Tightened since three years ago, very concentated with citrus galore. Layered with both minerals and hints of brioche, but seems to be closing down - several bottles served and tasted - same impression. #Schur
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My score reflects the wine's potential. Drinking like a 93 today. Very young, fresh, restrained bubbles, mineral (almost chalk) flavors. Apple and pear. Needs time. Check back in 5 years. This will be a great wine one day.
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Kräftiges Gelb, dezente, feine Perlage. Die Nase ist steinig, mineralisch, dahinter mehliger Apfel, Brotrinde, Walnuss, auch zitrische Noten. Im Gaumen reichhaltig, opulent, ein Mund voll Wein, viel Druck, top strukturiert, balanciert, finessenreich und sehr lang im Abgang... Ziemlich grosses Champagner-Kino.
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Champagne In My Backyard (My House): October 2018 disgorgement. I think about 8 grams of dosage, and about 2/3rds Pinot Noir and the rest Chard. Initially this started out very juicy, with lots of yellow apple and an impressive concentration with some moderate structure that came through the finish, along with pastry. I mentioned to Astrid that I thought there was a nice kick of ginger here too but she had a reframe of thinking that it was likely from the oak. Overall, this showed an opulence and richness with spicy oak that was very good. After a few hours, I tried some more and found more of the acid, a creamy lime and some stone. Gotta say, this is damn good and hard to put down the glass and not keeping drinking it.
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Something new & something familiar (FMIII backyard): October 2018 disgorgement. 70% PN, 30% Chard. Initially like a juicy red apple that you have just bitten into. Very concentrated, long finish, dosage is perfect balance with the fruit. As it warmed and/or got more air, it evolved to something akin to caramel apple and a bit of a pastry note. The toasty notes also developed – what Cris called “crème brulée.” I had the 2012 last year and I think the 2008 can use even more time than the 2012.
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Champagne at FMIII's: -- October 2018 disgorgement -- -- 71% Pinot Noir, 29% Chardonnay --
I was excited to try this one, too, as this was my first regular Grand Annee (I’ve had the rose a few times, and absolutely love that one). This featured a sweetish Nose that initially came across as a bit soapy; it gained in richness with air over a few hours. On the palate, this came across as a complete wine, but without being heay-handed. Some oak was noticeable, and this aspect did become a touch more pronounced with air, but never became bothersome. As with the other ‘08s in the lineup, this came across as young: no autolytic notes at all, really. This was neck-and-neck with the ’08 Philipponnat as my WOTD. If you have multiple bottles, and haven’t checked-in yet, or in a while, it’s worth popping one now. But if you’ve been sitting on this, with the intention of drinking once it has developed some meaningful tertiary notes --- sorry --- you need to keep waiting.
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Double Fisted Champagne at Frank's: Checking Recent Buys AND Something Drinking Great Now (Frank Murray's Casa): Big thanks to Brian for bringing this. One of my favorite wines when its on and I've been wondering how my '08's are doing. They are doing pretty damn good I'd say. Pretty nose showing biscuit and apple. Not quite wide open yet. Bright, juicy palate with lovely, chalky acids. This didn't really carry the autolytic textures I usually look for but again, so good I quickly forgot. I poured a glass to watch as we went through the other wines. The nose didn't take much longer to open up into a dessert place, especially in a creme brulee sort of way. Terrific.
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Nice developing richness and depth, showing more of the Bolly oxidative patina than when I last tasted this in 2019. For current drinking however, I found this lacking some complexity. I'll wait a few years before opening another.
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New Year’s Eve bubbly. Straw color, medium bubbles, crisp clean taste with pear and apple notes. Medium finish. Quite likable, but ultimately not memorable. And not great qpr
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More developed and a lot better than four years ago, when it was rather muted. Deliciously aromatic and complex with dense yellow fruit aromas. Dense and concentrated on the palate, but in a more elegant style than many earlier vintages.
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Dusty, straw colour. Light bouquet with green apples. Dry and with a hint of sweetness, lemon and apples. Good depth and complexity and fine length finish. Excellent. Really good right now. You can always keep, but you could also drink.
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(CDV) Pas en place, bien trop jeune, encore marqué par l'elevage, il nous a semblé artificiel et désuni, surtout comparé au très harmonieux Dom Pérignon de la même année. Personnellement, je l'aurais d'emblée associé à une viande blanche pour le dompter (fruits rouges, boisé, puissance/acidité) ou ... mis en cave encore 4/5 ans minimum. Il en a sous le pied. 91/94
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Open for 20 min. Aromas of tart apples, minerals, herbs and a hint of yeast/brioche. Palate with apples, minerals and herbs. Excellent acids. This is still young and tight but also with excellent potential. Just needs more time. 91 for now but with certainly room for significant increase once the wine relaxes.
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2008 top champagnes - horisontal wine tasting dinner (Rest MG (kg arr)): Second 2008 horisontal champagne half blind tasting dinner. First time June 2021. Back then the vintage was extremely youthful. How is it now? An almost unbelievable development in just 2 years. As a wine enthusiast I must simply surrender. I was skeptical about the drinkability at this point for this extreme vintage. That skepticism was proven wrong. 2008 can definitely be enjoyed now. For me, it's one of my really great tasting experiences. And there has certainly been many... Add to that, the vintage is only in its initial stage of maturation and therefore still youthful but extremely charming and open. I really look forward to tasting the 2008 vintage once a year in the coming many years experiencing the tertiary notes develop.
This was the positive surprise of the evening and my 2008 favourite. Not expected. On the horisontal tasting in 2021 it was disappointing. Now it was close to extraordinary with beginning a little tertiary notes of dried fruit. 7 out of my 9 participants scored it 95 or more. My rating based on performance right now 97+
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2008 Champagne - 25 top names tasted blind: Expressive nose here with tertiary aromas around pinto spice. Medium+ bodied palate, some dosage but appropriately dry, like a toned down version of Winston Churchill in all aspects. Good finish. After revealing it was interesting to see that the Bollinger Grand Annee was the more feminine wine compared to the Bollinger RD.
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By far the most approachable 2008 compared to Dom, Cristal, Taittinger Comtes and Krug. This has a touch of sweetness, with crisp apple, honeydew, and toasted brioche. Still think it has many more years left on this, but a great example of how good 2008 is and it is approachable unlike the others listed. Bolly GA are maybe the best price to quality in Champagne. These are great vintage in and vintage out!
Gourmetklubbens femtiosjätte middag (A+N, Sundbyberg): (Disgorged in June 2018, 71% Pinot Noir and 29% Chardonnay, dosage 8 gr/L) Still youthful nose showing red apples, a tropical citrus touch and some biscuits in a very pleasant way. Nice and smooth with a butterscotch note and showing lots of citrus acidity and with a lovely buttery touch on the finish showing French nougat (Best 2018-2038)
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NobleRottersSydney - 2010 & prior (Fix, St James, Sydney): {cork, 12%} [Gordon] Beautiful brioche nose. A creamy sort of toast – really intoxicating! On the palate lots of yeast, bread, biscuit, but avoids cheesiness. That said, the palate isn’t quite as fresh as the nose suggested. Hefty style, medium/full in weight, with medium-sized creamy bubbles and a medium/long, crunchy and even finish. Impressive stuff which seems right in the drinking window to me.
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Utrolig velbalansert, fine bobler, frisk syre og med god fylde, konsentrasjon og lett sødme i frukten. Bakst og autolyse, epler og hint av sitron, honning og mineralitet. Laaang.
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Served at Zalto white glass, this one was sleeping, with no bursting bouquet and no sourness on the palate. It took time to become a Grande Annee finally. After half an hour, I felt brioche, honey in the nose, and balanced but powerful juice on the palate.
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semiblind, Tasting of 16 big 2008's 11th wine of the night. I had the R.D. 2008 3 days ago, so I hoped to detect it but I couldn't. Very impressive champagne. Very balanced, not too sweet, powerful as a Selosse. One of the biggest surprises. A touch ahead of Vilmart's Coeur de Cuvee. 96
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If you ever wondered what berries & Chantilly cream wrapped in an ephemeral layer of shimmering gold gossamer tastes like, you're in luck! This is heady stuff and someone needs to tell them to turn the machines back on already because the world needs more.
