March 8, 2024 - two flawed bottles in a row to start the night so had to pull something guaranteed to hit. Pop and pour, tight at first. 30 minutes or so and that Bouchard ripe green pear and red apple come rolling in, but with the early stages of some toasty notes and a little caramel. In transition into its secondary phase of life, but not awkward. Delicious
December 25, 2023 - Kicking off our Christmas celebrations with some fizz—although that is not a term that really applies to this wine. Although some nice bubbles to start, it quickly becomes a still wine in the glass. And it is so good it really doesn’t matter. So balanced and elegant. An impressive nose of delicate florals and bright fruits—red apples, pears and clementines. The same fruit on the palate with mineral, wet stones and chalk. Nice long finish. This is probably the wine I have enjoyed the most since my surgery at the end of Sept. Sadly, my last/only bottle of this vintage although I do have some NV with a 15 base so maybe will be similar?
April 27, 2023 - The nose is so balanced and succulent with layered tones of red apples, peaches, pears, vanilla beans, yellow flowers, warm biscuits, toast, red berries, and some nectarines. This nose is just gorgeous as it flows in the glass while showing off just the right mix of autolytics and fruit notes. The Medium bodied feel is textured and flowing with crisp, high acidity. This is just a flat out sexy Champagne. While this can certainly age for plenty of more years it is just a real joy right now.
June 16, 2022 - Has improved since last bottle 4 years ago. Still a charmer but showing a lot more depth. Delicious.
May 31, 2022 - Lots of sweet red berries. Strawberries. Really open and aggressive on the attack bursting with fruit. That carries through to the mid palate and finish making it seem a bit simple and one note. Good depth of fruit, but sadly not much more. Quite uninteresting.
April 23, 2022 - The 2015 Cote de Val Vilaine is in a sweet spot to drink right now. It is an excellent spring sipper! And a perfect compliment to Hakka House’s superb Chinese Cuisine
April 12, 2022 - It was a great wine for the $65 I paid. I was hoping not to like it and send the rest off to auction given the recent price increase, but no luck. We liked it a lot. Nice weight and balance, with an evolving nose and palate showing clementine, apples, florals, lemons... more as it warmed. Drinking really well now.
April 2, 2022 - Très bien, mais j’ai de la difficulté à voir la plus value vs champagne ou même mousseux à la moitié du prix. RQP un peu décevant.
December 31, 2021 - It's initially a little wound up showing more green apple, citrus and stones. And as it gets some air and warms up a little, it just gains more and more complexity: spices, a little roasted bread, tangerine. But even as the fruit expands on the palate, it keeps this incredible focus. Just lovely.
December 21, 2021 - Stunning champagne. Piercing citrus and mineral notes, with pear and candied lemon rind notes. Beautiful mousse, rich and yet light on its feet, with a very long, chalky finish.