August 15, 2021 - Beautiful Champagne with Ecklers and mom at Churchills to start. No sign of rotten potato taint that some of the 05's have been plagued with. I feel this is possibly peaked but very good
February 22, 2021 - Man oh man, words fail a little to descube this one. I think it is quite mature with a few more years left until complete balance, but I'm happy where it was this day. With cheese. Golden yellow. Bountiful mousse, fine bead. Citrus meets earth. Med + mouthfeel. Very integrated. Disg 2013 so plenty of time to settle in. Long length. Really like G. Chiquet's Special Club bottlings as they are constantly outstanding.
July 10, 2019 - Wow this is good. Just the right amount of maturity yet very fresh. Quintessential. For me, it's slightly reminiscent of Boizel 2000 Joyau de France which I love although not quite the same level and lacking the intensity of that.
February 21, 2018 - Excellent as before. A point. Lots of life still left but developing some nice mature notes now. Perfect with smoked salmon and went very well with a rich butternut squash & sage tortellini with pumpkins seeds, pine nuts nad beurre noisette - it actually made a chablis taste weedy and acidic with the tortellini. So glad I have more bottles of this!
February 2, 2018 - Classic champagne, nice maturity but still lots of life. A touch of browned apple and some pastry. A little spice, complex but still not fully open, has much more to give I think. Long finish.
Gets better as it warms up, 14C much better than 11C and at 16C it was beautiful. It tastes like a textbook matured champagne (as in 5-10 years) in a way I describe as very champagney!
This is 13 years and is absolutely a point in terms of my champagne preference, in way that I typically like 2010 Chablis and 2012-13 oaked Burgundy.
January 1, 2018 - New Years Day: Vrai Champagne (Brad & Marcia's Place, St. Paul, MN): Small pour, tasted this right before the 2004. Both are similar in style but I find the '04 to be a notch better. This was very consistent with my note from 1/25/14.
October 13, 2017 - Nice apple pie on the nose. Some maturity here but as expected for a 12 year old champagne. Lemons and apples on the palate, some lemon sherbet. Yeasty notes and a Burgundy like richness. Lovely. Perhaps a little shy but might need some air and warming up (served at 10C).
More open later at 14C with a creamy cheese. Was good also with sushi.
December 18, 2016 - Wow!! salty briny umami! gorgeous minerality. Lovely mouth feel. Serious Champagne for food. Incredible with roasted beef bone marrow and toast spears!!
August 12, 2016 - My first gaston chiquet that wasn't corked or underwhelming. I've had the brut tradition 5 times now and I've never had a bottle that was anywhere close to the retail price. This bottle delivered. Drinks at its price point.
December 30, 2015 - See previous note. Nose is absolutely awesome, vanilla, honey. Last bottle. Damn.