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Light gold color. Drank a glass plus over an hour. This has an aggressive, fine bead, with a very bright nose with all the pretty green orchard fruit you want enhanced by white flowers, yeast, earthy dough, and that crystalline, almost tickly minerality on the nose. The purity and definition and intensity comes through in spades on the palate. I love the stony minerality, light toast, creamy texture, balance and freshness. A superb La Grand Annee in the early drinking window. 94+ to 95(+)pts.
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By far the best and most expensive Champagne I've ever drank and so different than any other I've had. Bruised red apples, slightly oxidative, toasted oak, minerals, brioche and mushrooms. Powerful, complex, and elegant and gave me a new expanded understanding of what a top Champagne can be like.
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Best champagne I ever recall. Been a few years as of this writing but I remember opening the bottle without much of a pop and the cork seemed small too me but what did I know except that the elixir inside was sublime with mushrooms and brioche on the nose. It was….perfect. At least the first 750ml bottle. We got a 1.5 l the following year and it wasn’t as good as the first tbh. Outstanding and great splurge!
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Last time I opened one of these was almost 4 years ago. I read it at 94. I think I probably would rate this bottle at least two or three points lower. Something's going on with this one. I think that it might be starting perhaps a period of slumber as there was a clear hole somewhere in the middle of this wine. Still quite oxidative in style, and for what it is, still an extremely powerful champagne. If you have a lot of these, and they are still actually very young, I would probably hold them. Like, hold them all. LGA is my favorite of the Bolly lineup, but the NV Special Cuvee Brut would definitely compete with this one right now. This is a powerful champagne that is built to withstand decades of aging and development. I wish I had a few more of these to see how they develop, as I really truly feel that this one was going into hibernation. It might have really gone well with some food, which was also lacking here in this instance.
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BYOB dinner NOTK (Supernova hotel, Rotterdam): Great champagne, would have loved to spend a bit more time with this glass. Lovely mousse, slightly oxidative, brioche, dough, ripe citrus. Long finish. 92-93
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Probably the least exciting bottle yet, although certainly impressive, especially about 30 mins after opening. Plenty of acidity - still felt predominantly youthful and unevolved. Steely lemon, smoke, grilled pineapple (delicious), grilled nuts, a touch of cream.
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Pre-dinner bubbles talking house renovations which I won't say is our favorite topic but is very timely for us at the moment. This is young and crisp and almost like a slightly tart apple and well coiled and lots of time to go but still enjoyable right now. Paired with an artichoke dip and it was a great combination. Just the right start to the evening.
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Quite nice .. picked up while on vacation to drink. Nice light body, some subtle butter and citrus notes … green apple comes out around 60 minites in. Nice bottle, but could use a little. Ore time, glad we have a few of these at home in the cellar
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This is superb champagne if you ask me. The brioche/caramel smell is so bold on the nose right out the gate and just gets richer and richer as it collides with oxygen. Probably at its drinking peak 60-90 minutes in for mine when the green apple starts to shine through. Really takes you away to a happy place.
Truly delicious champagne and should only continue to get better.
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2001 Châteauneuf-du-Pape (Restaurant Waldhorn, Kirchheim, Germany): Drunk right after the 2004 RD. The 2008 to me is finer and more elegant. Very young, almost too young, but also lovely already. Not as bone dry as the RD, a bit sweeter. But also with great pressure and tension and a wonderful fine Mousseux, fine citrus, apple notes and a very good length. I really like it!
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The richness of Bollinger and the raciness of the 2008 should make for a great combination. Unfortunately the wine is still closed, some shy citrus notes and white flowers. Decanting helped a bit, the aromas were slightly more pronounce after 1h, but there was still not much generosity on the palate, the Bollinger lushness missing. May be this will develop more into a citrus led mature Chard with beady notes. We'll see. Drinks 94 today, with potential for one or two more points. Best after 2028.
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Is this what I have to look forward to?? If so, I'm very happy about it. Showing amazing, with broad, smudged green apple notes, expansive, elegant with profound intensity and a little je ne sais quois. This is the bomb (still).
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A firm structure for this 2008, Mushrooms and spices with lots of minerality. Whereas the 2012 vintage is not ready, still a lot of wood, this vintage appears to be a bit more mature, with the wood more integrated and delivering spices to the wine,
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Another great bottle. Really well-balanced, both easy and incisive, ample (moreish, mouthwatering) acidity and a particularly overt aroma of sweetish dough. Maybe a touch over-dosed for my palate, but excellent overall.
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A great anniversary wine. Fine bubbles. Wonderful aroma with apple, ginger, yeast, almond, apple, lemon curd, and apricot. Rich flavor, beautiful balance. Apple, dried ginger, yeast, almond, lemon, apricot. smooth lingering finish. Still young, good now , but plenty of promise to come.
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Finally at my sisters birthday we opened a bottle of this beauty. And what a champagne it is, for me this is as close to perfection a champagne can come, I think it will get there with some more ageing. This champagne has so much energy and focus but at the same time such a spectrum of flavours. Im glad I have 11 bottles left and I will be buying a lot more and recommend everybody stacking up of this champagne before the price increases. The only negative about this champagne is that Bollinger didn't make enough of it.
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Bastille Day dinner (R&D's): Excellent. Compared to the Bazin, this is rich and toasty, with apple, dried ginger, yeast and roasted almond notes. Fine bead. Flavors of apple, lemon and almond.
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Informal dinner, no notes taken. This clearly improved vs a bottle a year ago. It gained concentration and poise and became more harmonious with a tad less edges and a better integrated acidity. While pleasent, the wine doesn’t have the complexity yet to truly wxcite and reach the 95+ category but it should get there with more age. I would wait a few years.
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2008 top champagnes - horisontal wine tasting dinner (Rest PG (kg arr)): Blossom notes and a little tutti-fruity. Extremely youthful and a little rustic at the moment. Rated 97/100 by Wine Advocate. For me, difficult to understand. On the other hand my rating is based on performance right now and it will undoubtedly develop more complex notes in the coming years. If I only had one btl. I would definitely wait at least 5 years.
I have 24 in the cellar so I have the opportunity over the coming years to see whether it is just a question of development.
Not assigning a score as it would be lower than perhaps it deserves. The finish is still a bit sharp and displays its youth. Initially there is an odd flavour profile on the back end of mid towards finish. Couldn’t quite place it but it did seem to dissipate. I think it just needs a year or two more in bottle to round and soften / integrate a little more but time will surely tell.
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Stor doft av gula (lite bokna) äpplen, nästan äppelmust, grillad citron, ingefära, ett uns honung, kryddor, nötter, rostade toner, lite rökig mineralitet, lite brödiga toner i bakgrunden. Den har verkligen en stor, komplex, djup doft med lager på lager känsla I munnen frisk syra. Den känns inte lika utvecklad här, men hittar grillad citrus, kryddor, äpplen. Finishen är lång och kryddig. (deg jun 18)
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Nez finement brioché, des notes de pommes. Un champagne puissant, vineux, racé, très sec, d’une prestance exceptionnelle, avec une très longue finale saline. Il emplit la bouche, saisit toute notre attention, c’est un des meilleurs champagnes que j’ai pris. Grand vin. 95 pts
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PnP. In a nice place now as it begins what is, to my palate, its preferred window. Good cut, vg balance, and cheeky length. Really fun right now, and I wish I had some in the cellar because this will be even better in the coming years. highly recommended
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not blind I heard a lot of "good" things but my expectations get disappointed. First I served too chilled but it was too sweet. I love this powerful and lush vintage but the dosage was too high. We will se what the future brings with the balance. 91?
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Drank this far too early in the day but for obvious reasons. Nose is brioche and apples that becomes chalky with breathing. Bubbles are fine. On the palate, the same notes come through together with ginger/nutmeg notes. Finish is long and echoes brioche, white fruit, chalk, and dry hazelnuts. I like how that chalky/nutty quality comes through more strongly with breathing. As amazing as it is, it’s really clear that it’s only a glimpse of its potential.
