notes suggested a bit of age, as did subtle scents of dried pineapples and sultanas which emerged alongside red apples aromas, and then a dried floral drift, a bit of spice and some nuttiness at the sides. Really interesting. The palate seemed a bit simpler than the nose suggested, but it was very nicely balanced and drank really well, with warm flavours of baked apples and some sultanas paried with a touch of puff-pastry. A rather ripe expression, but still underpinned by a good bit of freshness. Nice fine mousse too, pulling out in a nicely full finish, with mineral notes running through ripe apple fruit. Unlike the 1992 that preceded it, this was not very Champenois at all but it was quite yummy all the same. Pretty yummy, and about ripe for drinking. I do wonder if it will grow more to take on the lovely complexity of the 1992 in the coming years though.
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2001 Nyetimber Blanc de Blancs 91 Points
United Kingdom, England, Sussex, West Sussex
Rather different from the 1996 on the same flight, but equally pleasant. If anything, this would be more easily confused with a decent Champagne if served blind. The nose showed nice hints of spice and mineral, some fragrant almond tofu accents, and a toss of white flowers, all on a base of slightly oxidative red apple and white meat aromas. With time, some caramelly, burnt sugar tones emerged as well. Very nice. The palate showed round, fleshy flavours of red apples and sweet lemons with a touch of honey. This had a very full, substantial mouthfeel, with a good sense of depth and power wed to lovely, juicy freshness and a fine, subtle mousse. Good long finish too, with sweet lemons laced with bright acidity and a nice tail of flinty mineral and toasted caramel. Enjoyable. Probably good for drinking now, although it should develop nicely over the next 4-5 years.
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NV Pierre Moncuit Champagne Grand Cru Cuvée Pierre Moncuit-Delos Blanc de Blancs Brut 91 Points
France, Champagne, Champagne Grand Cru
A nice drink. This was so very different from the English sparkling wines that no one had any hesitation picking it out as the ringer. To Nyetimber's credit though, this was not qualitatively better than many of its English cousins in the night. This had a far creamier nose, with biscuit and yeast alongside rather neutral white fruit aromas and sweeter lemons with a hint of lime zest. The palate had the most noticeable mousse of all the sparkling wines - round, frothy, rather creamily textured, it formed a nice backdrop for fleshy red apple flavours, some kumquats and a distinct note of Khong Guan brand lemon-cream biscuits on the midpalate. It was well-integrated, had good depth and nice, soft acidity – a very nicely drinkable Champagne. Nice long finish too, with fleshy lemony fruit and green apples lined with a little mineral and spice. It may not be the longest aging wine, but it was certainly very friendly and enjoyable. A good NV Bdb.
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1998 Nyetimber Blanc de Blancs 92 Points
United Kingdom, England, Sussex, West Sussex
Very good indeed. The 1992 was the most ready, complex and giving wine of the vertical, but give this a few more years and it may well overtake its older brother. I really liked the nose here - red apple aromas at the forefront, some gingko nuts, white flowers, a little hint of caramel, and then gentle notes of mineral, spice and a twist of yeastiness. Nice stuff. The palate had a nice roundness to it, with a rather rich, ripe expression of sweet lemons and green apples with just the hint of golden raisins alongside. This had the best depth of any of the Nyetimbers, yet it was also superbly balanced, with a dashing cut and precision to go with that depth, and a nice fine mousse to lift the wine. Brightly floral hints and more gingko nuts accents on the palate led the way into a long, well-integrated finish, with apple flavours seasoned by warm spice. The most complete of the wines, this was nice on the day, but still held some promise for the future. One to try again in 3-4 years.
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2007 Nyetimber Rosé 89 Points
United Kingdom, England, Sussex, West Sussex
The couple of Rosés we had were decent, but a bit ho-hum. This had a pretty nice nose, with apples and flashes of red berry touched by some floral notes and a bit chalky mineral. The palate was pretty pleasant too, but rather straightforward. It had friendly, round mouthfeel to it, with fresh lemon and bright red fruit notes lined with a spine of serious acidity as the wine threaded its way into a very bright finish with a nice mouthful of spice. Very nicely mouthwatering, but also very primary and a bit simple. Pleasant as an aperitif, and perhaps with some simple food, but this does not look like it will ever be a great wine.
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2003 Nyetimber Blanc de Blancs 89 Points
United Kingdom, England, Sussex, West Sussex
Okay, but this was one of my least favourite Nyetimber BdBs in the vertical. The nose was pleasant enough, with some cidery apples aromas, a bit of bread and yeast and just a touch of mineral. Surprisingly for 2003 though, the palate was very much dominated by tons of bright acidity. Like many of the other wines, there was a certain roundness to the way it was shaped, with a fine subtle mousse, but this was very direct, rather in your face, with very linear notes of ripe lemons and citrusy grapefruit accompanied by just the slightest hint of red berries. Very primary I thought, especially as the midpalate gave way to the very lemony finish, where some spicy cinamon notes and a little floral waft struggled to make their through the citrusy tail. This needs quite a few years yet; while not unpleasant, it was still dominated by hard acidity. I am not entirely convinced it will ever be near as good as either the 1998 or the 1992, but it should certainly be a lot better in say 5-6 years.
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2008 Nyetimber Rosé 88 Points
United Kingdom, England, Sussex, West Sussex
The second of the Rosés, this too was a pleasant enough, but rather pedestrian wine. Like the 2007, it had a rather pretty nose, with bits of yeast and some minerality floating around scents of red berries and raspberries, a bit of red apple, with a nice floral accent at the edges. The palate came across rather austere, certainly very linear and defined, with red berries and slightly green strawberries tossed around with some citrussy green apple flavours. It did have a long finish, with the tiniest little bits of mineral and spice along with all those citrussy notes. At the moment, however, it still is very simple, very plain. Well-balanced though, so it will be interesting to try this in say 5-6 years down the road to see how it develops.
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NV Nyetimber Demi-Sec 90 Points
United Kingdom, England, Sussex, West Sussex
Pretty nice. Finally, this was the last of 10 sparkling wines served blind and at random, and quite serendipitously, this turn out to be the demi-sec – perfect for our dessert at the end of the meal. It had a nutty, yeasty tone on the nose, alongside sweet melon and ripe red apple flesh aromas, a toss of flowers and a bit of chalk. The palate showed some of those nice sweet red apples and some white melon notes, but these were pierced with lemony acidity, so while clearly fleshier and lacking in some of the bright energy of the white wines, this still came across a lot dryer, fresher and livelier than many demi-sec Champagnes. Pretty nice finish too, with melon fruit lined with a bit of mineral and lemon. Very pleasant.
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