This wine pours the lightest of this flight of 1996 grower champagnes, a medium/light straw. Nose is a tad tight (low intensity) with herbs, musty attic, lemon, green apple and oyster shell. The palate is alive with bright citric notes, low dosage and a biting, malic, green apple finish. Solid, but really not anything special. As I understand it this bottle was totally representative and Vilmart just wasn't really knocking it out of the park yet.

This was a really wild and unusual champagne. Clearly the deepest colour of the flight and perhaps the deepest colour of the whole evening. Rich honey with a deep golden brown core. Very rich on the nose with high complexity: mixed roasted nuts, sauteed mushrooms, chicken stock, game, wet forest, decaying wood, apple cider, applesauce, saline, light notes of sherry and a clear and distinct cave aged grueyre note. The rich, round palate certainly has some elevated dosage and a real cheesy finish. A very layered and multi-dimensional wine that clearly shows the oak ageing and oxidative leanings.

This pours a moderate lemon yellow. The nose is of lemon drop, lavendar, honey, slate, raw sugar, marmalade, some lightly sherried nuttiness, apple strudel and just a touch of applesauce. Quite a nice expression that's drinking well. Another one that is elevated on the acid and low on the dosage. Medium plus finish. This feel like its drinking optimally now.

This is really my style. I think it liked it more than anyone else in the group. Quite a nice rich nose on this wine wafting notes of light roast coffee, honey, sautéed apple, saffron, coriander seed, chamomile tea, brown sugar, chinese five spice, smoked meat and pastry dough. The palate has fairly high acid but it is rounded off and feels like this wine has perhaps been through malolactic. the dosage comes across as a pinch above moderate (perhaps 10 g/l), which works nicely for me. The finish is medium plus repeating many of the rich notes shown on the nose. In my opinion this was flat out awesome.

In the past I've absolutely loved this wine. This time it was great, but I wasn't as taken with it as in other showings. Quite a toasty nose with lots of nutshells, nut skin, toasted bread, brioche crust, toasty wood, marzipan, the lightest kiss of sherry and the requisite orchard and citrus fruit rounding out the aromatic profile. The palate is nicely rich with abundant acid and measured dosage. Nice, long, lightly nutted finish that balances the toasty side against notes of green apple.

We all found that this wine was markedly effervescent. It pours a moderate golden straw. Nose is down the middle stylistically with obvious autolautolytic character in full display. The nose is of unbaked dough, french pastry, melon and mixed citrus fruit. While quite enjoyable this was ultimately simple compared to the competition. The palate is typical with moderate dosage and the expected elevated acid.

Pours moderate straw yellow. Here we have one of the most intense aromatic profiles of the evening. The pleasurable and expansive nose is of brown spice, cardamom, passion fruit, pineapple, mango, spices, aromatic melon skin, marzipan, vanilla and coconut. There are elements that have a slight resemblance to Sauternes or a late harvest Gewurtztraminer. The palate reveals a mouthfilling mousse and wonderfully spiced exotic notes. An unexpected standout for me.

While I understand other bottles have been more open, we all kind of agreed this one was a bit tight. The nose reveals some really interesting but subtle notes of strawberry shortbread, white currants, oyster shell, white flowers, fresh ginger and fresh cut strawberry. The palate has very focused high acid with a long delecate finish repeating fresh cut strawberry, white currants and ginger. 92+ for it's future potential. It should be excellent in time, this bottle seems to have needed a bit more age.

Another standout with intense aromatics right out of the gate. I love this rich and open profile. The pungent nose blasts a distinct medium roast coffee note followed by wet dark soil, garlic/onion, popcorn, butter, caramel, butterscotch, brown sugar, hairspray and mixed orchard driven fruit. The palate is perfumed, mineral and highly acidic with perfect, slightly elevated dosage. I really like this style.

A bit of a difficult showing from this bottle of Dom. The nose is focused on onion, garlic, a hint of plastic, some burlap, mango skin, pine needles and pear. All in all, enjoyable but at the same time a tad odd. The palate is well balanced with high acid and typical dosage. The finish has decent length, repeating mango notes. The impression I get is that this needs some more time to settle down.

Really quite similar to the regular Dom but with a strong reduced overlay. Very strong plastic and rubber notes make this a difficult one to enjoy. Perhaps this will be good one day, but not really all there today. Followed over several hours without much change.

This pours a moderately deep shade of gold. While the aromatic intensity of this wine wasn't quite as high as a few others, it still falls into the rich camp with expansive, integrated, maturing notes of candied ginger, a touch of sulfur, oyster shell, sandy beach, dry soil, poached pear, flint and smoke. The palate has the expected high acid and moderate dosage with quite a wild and long finish built on zingy ginger notes. Really lovely. Feels like it's just entering it's window of maturity.

This pours a moderate golden yellow. The nose on this wine was so very mineral and floral via loads of crushed rock, yellow fruit, gun powder, daisy, orchid, tulip, ginger and honey. High acid and low dosage as expected with a medium plus finish. Very nice champagne and interestingly brings many of the same traits I look for in white burgundy.

This pours a moderate golden yellow. nose of yellow fruit and some secondary character: banana, caramel, vanilla, custard, mushroom, butterscotch, marzian and marshmallow. The palate is moderate dosage and very high acid. On the rich side but this still feels relatively primary and I think a bit more time might benefit this wine.

This pours on the lighter side; a light straw yellow. The nose is linear, low intensity and primary of lemon/lime, ginger and light honey. The palate is also linear and highly acidic with a moderate finish. I found this to be on the more young/closed side of things this evening.