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a nose of freshly baked sourdough with a bit of apple. The sourdough persists into the palate, but is overcome quickly by green apples, pears, ginger, and a subtle sweet cream shifting towards a finish where the fruit recedes outside of a bit of lemon and lemon peel, which is rounded out again by this incredible sourdough. The nuance is incredible. I am not a champagne drinker, but this wine makes me question why I am not.
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Really jumps from the glass with orange peel, ginger, and a spice note. Will it improve? Probably, but absolutely no shame in drinking now. It is firing.
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A baby, but a beautiful one. Coiled and shy right now but one can sense the energy within. Fairly light straw color is followed by a nose of raw yeast, chalk and fresh pressed pear. Good extract on the palate but again a bit unforthcoming. Should be incredible in a few years though I had hoped for a bit more tonight. (93++)
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Delicious and aromatic on the nose. The wine is rich and fruity showing delicious green apple, yellow stone fruits, toast, some spice and a lovely touch of chalky minerality. Classic slightly oxidative bolly nose.
On the palate it shows power and elegance. Broad and with a lovely richness, but in the spirit of 2008s, it maintains a brilliant purity and focus. Excellent concentration and a tightly wound core. Full-bodied with a chalky and mineral finish with hint of citrus (grapefruit). Lovely soft mousse. Very good length.
Lovely now, but looking forward to how this develops. Around 94+ points with upside (94-96 points). Rated 95
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amazing balance and depth - tart green apfel strudel with a dollop of cream on top. Oxidative in the best way. Subtle pastry dough and spice. The overall impression is a synthesis of weight and lift with loads of fresh red cherries, anise candy. An unflagging nose-tickling finish. Again, the balance is exquisite.
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First whiff is of freshly baked pastries. On the palate, red apple, lemon curd, candied ginger, and the distinctive Bollinger oxidative tang. Finishes off like warm brioche with lemon curd on top. This is almost like Vina Tondonia Blanco with bubbles.
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I just dont understand all the attention DP is getting from 2008 cuve, when this is in the market. Obviously young, but a killer monster caterpillar that needs time to turn into a butterfly. Beauty! HOLD
CHALKY AND EUUUUGE!
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A striking combination of fumy yeastiness, salinity, green apple, lemon and broad crème pat, finishing taut and long. It's lithe and flat-out delicious.
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Nice toast and brioche as base notes complementing a fruit of pear and green apple as well as chalky mineral elements. A slightly sweet candid apricot touch on the palate was an amazing feature. Gains in intensity over time adding more citric freshness (kept the bottle chilled on ice). Later back to fully-fledged brioche mode. Terrific evolution. Paired with fresh oysters (Nr. 2 & 3) at home and once again it became clear that oysters and Champagne were made for each other! One of the best 2008 Champagnes I've tasted so far.
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Big and stately. Chalky to a point of tasting a bit tannic. Very energetic and very powerful. To me, this is better than the 2008 Dom Perignon!...Drink or a very big HOLD
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A solid 94. Still fairly tight but enjoyable fresh mouthfeel, loads of body but a bit hidden. I’m a fan of freshness vs full maturity so the lemon almond brioche it delivered tonight set us up for a great night. Reminds me what a bargain Dom 08 is as for a similar price that’s the far better wine.
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Saturday hangout (socially distanced) (Chicago, IL): This is pretty tasty now, but it also doesn't feel like a wine that has the legs for extended aging; in fact, it's quite tasty now already. There's the racy acidity and intensity of 2008, but at the same time, the fruit on the palate feels fairly resolved. It's a relatively easygoing wine on the palate, which leads me to think this is for relatively early consumption; there's none of the structure you find in the 2008 Dom Pérignon or Cristal. At the end of the day, I'm buying equal dollar values of 2008 Dom Pérignon instead.
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This is really good. Thickest mousse of any '08 champagne I have had and a fine, aggressive bead. Yeast and bread dominate the mid palate, but in a good way. Comes off a touch sweet, I have picked that up more in 2008. For example Dom drinks really sweet to me. This has vanilla, crisp apple and and a touch of strawberry. A bit young as it has some rough edges "razors", but far more approachable than many other 2008's. If you like a "doughy" champagne, this did it for me. For the price point, a really good champagne.
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NobleRottersSydney - Mount Mary (Fix, St James, Sydney): {cork} In the usual style: yeasty, bakery-influenced, quite hefty nose, with roasted nuts all showing some development. The palate is solid and punchy, big but surprisingly youthful, dominated but ripe chardonnay fruit, medium/full weight, with medium-sized and quite powerful bubbles. Dry, with a medium length finish. Can stand a fair bit more age I’d say.
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Dégustation "Dreamers" chez Simon B. (Montréal, Canada): Superbe Champagne, un bouquet très frais et croustillant de fruits à chair blanche, citron, noix de grenoble et pain grillé. Très élégant avec une mousse très fine et belle concentration des arômes. Longue vie devant lui.
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Ordered at Truluck’s for an anniversary dinner ($260). Young and vibrant with some nuttiness, brioche, and creamy lemon. Really well balanced and paired well with sea bass and ahi tuna. Struck me as still a very young wine with many years ahead and plenty of upside.
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Consistently one of the most open and welcoming vintage 08 Champagnes. Fine bubbles, lots of ripe and dried fruits, creamy, nutty, yeasty, smoky, round and zesty. Utterly delicious!
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Disg 11/2018. Rich nose: vanilla toast, crystalline lemon, red raspberry and wild strawberry. On the palate, fantastic acidity, more crystallized strawberry, soft mousse, lovely palate density, lemon peel and pure lemon on the finish. Still very much a baby, but already stunning.
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Blinded, crowd pleaser. All guessed better and older champagne. Ripe and concentrated apple jam, lemon, apricot and notes, smoky, hint of toast, honey and grilled nuts notes. Refreshing and delicious with fine beads of bubbles and linear structure. Already at great place now if you do not want to wait.
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Another nice 2008 Champagne which certainly needs more time to mellow and become more expressive. Promising but not yet there. I particularly like the purity of the aromas with a wonderful, fresh green apple as the highlight but a few steps behind the best 2008s I‘ve tried so far in terms of complexity (DP, Cristal) and finesse (Cristal). I see it in the same category as the Egly Ouriet 08 which has the edge from a structure/texture standpoint but is less interesting from an aroma perspective. 93 points with some upside.
TN: Fresh golden apple, some yellow fruit, citrus, slight brioche and hints of minerality. Medium expressive, good precision, good weight and length but not as soft, creamy and inviting as it should be. Despite rather fine perlage this still feels a bit angular.
Decanting: Improved significantly with some air - this needs some decanting. I will wait at least 5 more years before opening the next bottle.
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Lots of green and red apples with a lovely touch of yeast and a piercing acidity. It is a bit muted at the moment and really benefits from some air. But it doesn't take long for it to open up. A wonderful edition of this wine and there is lots to love. If you like the more sweet and broad style. I loved it. 93-94p
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Bollinger GA 2008. Wow! Strålende intensitet med fantastisk frukt som velter ut av glasset. Parfymert med pen mineralitet. Perfekt mousse, sublim fruktkvalitet. Spenst som Jens Weissflog. Intens og pirrende samtidig som den har en formfull rikhet. Konsentrert og ren - meget elegant. Ingen skam å drikke dette nå, men vil sannsynligvis lagre lenge. Presis og stram i utgangen med meget lang ettersmak. Brer seg flott ut med nydelig mineralitet. Beste ferske GA smakt. 95p
Notes of red berries. Smooth and elegant with fine mousse. Still young with some sweet fruit. A bit muted and not so exiting at the moment. But the wine has good depth and intensity, so I guess this is getting better in some years.
