April 4, 2024 - Disgorged October 2019. Light gold with hints of salmon pink on pouring. Nose of primrose, lightly held berry, lime, flinty diesel. Layers of gooseberry, grapefruit, apple core, light biscuit, and white stone on the palate with hints of gingery petrol and a certain subtle wildness. Insistent acidity and lovely fine mousse. Long finish of citrus and orchard fruit laced with powdered stone and rather welcome astringency. A fresh, transparent, delightful Champagne.
February 26, 2024 - Champagne In My Backyard (My House): After a bottle I had opened late last year (2016 disgorgement), I was very impressed so I went out and found a few more. I had held the previous bottle for some time so I wasn't expecting to find the same disgorgement. I ended up finding October 2019 as the replacement, sharing one last night with the group. 50% Meunier, with 30% Pinot Noir and the rest Chard. This has a savory character, featuring lemon and sour green apple, then saline. Some toasty quality to the wine, with some bitter citrus in the finish. I like this disgorgement but I want to open the other bottle and space it out for a few nights to really form a complete picture.
February 25, 2024 - Something new & something familiar (FMIII backyard): Not blind. Toasty brioche nose, lemon zest, slightly browning green apple and something saline. Citrus finish. Upon revisit later that afternoon, the mid-palate seemed to lack concentration.
February 25, 2024 - Champagne at FMIII's: -- 50% Pinot Meunier, 30% Pinot Noir, 20% Chardonnay --
-- October 2019 disgorgement --
Rose-tinted gold color. At first whiff, this was straight-up raw cookie dough --- vexingly, I couldn’t put my finger on what kind of cookies, but this was unmistakably a scent that was activating my scent memory. Some bruised apple on the nose, too. On the palate, this was spicy, very dry, and had a rough attack (as opposed to soft). I revisited this on Day 2, and that simply was not good for this wine. The Nose had turned vegetal – to an extent that raising the glass for a drink was unpleasant. Once the wine was past the Nose, it wasn’t bad on the palate – necessarily – but it wasn’t really good, either: spicy florals, and on the watery side. Seemed to have a bit of a Natural Wine bent to it. Better on Day 1. My first time with this producer, and I was excited to try this.
February 25, 2024 - Double Fisted Champagne at Frank's: Checking Recent Buys AND Something Drinking Great Now (Frank Murray's Casa): Disg 10/19. Lots of rich golden color. Really looked much more mature than it was even close to being. Nose showed baked golden apple and lightly toasted bread. Crisp apple palate. Nice fruit but loses some oomph towards the lightly bitter finish. Still pretty nice. Like not quite balanced but the expression allowed you to ignore that.
February 24, 2024 - Bottle was a blend of 2013, disgorged in 2018. 90% pinot meunier, 10% pinot noir. Toasty and nutty notes, with a touch of tea and bitter salinity
February 1, 2024 - Quiet mousse, bright primrose colour; brioche & oatmeal nose; lively attack, vibrant mid-palate; well defined finish. Time in hand.
(Disgorged 2018, 4 years on lees. 90% P Meunier, 10% PN).
January 20, 2024 - Lemon cream patisserie, some bruised apple, good balance and a clean finish
December 29, 2023 - I had this in my cellar since 2017. I think the 2016 disgorgement but the label was scraped and stained because of my old cellar. Served non blind and man, this really showed well. My buddy Ramon said it reminded him of passion fruit, which was a good call. To me there was an elegance and crispness to the wine, too. I paid $50 for this but now it seems the price on the wine is $85-$125 and I wonder whether the newer disgorgements are as good too? Maybe I need to go source another one and see if it shows similarly, as this bottle was beautiful and really got my attention.
December 18, 2023 - Wine Dinner: Mugneret Gibourg Vertical (Zazie's, San Francisco): Served quite chilled. Aromatic, savory and almost a cheesy and yeasty aroma, slight mint; palate is medium bodied, balanced acidity, relatively short through the midpalate; short-medium finish. Good but not that impressive for me. 87-88