The Dirty half dozen - 6 Champagnes

5 top champagne and one English stowaway. A good mix and all except the Bollinger was in fine fettle.

• 1996 Nyetimber Blanc de Blancs

  United Kingdom, England, Sussex, West Sussex

  Always a great ringer and has never come last. Even it such illustrious company as this it was preferred to the Bolli by all and the Roederer and Billecart by most. Two people even placed it top. The Chardonnay had a cracking showing all honey and juicy citrus fruit, probably not going to get any better but will last a couple more summers. When its on form like this I can't think of many better fake champagne.

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• NV Louis Roederer Champagne Brut Premier

  France, Champagne

  Roederer do a great NV, I much prefer the style of this and their vintage to Cristal , cheap date huh. This also showed excellently. Typical Roederer richness and class, and as it had been sitting in my cellar for a year and a bit was showing some welcome stinky maturity and yeasty complexity. Great poise and a hefty satisfying finish. Lovely.

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• 1996 Moët & Chandon Champagne Cuvée Dom Pérignon

  France, Champagne

  My first experience of this was not good - an ever so slightly corked bottle at Cafe de Paix in Paris. The most frustrating thing was that you could feel greatness lurking under the taint. Tonight I felt it first hand. This is Champagne at its haunting best, its only fault was its youth . In a few years this will be as god as it gets. It is so perfectly weighted in fruit and flavour, which is in turn immaculately balanced by clean almost lush acidity. Fruit, toast, shortbread, truffle, honeysuckle, Terroir all make an appearance as it dances like an angel across the senses. The anticipation of the joy of things to come only heightens the experience. Awe inspiring stuff.

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• NV Krug Champagne Brut Grande Cuvée

  France, Champagne

  The fullest of the lot by a country mile, almost thick in the mouth. At first it seemed a little clumsy and brutal , but with more time in the glass just kept on getting better and better, by the end there were so many subtle variations on a theme it was less like drinking champagne more like enjoying grand creme with toasted hazelnut brioche and honey whilst a French babes gitaine smoke and musky perfume wafts past. Is this the greatest Champagne achievement, an NV this consistent and this good, hard to argue against. Is it better than the DP 96 another impossible - The DP 96 is the Beatles, Krug is Jimi- what mood are you in.

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• NV Billecart-Salmon Champagne Brut Rosé

  France, Champagne

  This is my favourite NV Rose, I find it so individual. Again tonight it doesn't disappoint. Salmon pink with a intense nose of raspberry and strawberry, lilies and lemon curd. In the mouth its all Summer pudding and citrus tingle. It always amazes me how it has such an intense pinot character yet retains the grace of a blanc de blancs. Hats of to the Billecart boys once more.

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• 1996 Bollinger Champagne La Grande Année Rosé

  France, Champagne

  This was extremely disappointing. It was my first pink bolli and on this evidence they should stick to the white stuff apart from the deep pink colour it showed no noticeable rose characteristics at all, it just tasted like a severe Bollinger NV. Started and finished monolithic and firm, with some oatcake and peachy notes. All in all rather rude and ungenerous, but it could just be a phase, but it didn't yield with time in the glass.

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Well the DP 1996 was my fave and surely one of the greatest Champagnes ever, then Krug, Roederer, Billecart, Nyetimberand Bollinger.
Its a good leaderboard when Bollinger is in last place