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Marchand & Tawse / Pascal Marchand Dinner (Chloe, DC): Medium expressive nose displaying subtle yellow fruit with a hint of white, apple, fresh lemon juice, pear tart and a hint of sourdough. Medium concentration, subtle slightly sour yellow and white fruit, very fine but very shy mousse, good acidity and medium mineral and a medium long slightly sour finish. This feels fragile and slightly angular and lacks energy and concentration of the other 08 Tete de Cuvees. Alan comments that it seems a lot more mature and I agree. I typically agree with Antonio but not on this one. I need to try another bottle soon.
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I didn't enjoy this nearly as much as the Winston Churchill we had along side of it. Good fruit, apple, pear, lichee, somewhat dry on the mid-palate that took away from the balance I was expecting. Probably will be much better with 5-10 more on it.
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Young Marchand-Tawse Wine Dinner: Not even close to as enjoyable as the wine tasted a few months back. This had good depth, but such a tart character from its middle through finish that I found it nearly shrill and barely enjoyable. An off bottle?
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Latter 1/3 of a bottle that had been opened about 2 hours. Consumer at cellar temp in a riedel cab glass. This has tightened up and the edges have sharpened since I tried it last year. Acidity is coming to the forefront and green apple notes seem to dominate. Texture is still tete de cuvee quality. I think this wine is pure class but wouldn’t suggest to open any more from your home cellar for several years as it seems to be coiling up.
20 min in glass. First thoughts were not as good as the 08 Dom Perignon or 08 Veuve grande dame. This has decent balance but finish is underwhelming. Don’t get me wrong, this is good juice but for $30 more 08 Dom or Grande dame or even the 164th Krug which has the 08 base are just so much more satisfying. This will age forever and it’s probably a decade away from its prime.
Really nice. Light on its feet, focused, and very well balanced. Not as pure as a recent ‘08 Cristal, but nor should that be a completely fair comparison. Will be excited to follow this over the years.
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Wow ready to drink and rich wine. Needs to be served warmer. Ripe berry some red apple and pine nut flavors. Refined and balanced this makes a really good wine. On the finish this wine reveals fatty nuts and even possible pine nuts. Hard to dislike.
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90 points at this time. Tasted Up against krug 166eme, argonne 08, egly-ouriet 07. Bollinger LGA 08 definately didn't live up to krug and especially not argonne (which was kind of expected). It developed a quite interesting note og vanilla after a few hours, but otherwise led the thoughts to a normal Apple juice with boubles... Lga 05 and 07 are much more mature and exciting at this point, and I hope lga 08 follows down the same path, and develops a more interesting taste.
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Annual Delayed Christmas Day Tasting: Extremely vivid and elegant. La Grande Annee ’08 joins the club of excellent 2008 Champagnes. Starts off with pure yeast then fresh baked bread, green apple, citrus and later dried figs. Steely on the edges, mineralic slate and a fresh finish.
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Infanticide at the moment, but this is superb Champagne. Amazing depth, complexity and length. The citrus astringency will soften with years. Patience now required.
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Just a baby, but another of my wines of the night. Lovely nose with peach, lemon, lime, vanilla. On the palate, glorious acidity, so lively. More peach. So lifted on the nose and palate. Stunning.
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Degustation Dinner & Wine at Amador, Vienna (Amadors Wirtshaus, Grinzinger Str. 86, 1190 Wien, Austria): Drank a glass as an aperitif from the wine list at Amador, Vienna. Light gold. Small bubbles. Nose is sharp and razor-precise. Palate is similar Pinot driven razor precision on entry then a BLAM of deeper straw-driven Chardonnay. Big finish! Kept putting on weight and depth until 3 hours in the glass when the final drops soured. 93 easy.
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Blind. Notes from memory. Im usually not a big fan of newly released champagne, but must say that this was a beautiful champagne already. Like the 2008 Dom Perignon already very accessible. Extremely well balanced. 93+
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Clear brilliant yellow; fresh yellow peach, peach pit, touch of oak, very ethereal, precise, elegant yet powerful. So young, so 2008, rich but bright, high acid, tight. Needs a few years. Capital Seafood for DD.
2nd bottle. Let it open up and warm in glass. Voluptuous, energetic, ready to drink despite its youth. Ripe red apple, red berries and orchard fruits, smoky and nutty, yeasty, wet stone like minerlas, hint of oxidative notes make it feel more developed. Expansive and intense mid palate yet long and refined. Crowd pleaser.
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Confirming my prior TN this is absolutely fantastic champagne. Drinking already but certainly more to come. It was remarked at the table that this was like a coiled spring and that is accurate. Great concentration and tension on the bruised apple finish. Once mature this could turn out a true belter!
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La Fête du Champagne Grand Tasting (Pier Sixty - New York NY): Walk around tasting. Berry hints behind orchard fruit with good weight and toasted baguette. Rich throughout with rounded textures. While I certainly enjoyed this wine, I hate to admit that I'm less enamored with this wine than most other people seem to be.
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No notes taken. From memory this show grace over underlying power. Some spice and autolytic notes. There seems to be some concern about aging Bollinger these days but I'll take my chances as I like more mature notes in my top end Champagne. This is a pup for my palate but more expressive than many this close to release.
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71% Pinot Noir and 29% Chardonnay taken across 18 crus. Finished with an eight grams per liter dosage. Disgorged 10/18
Wonderful aromas show notes of chamomile, bruised apple, oxidized white peach and pear, dried white flowers, baguette, fresh baked biscuits and chalk with hints of sea spray and honeycomb. Very reminiscent of a delicate Manzanilla. The palate shows a super-fine mousse with tiny pinprick bubbles. Great weight and viscosity with a creamy texture. Flavors show intensity repeating the nose with its bruised apple, white orchard fruits, dried white flowers, chamomile, biscuit and baguette notes that lead into the chalky minerality and almond tones. The finish is unending showing the depth and broadness of this wine. Young- but sometimes you owe it to yourself!
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Champagne and Sushi (Nakamori): Served too warm in a warm restaurant, the class of this bottle still shone through. This wine is balanced, sophisticated, and nuanced. I would love to drink this again under more ideal circumstances.
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Opened to celebrate England winning the cricket world cup. Can't remember much about it due to the excitement of the cricket but I do remember it being super smooth and super nice. What a game of cricket. BUZZING.
A muscular champagne that is just a beast right now and is clearly built and ready for a long, long evolutionary life ahead. Now its filled with punchy, super tight and racy wine that has a chalky feel and a mineral tinged demeanor. Now its super clean and fresh and though I don't eat caviar, I see this being a perfect companion to something mild, rich, and oily. I can't wait to see this develop nuttiness in 10 years or so....I am going to buy more of this and simply forget about them. Drinkable now but worth a big HOLD
This bottle was disappointing. Orchard fruit notes with a dominant cheesy, almost gouda-like, overtone that I found distracting. The palate is much more what I expected however, so brings my score up a bit. Fine bead. Apple, honeyed citrus, dried yeast and marzipan flavors. Good length.
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On the nose: Red apple, wet wool, some hint of fudge On the palate: Almost tutti frutti, gooseberry, very fresh and balanced. Good acidity. Medium + finish 91-94
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First try of this vintage, still very young and not open for business, nevertheless its a big champagne and will have a great future. 94 for todays performance
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Wonderful flavours of green apple, lemon curd, minerality, with some nutty flavours. Flavours become more expressive after 15-30 minutes of aeration. Very enjoyable now, will certainly get better.
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2008 Champagne horizontal (Medlar (London)): For most/all at the table this was the wine of the flight. Dry, nutty, mineral, some faint sherry tones, very long. When revealed we agreed that this is terrific value and it truly performed at prestige cuvee level. I was a bit anxious to see how this would show as I bought a few cases and I was very pleased to see this champagne drank blind to be Grande Annee. I look forward to my bottles in the future. Will only get better with age surely but already today a fantastic experience. If you don't already own this go and grab a case.
