Q3 Wine Club | Pre-2000 Vintage Champagne
The Apt
Tasted Saturday, July 27, 2019 by MC2 Wines with 211 views
Introduction
Back by popular demand - another Champagne wine club. This seems to be turning into a tradition where we battle the heat of the summer with bubbles. Because why not? I was interested for this one since I like champagne with age and this is an area we are weak on in our cellar so it was fun to source for and fun to 'over' source for :-).
Same process as always - we try the wines single blind for our own and double blind for all of the others. Each participant is given 5 pennies to allocate across the wines. Can be five pennies in one wine or one penny across five wines. Or anything in between. The winner gets a fabulous prize (this time a champagne saber).
Flight 1 (14 Notes)
Closing
Few interesting things with this tasting.
First - we had a number of doubles which had wildly disparate performances. One of them I actually sortof caught and could see. The other I would have said the bottles were quite a bit different but when I went back to retry that wasn't as true.
Second - there was a reasonable amount of parity and more than I would have thought otherwise.
Also - quite a few of these were still drinking very much on the young side.
And finally there was a real interest in Corban which showed up multiple times and I think was also at Vino Lokal (although I didn't take great notes on it) when we were back in Aus.
Now for the results:
11 pennies: 1999 Taittinger Champagne Brut Blanc de Blancs Comtes de Champagne
8 pennies:
Wine #2: 1998 Claude Corbon Champagne Grand Cru Grand Millésime
7 pennies:
Wine #1: 1998 Taittinger Champagne Brut Blanc de Blancs Comtes de Champagne
Wine #14: 1993 Deutz Champagne Amour de Deutz Blanc de Blancs
6 pennies:
Wine #5: 1988 André Beaufort Champagne Brut Millésimé
Wine #10: 1994 Claude Corbon Chardonnay Champagne Grand Cru Brut Blanc de Blancs Avize
Wine #12: 1998 Claude Corbon Champagne Grand Cru Grand Millésime
5 pennies:
Wine #9: 1996 Bruno Paillard Champagne Brut
Wine #11: 1995 Charles Heidsieck Champagne Blanc des Millénaires
2 pennies:
Wine #4: 1996 Deutz Champagne Cuvée William Deutz Rosé
Wine #13: 1990 Pol Roger Champagne Cuvée Sir Winston Churchill
1 penny:
Wine #6: 1996 de Venoge Champagne Brut Louis XV
Wine #8: 1996 Egly-Ouriet Champagne Grand Cru Brut Millésimé
0 pennies:
Wine #3: 1993 Deutz Champagne Amour de Deutz Blanc de Blancs
1998 Taittinger Champagne Comtes de Champagne Blanc de Blancs Brut
France, Champagne
Wine #1: One of my favorites of the tasting. There was definitely a split in the wines between those that had some oxidation and those that did not. This was more in the former. The age is apparent here. It's not overwhelming and for me it added some complexity. A bit of burnt caramel and a touch of the toast and almost a darker butter style. Very enjoyable.
(7 pennies)
Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue
1998 Corbon Champagne Grand Cru Grand Millésime
France, Champagne, Champagne Grand Cru
Wine #2: A fairly new producer for me and interesting to see how many of this producer there were in the tasting. This is one of my styles. It's more in the lighter, bit of apple, touch of spice, almost a bit sweet style. I think Cristal is prob the king of that format, but this worked well too. The age really wasn't apparent at all. Wine tasted young and very fresh. On a hot afternoon it was quite welcome. Also interesting as this was a duplicate with one of the later wines. My descriptors were very similar across the two bottles and actually I voted for both. Score similar as opposed to our other double where it was quite disparate. (8 pennies)
Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue
1993 Deutz Champagne Amour de Deutz Blanc de Blancs
France, Champagne
Wine #3: The second of our doubled up wines and I do wonder if this one suffered a bit coming on the heels of the '98 Corbon that was just so open and fresh. This was almost the exact opposite. Much more oxidized. There were tangy notes to it. At times it reminded me a bit of chewing on a boating rope. I liked it, but it definitely required a particular mood to it. (0 pennies)
Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue
1996 Deutz Champagne Cuvée William Deutz Rosé
France, Champagne
Wine #4: The rose of the flight (surprisingly the only one - I thought we might have had one but I guess it didn't end up in the group we served). This was nice and fresh and well done. Some raspberry. Some rose hips. Definitely had the fruitiness you would like. A touch less complex than some others (a feeling I often get about rose champagne - to me it is rarely as good as the regular stuff although nor is it ever quite as bad if that makes any sense). Enjoyable. (2 pennies)
Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue
1988 André Beaufort Champagne Brut Millésimé
France, Champagne
Wine #5: Very split read on this wine among folks. For some it was definitely oxidized and over the hill. For me it was an old champagne and into its secondary characteristics and you have to really like those but I was one of the pennies so I do. There was a bit of the apple note (it's in that style) and the age seems to have added caramel to it so that it reminded me a lot of a caramel apple that had perhaps been out in the sun a bit and so wasn't quite as fresh. Still a nice crispness though. (6 pennies)
Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue
1996 de Venoge Champagne Brut Louis XV
France, Champagne
Wine #6: Coming on the heels of the Beaufort which I thought was all fun old age this wine just came across as young for me. It could easily have been recent disgorgement. No secondary notes. All of the standard crisp and biscuit and toast and just slightly fruity in the finish. We have a few more of these and we'll be holding I think. Many more years to go. (1 penny)
Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue
1999 Taittinger Champagne Comtes de Champagne Blanc de Blancs Brut
France, Champagne
Wine #7: The clear favorite of the group. This wine was interesting and I think really stood out of the crowd. For me it was smokey and cigar and ash and all of that. Reminded me a bit of a Selosse style where you take flavors that aren't typically in champagne and you stick them in so that the champagne makes you think a bit more than normal. Flavors also very similar to wine number 10 but in this case the wine was showing much more young and fresh and yet somehow you could tell it had a few more years. Intriguing. (11 pennies)
Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue
1996 Egly-Ouriet Champagne Grand Cru Brut Millésimé
France, Champagne, Champagne Grand Cru
Wine #8: Of all of the wines probably showing it's age the most. Will be interesting to see. We have a bunch of these from an auction lot and I had high hopes as this is a producer that I tend to really like and I've always wondered what the wine would be like with age. It's possible these were not as well stored and so it's not quite fair. The answer right now seems like slightly bubbly sherry. Both on the nose and also on the palate. Lots of the oxidized. It's still interesting and I think drinkable, but surprising for a '96 as most of the bubbles I've had from this year have always seemed young for their age. (1 penny)
Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue
1996 Bruno Paillard Champagne Brut Millésimé
France, Champagne
Wine #9: I know I just said that most wines from this vintage I think show young for their age. This might be a bit of an exception as well although nowhere near as progressed as the Egly. This was lemon and crispness and a fresher style finish and yet there is a background sense that this has had some years. It comes across as just a bit more interesting than a new release would be. (5 pennies)
Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue
1994 Corbon Chardonnay Champagne Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs Brut Avize
France, Champagne, Champagne Grand Cru
Wine #10: So funnily enough I was convinced that this should be the same wine as 7. I think that was the smokiness in it. Here again there's that smoke and this time a bit stronger on the ash. A bit of caramelized sense and more oxidation. It's missing the freshness that 7 had that was compelling, but it's still quite an interesting wine. (6 pennies)
Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue
1995 Charles Heidsieck Champagne Blanc des Millénaires
France, Champagne
Wine #11: This producer always ends up being a favorite of mine and this time was no different. It's young and fresh and lovely. Lots of apple and acidity and light and yet with a slightly herbal undertone that I really like. Very enjoyable champagne. (5 pennies)
Post a Comment / 3 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Report Issue
1998 Corbon Champagne Grand Cru Grand Millésime
France, Champagne, Champagne Grand Cru
Wine #12: Ah - the first of the second wines of the doubles. What was funny for me was how consistent this wine was between this and number 2.
My notes were very similar. It's light and fresh and more apple style and a bit almost cider-y and just a touch of sweet. Also similar scoring in terms of pennies (in fact I voted for both wines). So a producer that I should keep an eye out for. (6 pennies)
Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue
1990 Pol Roger Champagne Cuvée Sir Winston Churchill
France, Champagne
Wine #13: Probably the most classically 'nice' and I wonder if we hadn't done this blind if this wouldn't have been most people's favorite. It is a great producer in a great year. I also wonder that coming on the heels of the '98 Corbon isn't a bit of a tough spot since that is a wine that is light and fresh and sweet and so there's a bit of readjusting the palate. The first time I had this I got a hint of sour, but I think that might have been location (I didn't get it the second time). This is still in the more apple style with a bit more of the caramel quality of age. Drinking fairly young for it's 28 years. Overall, enjoyable. (2 pennies)
Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue
1993 Deutz Champagne Amour de Deutz Blanc de Blancs
France, Champagne
Wine #14: So this is the funny one of the doubles. It's compatriot did not do so well in the number 3 spot but this was a favorite of the tasting. I wonder if there wasn't some of where it was located. This came on the heels of a wine showing some age and when this showed some itself it wasn't quite as jarring. Some tart. Some caramel. Some more oxidized notes. Overall quite drinkable though and prob just slightly on the downswing. Enjoyed. (7 pennies)
Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue