Community Tasting Note

forceberry wrote:

Monday, January 12, 2015 - A blend of 40 different vineyards and 6 different vintages. 90% of the wine is of the base wine and 10% reserve wines composed of Pinot Noir (40%), Chardonnay (40%) and Pinot Meunier (20%). All the reserve wines are aged in oak and 5% of the base wine sees oak as well. Aged for 3 years in the bottles on the lees, disgorged with a dosage of 10 g/l residual sugar. Acidity 7,9 g/l.

Yellow-green color. Quite rich, expressive and moderately toasty nose with aromas of roasted nuts, some waxy tones, a little bit of red apples, a hint of almost unripe peachy fruit and a reductive whiff of struck matchstick. The wine is full-bodied, creamy and crisp on the palate with quite pronounced steely minerality, rather lean green apple character, some ripe yellow fruits, a little bit of autolytic bready character and a hint of nuttiness. The wine is quite racy with high acidity and fine, creamy mousse whereas the dosage shows through just a little. The finish feels more bone-dry with pronounced, bracing acidity and palate-cleansing, medium-long flavors of steely minerality, some bready autolysis, a little bit of spicy red apple, a hint of fudge and a touch of fresh nectarine.

A pure, focused and balanced NV Champagne that performs a bit better than how I remembered Brut Premier from before. The base wine seems to be quite lean and racy with high acidity and very little of meat around the backbone, but the reserve wines and oak-aged portions add some nice substance and vinous complexity to the wine, lending it a little bit more character than your run-of-the-mill Champagne. Not really my favorite Grande Marque entry-level Champ, but a reliable and enjoyable effort nonetheless. Feels a bit pricey at 50,90€, but not prohibitively so.

Post a Comment / View forceberry's profile
1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Report Issue (5,026 views)