Bright mid gold color, immediate bursting out attractive aroma of red apple, apricot, honey, smoked almond, sweet ginger and cinnamon, yeasty and toasty. Vibrant and zesty on palate, very intense yet focus flavours melting in the mouth with added oxidative and mineral notes on top the already complex flavours. Superb! So approchable now already. Among the best 08 Champagnes. 97+
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This is amazing stuff. Nose is totally effusive, with candied green apple, lemon curd, with incredible depth. Just fantastic purity and weight on the palate. Dosage is not detectable to me. William Kelley got this one right. 97+
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84% GC, the remainder 1er Cru. 100% barrel fermented. A very elegant approach. Light sugar cookie and lemon curd to the palate. Really mouth-watering. Classic and elegant, not too bombastic. Lemon biscuit palate.
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Compared to a Selosse, this one was a clear second. Still in oxidative style, which my palate definitely tends to lean towards, yet in my opinion less apparent than the Selosse. Small bubbles, citrus, lemon and lime. Seemed a little creamier and mouth coating towards the front and dried to a zesty mineral-rich finish. I honestly think this one needs to lay down for 5 years before attempting it again. But very nice right now as well. Definitely would not kick it out of bed for eating crackers, but if I had an extensive cellar of Champagne including this one, I would leave this one right where it was!
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Dracks under en halvblind provning av Bollinger Grande Année 02, 03, 04, 07 och 08.
Ljusast i färgen av alla och mycket bubblor. Jag upplevde doften som mycket behagligare och mildare än 03. Andra kände desto mer som t.ex. citrus. Härligt brus i munnen, massor av Granny Smith-äpplen och hög syra. Andra omdömen var röda/gröna vaxade och saftiga äpplen, citrus, krita, chardonnay, blommigt och en friskare stil. Klart att den går att dricka nu om man gillar väldigt hög syra men jag tycker att den ska ligga i många år till.
Jag gissade på 08 och det gjorde alla andra med. Ingen hade den som favorit.
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Young yellow color with tiny compact bubbles. Lots and lots of citrus & lime zest, some toast, butter-scotch and lots of fresh acidity. Balanced but not fully developed. Far from it.
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Misc Wines - By Kasper (@MichaelsPlace): Lovely brioche and coffee flavors mixed with a lovely red/green apple touch. There is some sweetness to the fruit but the wine itself seems quite dry. There are some white flowers and some grapefruit bitterness. Very fresh and an extreme acidity. Great wine but still very young. 94-95p
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Served blind and people (including i) was guessing much older, this is a bit flat, very mineral, not corked, but very odd - and this one was exactly like the first one, we opened at the release-tasting. Three bottles tasted now, only one performed ... tsk tsk #FormelB
Bursting with creamy fruit, this is actually already approachable - but of course far from open and showing, what it can do; full bodied with butter and citrus, lively acidity and great balance. #FormelB
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4/11/2024 - beatles wrote: 94 Points
Tightened since three years ago, very concentated with citrus galore. Layered with both minerals and hints of brioche, but seems to be closing down - several bottles served and tasted - same impression.
#Schur
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3/9/2024 - LT98 wrote: 97 Points
My score reflects the wine's potential. Drinking like a 93 today. Very young, fresh, restrained bubbles, mineral (almost chalk) flavors. Apple and pear. Needs time. Check back in 5 years. This will be a great wine one day.
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3/7/2024 - LWI wrote: 92 Points
Torsdagsklubben: Fransk boksmat: Moden, svakt nøtteaktig og med noe kamfer, mektig vin. Overraskende langtkommen.
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3/1/2024 - vvWine.ch wrote: 95 Points
Kräftiges Gelb, dezente, feine Perlage. Die Nase ist steinig, mineralisch, dahinter mehliger Apfel, Brotrinde, Walnuss, auch zitrische Noten. Im Gaumen reichhaltig, opulent, ein Mund voll Wein, viel Druck, top strukturiert, balanciert, finessenreich und sehr lang im Abgang... Ziemlich grosses Champagner-Kino.
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2/26/2024 - Frank Murray III wrote:
Champagne In My Backyard (My House): October 2018 disgorgement. I think about 8 grams of dosage, and about 2/3rds Pinot Noir and the rest Chard. Initially this started out very juicy, with lots of yellow apple and an impressive concentration with some moderate structure that came through the finish, along with pastry. I mentioned to Astrid that I thought there was a nice kick of ginger here too but she had a reframe of thinking that it was likely from the oak. Overall, this showed an opulence and richness with spicy oak that was very good. After a few hours, I tried some more and found more of the acid, a creamy lime and some stone. Gotta say, this is damn good and hard to put down the glass and not keeping drinking it.
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2/25/2024 - IrisTable wrote:
Something new & something familiar (FMIII backyard): October 2018 disgorgement. 70% PN, 30% Chard. Initially like a juicy red apple that you have just bitten into. Very concentrated, long finish, dosage is perfect balance with the fruit. As it warmed and/or got more air, it evolved to something akin to caramel apple and a bit of a pastry note. The toasty notes also developed – what Cris called “crème brulée.” I had the 2012 last year and I think the 2008 can use even more time than the 2012.
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2/25/2024 - grafstrb wrote:
Champagne at FMIII's: -- October 2018 disgorgement --
-- 71% Pinot Noir, 29% Chardonnay --
I was excited to try this one, too, as this was my first regular Grand Annee (I’ve had the rose a few times, and absolutely love that one). This featured a sweetish Nose that initially came across as a bit soapy; it gained in richness with air over a few hours. On the palate, this came across as a complete wine, but without being heay-handed. Some oak was noticeable, and this aspect did become a touch more pronounced with air, but never became bothersome. As with the other ‘08s in the lineup, this came across as young: no autolytic notes at all, really. This was neck-and-neck with the ’08 Philipponnat as my WOTD. If you have multiple bottles, and haven’t checked-in yet, or in a while, it’s worth popping one now. But if you’ve been sitting on this, with the intention of drinking once it has developed some meaningful tertiary notes --- sorry --- you need to keep waiting.
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2/25/2024 - WetRock wrote:
Double Fisted Champagne at Frank's: Checking Recent Buys AND Something Drinking Great Now (Frank Murray's Casa): Big thanks to Brian for bringing this. One of my favorite wines when its on and I've been wondering how my '08's are doing. They are doing pretty damn good I'd say. Pretty nose showing biscuit and apple. Not quite wide open yet. Bright, juicy palate with lovely, chalky acids. This didn't really carry the autolytic textures I usually look for but again, so good I quickly forgot. I poured a glass to watch as we went through the other wines. The nose didn't take much longer to open up into a dessert place, especially in a creme brulee sort of way. Terrific.
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1/2/2024 - 5laton wrote:
Nice developing richness and depth, showing more of the Bolly oxidative patina than when I last tasted this in 2019. For current drinking however, I found this lacking some complexity. I'll wait a few years before opening another.
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12/31/2023 - Inforred Likes this wine: 91 Points
New Year’s Eve bubbly. Straw color, medium bubbles, crisp clean taste with pear and apple notes. Medium finish. Quite likable, but ultimately not memorable. And not great qpr
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12/31/2023 - calypse wrote: 92 Points
Intense nose of roasted hazelnuts. Elegant on the palate with an oxidative touch. Delicate and with good length, but lacking that certain something.
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12/25/2023 - Gian wrote: 92 Points
Is still young but you can start to understand the potential. Drunk in a couple of hours it have developed nicely. To try again after 3 years
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12/25/2023 - CHarder Likes this wine: 94 Points
Great champagne. Entering drinking window. Full, fresh, nutty and brioche - but very balanced.
+10yrs ahead here.
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12/17/2023 - VBar Likes this wine: 96 Points
A truly top shelf champagne
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12/16/2023 - AudunG wrote: 94 Points
More developed and a lot better than four years ago, when it was rather muted. Deliciously aromatic and complex with dense yellow fruit aromas. Dense and concentrated on the palate, but in a more elegant style than many earlier vintages.
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12/16/2023 - tobyc Likes this wine: 93 Points
Dusty, straw colour. Light bouquet with green apples. Dry and with a hint of sweetness, lemon and apples. Good depth and complexity and fine length finish. Excellent. Really good right now. You can always keep, but you could also drink.
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12/7/2023 - Raage Likes this wine:
(CDV)
Pas en place, bien trop jeune, encore marqué par l'elevage, il nous a semblé artificiel et désuni, surtout comparé au très harmonieux Dom Pérignon de la même année.
Personnellement, je l'aurais d'emblée associé à une viande blanche pour le dompter (fruits rouges, boisé, puissance/acidité) ou ... mis en cave encore 4/5 ans minimum.
Il en a sous le pied.
91/94
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12/2/2023 - James Kim Likes this wine: 91 Points
Open for 20 min. Aromas of tart apples, minerals, herbs and a hint of yeast/brioche. Palate with apples, minerals and herbs. Excellent acids. This is still young and tight but also with excellent potential. Just needs more time. 91 for now but with certainly room for significant increase once the wine relaxes.
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10/5/2023 - Kim Gerner wrote: 97 Points
2008 top champagnes - horisontal wine tasting dinner (Rest MG (kg arr)): Second 2008 horisontal champagne half blind tasting dinner. First time June 2021. Back then the vintage was extremely youthful. How is it now? An almost unbelievable development in just 2 years. As a wine enthusiast I must simply surrender. I was skeptical about the drinkability at this point for this extreme vintage. That skepticism was proven wrong. 2008 can definitely be enjoyed now. For me, it's one of my really great tasting experiences. And there has certainly been many... Add to that, the vintage is only in its initial stage of maturation and therefore still youthful but extremely charming and open. I really look forward to tasting the 2008 vintage once a year in the coming many years experiencing the tertiary notes develop.
This was the positive surprise of the evening and my 2008 favourite. Not expected. On the horisontal tasting in 2021 it was disappointing. Now it was close to extraordinary with beginning a little tertiary notes of dried fruit. 7 out of my 9 participants scored it 95 or more. My rating based on performance right now 97+
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9/29/2023 - Collector1855 wrote: 96 Points
2008 Champagne - 25 top names tasted blind: Expressive nose here with tertiary aromas around pinto spice. Medium+ bodied palate, some dosage but appropriately dry, like a toned down version of Winston Churchill in all aspects. Good finish. After revealing it was interesting to see that the Bollinger Grand Annee was the more feminine wine compared to the Bollinger RD.
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9/24/2023 - Philippe_C wrote: 96 Points
Superbe nez brioche, biscuit, pas de verdeur... Très rond, pas d'amertume, belle longueur délicieuse, très approchable.
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9/11/2023 - zimmy07 Likes this wine: 94 Points
By far the most approachable 2008 compared to Dom, Cristal, Taittinger Comtes and Krug. This has a touch of sweetness, with crisp apple, honeydew, and toasted brioche. Still think it has many more years left on this, but a great example of how good 2008 is and it is approachable unlike the others listed. Bolly GA are maybe the best price to quality in Champagne. These are great vintage in and vintage out!
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9/2/2023 - thewiz Likes this wine: 93 Points
Gourmetklubbens femtiosjätte middag (A+N, Sundbyberg): (Disgorged in June 2018, 71% Pinot Noir and 29% Chardonnay, dosage 8 gr/L)
Still youthful nose showing red apples, a tropical citrus touch and some biscuits in a very pleasant way. Nice and smooth with a butterscotch note and showing lots of citrus acidity and with a lovely buttery touch on the finish showing French nougat
(Best 2018-2038)
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8/15/2023 - manemis Likes this wine: 94 Points
White peach, melent apple, small and delicate bubbles, super clean and balanced
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8/2/2023 - graemeg wrote:
NobleRottersSydney - 2010 & prior (Fix, St James, Sydney): {cork, 12%} [Gordon] Beautiful brioche nose. A creamy sort of toast – really intoxicating! On the palate lots of yeast, bread, biscuit, but avoids cheesiness. That said, the palate isn’t quite as fresh as the nose suggested. Hefty style, medium/full in weight, with medium-sized creamy bubbles and a medium/long, crunchy and even finish. Impressive stuff which seems right in the drinking window to me.
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7/21/2023 - cristalmania0813 Likes this wine: 93 Points
pear nose
low acidity
medium finish
smooth and sensitive champagne
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7/19/2023 - Bakerbd Likes this wine: 95 Points
Red apple, stone fruit, caramel waffle, brioche, very fine bead
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7/18/2023 - lolo66 wrote:
4 years later and this has put on depth - still wound tightly and needs some air to strut its stuff
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6/16/2023 - guitarkim Likes this wine: 94 Points
Utrolig velbalansert, fine bobler, frisk syre og med god fylde, konsentrasjon og lett sødme i frukten. Bakst og autolyse, epler og hint av sitron, honning og mineralitet. Laaang.
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5/15/2023 - aquacongas wrote: 95 Points
not blind
Fresh, pure, precise, still on the vibrating lemon side, no chocolate. Many years ahead, not the depth and finesse of the R.D. 2008. 95
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4/18/2023 - Travislee0113 Likes this wine: 93 Points
Served at Zalto white glass, this one was sleeping, with no bursting bouquet and no sourness on the palate. It took time to become a Grande Annee finally. After half an hour, I felt brioche, honey in the nose, and balanced but powerful juice on the palate.
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4/13/2023 - merlotsmile wrote: 94 Points
BYOB Vinklubben Vinminnen 15: Vinminnen 15
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4/10/2023 - Chris Davies Likes this wine: 92 Points
Very rich and toasty. Broad. Lovely, very long and concentrated . 4+
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3/17/2023 - aquacongas Likes this wine: 96 Points
semiblind, Tasting of 16 big 2008's
11th wine of the night. I had the R.D. 2008 3 days ago, so I hoped to detect it but I couldn't. Very impressive champagne. Very balanced, not too sweet, powerful as a Selosse. One of the biggest surprises. A touch ahead of Vilmart's Coeur de Cuvee. 96
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2/22/2023 - DaButtah Likes this wine: 96 Points
If you ever wondered what berries & Chantilly cream
wrapped in an ephemeral layer of shimmering gold
gossamer tastes like, you're in luck! This is heady stuff
and someone needs to tell them to turn the machines
back on already because the world needs more.
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2/15/2023 - rocknroller wrote: 95 Points
Light gold color. Drank a glass plus over an hour. This has an aggressive, fine bead, with a very bright nose with all the pretty green orchard fruit you want enhanced by white flowers, yeast, earthy dough, and that crystalline, almost tickly minerality on the nose. The purity and definition and intensity comes through in spades on the palate. I love the stony minerality, light toast, creamy texture, balance and freshness. A superb La Grand Annee in the early drinking window. 94+ to 95(+)pts.
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2/13/2023 - tedcholl Likes this wine: 94 Points
By far the best and most expensive Champagne I've ever drank and so different than any other I've had. Bruised red apples, slightly oxidative, toasted oak, minerals, brioche and mushrooms. Powerful, complex, and elegant and gave me a new expanded understanding of what a top Champagne can be like.
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1/24/2023 - Cman89503 Likes this wine: 98 Points
Best champagne I ever recall. Been a few years as of this writing but I remember opening the bottle without much of a pop and the cork seemed small too me but what did I know except that the elixir inside was sublime with mushrooms and brioche on the nose. It was….perfect. At least the first 750ml bottle. We got a 1.5 l the following year and it wasn’t as good as the first tbh. Outstanding and great splurge!
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1/22/2023 - mflesh wrote:
Last time I opened one of these was almost 4 years ago. I read it at 94. I think I probably would rate this bottle at least two or three points lower. Something's going on with this one. I think that it might be starting perhaps a period of slumber as there was a clear hole somewhere in the middle of this wine. Still quite oxidative in style, and for what it is, still an extremely powerful champagne. If you have a lot of these, and they are still actually very young, I would probably hold them. Like, hold them all. LGA is my favorite of the Bolly lineup, but the NV Special Cuvee Brut would definitely compete with this one right now. This is a powerful champagne that is built to withstand decades of aging and development. I wish I had a few more of these to see how they develop, as I really truly feel that this one was going into hibernation. It might have really gone well with some food, which was also lacking here in this instance.
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12/17/2022 - Mario17 Likes this wine: 93 Points
Excellent 2008 encore une fois, fin, frais, très classe, bulles parfaites, juste assez de vineux et riche, sans exces, long et savoureux. 93-94
Great 2008 once more, balanced, crisp, rich, no excess, tight classy bubbles.
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11/24/2022 - ThijsV Likes this wine: 92 Points
BYOB dinner NOTK (Supernova hotel, Rotterdam): Great champagne, would have loved to spend a bit more time with this glass. Lovely mousse, slightly oxidative, brioche, dough, ripe citrus. Long finish. 92-93
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10/24/2022 - SimonS wrote: 93 Points
We both loved this. Young and vigorous, but balanced and deliciously drinkable. Feels like it has a lot of development to come.
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10/16/2022 - NickA Likes this wine: 92 Points
Probably the least exciting bottle yet, although certainly impressive, especially about 30 mins after opening. Plenty of acidity - still felt predominantly youthful and unevolved. Steely lemon, smoke, grilled pineapple (delicious), grilled nuts, a touch of cream.
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10/15/2022 - MC2 Wines Likes this wine:
Pre-dinner bubbles talking house renovations which I won't say is our favorite topic but is very timely for us at the moment. This is young and crisp and almost like a slightly tart apple and well coiled and lots of time to go but still enjoyable right now. Paired with an artichoke dip and it was a great combination. Just the right start to the evening.
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10/4/2022 - BillyT wrote: 93 Points
Drank for my son's baptism. Better than the 04 but not the 02. Excellent, however, in its own right.
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9/20/2022 - Rani Likes this wine: 92 Points
Notes of brioche, yellow peaches. Structured and ripe but balanced by acidity and a very fine mousse.
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9/9/2022 - darrennelson12 Likes this wine: 93 Points
Quite nice .. picked up while on vacation to drink. Nice light body, some subtle butter and citrus notes … green apple comes out around 60 minites in. Nice bottle, but could use a little. Ore time, glad we have a few of these at home in the cellar
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7/25/2022 - Atlanticjewel wrote: 98 Points
This is superb champagne if you ask me. The brioche/caramel smell is so bold on the nose right out the gate and just gets richer and richer as it collides with oxygen. Probably at its drinking peak 60-90 minutes in for mine when the green apple starts to shine through. Really takes you away to a happy place.
Truly delicious champagne and should only continue to get better.
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3/26/2022 - NoTrollingerPlease Likes this wine: 94 Points
2001 Châteauneuf-du-Pape (Restaurant Waldhorn, Kirchheim, Germany): Drunk right after the 2004 RD. The 2008 to me is finer and more elegant. Very young, almost too young, but also lovely already. Not as bone dry as the RD, a bit sweeter. But also with great pressure and tension and a wonderful fine Mousseux, fine citrus, apple notes and a very good length. I really like it!
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1/15/2022 - Collector1855 wrote: 94 Points
The richness of Bollinger and the raciness of the 2008 should make for a great combination. Unfortunately the wine is still closed, some shy citrus notes and white flowers. Decanting helped a bit, the aromas were slightly more pronounce after 1h, but there was still not much generosity on the palate, the Bollinger lushness missing. May be this will develop more into a citrus led mature Chard with beady notes. We'll see. Drinks 94 today, with potential for one or two more points. Best after 2028.
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1/9/2022 - vespa110 wrote: 92 Points
Giallo paglierino, bolla fine, torrefazione, leggera sensazione lievitosa, frutta gialla, crema limone, bocca fresca, dritto, bolla fine, salino, finale leggermente ossidato dritto. Può evolvere, interessante ma non sublime.
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12/11/2021 - jviz wrote: 97 Points
Is this what I have to look forward to?? If so, I'm very happy about it. Showing amazing, with broad, smudged green apple notes, expansive, elegant with profound intensity and a little je ne sais quois. This is the bomb (still).
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12/3/2021 - MWiking wrote: 96 Points
börjar öppna upp och har verkligen kommit ut bra. Redan fantastiskt gott, blir spännande att följa detta vin
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10/27/2021 - atbarbar Likes this wine: 91 Points
A firm structure for this 2008, Mushrooms and spices with lots of minerality. Whereas the 2012 vintage is not ready, still a lot of wood, this vintage appears to be a bit more mature, with the wood more integrated and delivering spices to the wine,
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10/16/2021 - NickA Likes this wine: 93 Points
Another great bottle. Really well-balanced, both easy and incisive, ample (moreish, mouthwatering) acidity and a particularly overt aroma of sweetish dough. Maybe a touch over-dosed for my palate, but excellent overall.
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8/6/2021 - gharter Likes this wine: 94 Points
A great anniversary wine. Fine bubbles. Wonderful aroma with apple, ginger, yeast, almond, apple, lemon curd, and apricot. Rich flavor, beautiful balance. Apple, dried ginger, yeast, almond, lemon, apricot. smooth lingering finish. Still young, good now , but plenty of promise to come.
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7/15/2021 - Winelover8282 Likes this wine: 99 Points
Finally at my sisters birthday we opened a bottle of this beauty. And what a champagne it is, for me this is as close to perfection a champagne can come, I think it will get there with some more ageing. This champagne has so much energy and focus but at the same time such a spectrum of flavours. Im glad I have 11 bottles left and I will be buying a lot more and recommend everybody stacking up of this champagne before the price increases. The only negative about this champagne is that Bollinger didn't make enough of it.
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7/10/2021 - AllRed wrote: 93 Points
Bastille Day dinner (R&D's): Excellent. Compared to the Bazin, this is rich and toasty, with apple, dried ginger, yeast and roasted almond notes. Fine bead. Flavors of apple, lemon and almond.
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7/9/2021 - Puteljen! Likes this wine: 93 Points
Still quite young. Well balanced. Fresh, some bread, stonefruit, citrus.
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6/23/2021 - Cailles wrote: 94 Points
Informal dinner, no notes taken. This clearly improved vs a bottle a year ago. It gained concentration and poise and became more harmonious with a tad less edges and a better integrated acidity. While pleasent, the wine doesn’t have the complexity yet to truly wxcite and reach the 95+ category but it should get there with more age. I would wait a few years.
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6/17/2021 - Kim Gerner wrote: 90 Points
2008 top champagnes - horisontal wine tasting dinner (Rest PG (kg arr)): Blossom notes and a little tutti-fruity. Extremely youthful and a little rustic at the moment. Rated 97/100 by Wine Advocate. For me, difficult to understand. On the other hand my rating is based on performance right now and it will undoubtedly develop more complex notes in the coming years. If I only had one btl. I would definitely wait at least 5 years.
I have 24 in the cellar so I have the opportunity over the coming years to see whether it is just a question of development.
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5/23/2021 - Jozefs wrote: 94 Points
Wait wait wait.
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5/7/2021 - beatles wrote: 94 Points
Has broadened. Showing, butter, brioche, truffels. Mousse alive, if not lively. Very deep and long, a manly champagne.
#DSB1st#JUJ
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3/27/2021 - wlayne Likes this wine: 94 Points
Drank over lunch at Blackberry Farm, absolutely delicious. Drink or hold
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3/21/2021 - Mbad77 wrote:
Not assigning a score as it would be lower than perhaps it deserves. The finish is still a bit sharp and displays its youth. Initially there is an odd flavour profile on the back end of mid towards finish. Couldn’t quite place it but it did seem to dissipate. I think it just needs a year or two more in bottle to round and soften / integrate a little more but time will surely tell.
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3/20/2021 - merlotsmile wrote: 93 Points
Stor doft av gula (lite bokna) äpplen, nästan äppelmust, grillad citron, ingefära, ett uns honung, kryddor, nötter, rostade toner, lite rökig mineralitet, lite brödiga toner i bakgrunden. Den har verkligen en stor, komplex, djup doft med lager på lager känsla
I munnen frisk syra. Den känns inte lika utvecklad här, men hittar grillad citrus, kryddor, äpplen. Finishen är lång och kryddig. (deg jun 18)
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3/11/2021 - Ltim BE Likes this wine: 94 Points
Simply getting better and better.
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3/7/2021 - cadamson Likes this wine:
Fantastic bottle. Young, but already in a nearly perfect spot. very fresh and vibrant, yet still rich and creamy...
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2/6/2021 - d'Artagnan wrote: 95 Points
Nez finement brioché, des notes de pommes. Un champagne puissant, vineux, racé, très sec, d’une prestance exceptionnelle, avec une très longue finale saline. Il emplit la bouche, saisit toute notre attention, c’est un des meilleurs champagnes que j’ai pris. Grand vin. 95 pts
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2/1/2021 - Tim Heaton Likes this wine:
PnP. In a nice place now as it begins what is, to my palate, its preferred window. Good cut, vg balance, and cheeky length. Really fun right now, and I wish I had some in the cellar because this will be even better in the coming years. highly recommended
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1/31/2021 - aquacongas Likes this wine: 92 Points
not blind
I heard a lot of "good" things but my expectations get disappointed. First I served too chilled but it was too sweet. I love this powerful and lush vintage but the dosage was too high. We will se what the future brings with the balance. 91?
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1/20/2021 - SeattleKen Likes this wine:
Drank this far too early in the day but for obvious reasons. Nose is brioche and apples that becomes chalky with breathing. Bubbles are fine. On the palate, the same notes come through together with ginger/nutmeg notes. Finish is long and echoes brioche, white fruit, chalk, and dry hazelnuts. I like how that chalky/nutty quality comes through more strongly with breathing. As amazing as it is, it’s really clear that it’s only a glimpse of its potential.
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1/1/2021 - Joseph Grassa Likes this wine:
a nose of freshly baked sourdough with a bit of apple. The sourdough persists into the palate, but is overcome quickly by green apples, pears, ginger, and a subtle sweet cream shifting towards a finish where the fruit recedes outside of a bit of lemon and lemon peel, which is rounded out again by this incredible sourdough. The nuance is incredible. I am not a champagne drinker, but this wine makes me question why I am not.
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1/1/2021 - murkybird Likes this wine: 94 Points
Really jumps from the glass with orange peel, ginger, and a spice note. Will it improve? Probably, but absolutely no shame in drinking now. It is firing.
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12/31/2020 - dbkitc wrote: 93 Points
A baby, but a beautiful one. Coiled and shy right now but one can sense the energy within. Fairly light straw color is followed by a nose of raw yeast, chalk and fresh pressed pear. Good extract on the palate but again a bit unforthcoming. Should be incredible in a few years though I had hoped for a bit more tonight. (93++)
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12/29/2020 - evold89 Likes this wine: 95 Points
Delicate gold in color.
Delicious and aromatic on the nose. The wine is rich and fruity showing delicious green apple, yellow stone fruits, toast, some spice and a lovely touch of chalky minerality. Classic slightly oxidative bolly nose.
On the palate it shows power and elegance. Broad and with a lovely richness, but in the spirit of 2008s, it maintains a brilliant purity and focus. Excellent concentration and a tightly wound core. Full-bodied with a chalky and mineral finish with hint of citrus (grapefruit). Lovely soft mousse. Very good length.
Lovely now, but looking forward to how this develops. Around 94+ points with upside (94-96 points). Rated 95
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12/26/2020 - Tony T Likes this wine: 93 Points
Very nice already but will improve.
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12/22/2020 - fontaine wrote: 93 Points
Soirée de célébration ! Une belle bouteille. Brioche, pain grillé, crème pâtissière, citron. Une belle intensité. Mérite de vieillir.
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12/21/2020 - Ellenkf Likes this wine: 97 Points
amazing balance and depth - tart green apfel strudel with a dollop of cream on top. Oxidative in the best way. Subtle pastry dough and spice. The overall impression is a synthesis of weight and lift with loads of fresh red cherries, anise candy. An unflagging nose-tickling finish. Again, the balance is exquisite.
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11/10/2020 - CondorKhan wrote: 94 Points
First whiff is of freshly baked pastries. On the palate, red apple, lemon curd, candied ginger, and the distinctive Bollinger oxidative tang. Finishes off like warm brioche with lemon curd on top. This is almost like Vina Tondonia Blanco with bubbles.
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11/8/2020 - wineappellation Likes this wine: 96 Points
Consistent with my previous bottle.
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11/2/2020 - Purple Tooth wrote: 95 Points
I just dont understand all the attention DP is getting from 2008 cuve, when this is in the market. Obviously young, but a killer monster caterpillar that needs time to turn into a butterfly. Beauty! HOLD
CHALKY AND EUUUUGE!
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11/1/2020 - Cltjkirk Likes this wine: 93 Points
Picked this over Dom 2008 for $160 pre-tax. Complex champagne that you find a little different with every sip.
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10/10/2020 - NickA Likes this wine: 94 Points
A striking combination of fumy yeastiness, salinity, green apple, lemon and broad crème pat, finishing taut and long. It's lithe and flat-out delicious.
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10/10/2020 - Ltim BE Likes this wine: 94 Points
Fantastic bottle of champagne with a big future ahead.
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10/9/2020 - sirpat00 wrote: 97 Points
Nice toast and brioche as base notes complementing a fruit of pear and green apple as well as chalky mineral elements. A slightly sweet candid apricot touch on the palate was an amazing feature. Gains in intensity over time adding more citric freshness (kept the bottle chilled on ice). Later back to fully-fledged brioche mode. Terrific evolution. Paired with fresh oysters (Nr. 2 & 3) at home and once again it became clear that oysters and Champagne were made for each other! One of the best 2008 Champagnes I've tasted so far.
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10/9/2020 - Neras Likes this wine: 94 Points
All the right stuff is present, but it is not fully integrated yet. I guess there is more to come.
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9/8/2020 - Purple Tooth wrote: 95 Points
Big and stately. Chalky to a point of tasting a bit tannic. Very energetic and very powerful. To me, this is better than the 2008 Dom Perignon!...Drink or a very big HOLD
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9/1/2020 - jmoon Likes this wine: 94 Points
A solid 94. Still fairly tight but enjoyable fresh mouthfeel, loads of body but a bit hidden. I’m a fan of freshness vs full maturity so the lemon almond brioche it delivered tonight set us up for a great night. Reminds me what a bargain Dom 08 is as for a similar price that’s the far better wine.
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8/8/2020 - acyso wrote: 93 Points
Saturday hangout (socially distanced) (Chicago, IL): This is pretty tasty now, but it also doesn't feel like a wine that has the legs for extended aging; in fact, it's quite tasty now already. There's the racy acidity and intensity of 2008, but at the same time, the fruit on the palate feels fairly resolved. It's a relatively easygoing wine on the palate, which leads me to think this is for relatively early consumption; there's none of the structure you find in the 2008 Dom Pérignon or Cristal. At the end of the day, I'm buying equal dollar values of 2008 Dom Pérignon instead.
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7/14/2020 - zimmy07 Likes this wine: 94 Points
This is really good. Thickest mousse of any '08 champagne I have had and a fine, aggressive bead. Yeast and bread dominate the mid palate, but in a good way. Comes off a touch sweet, I have picked that up more in 2008. For example Dom drinks really sweet to me. This has vanilla, crisp apple and and a touch of strawberry. A bit young as it has some rough edges "razors", but far more approachable than many other 2008's. If you like a "doughy" champagne, this did it for me. For the price point, a really good champagne.
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7/10/2020 - Hanibal Likes this wine: 93 Points
Nice small bubbles...a nice mix of crumbled pastry and citrus zest...very long after taste. Still young...Worth cellaring
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7/8/2020 - graemeg wrote:
NobleRottersSydney - Mount Mary (Fix, St James, Sydney): {cork} In the usual style: yeasty, bakery-influenced, quite hefty nose, with roasted nuts all showing some development. The palate is solid and punchy, big but surprisingly youthful, dominated but ripe chardonnay fruit, medium/full weight, with medium-sized and quite powerful bubbles. Dry, with a medium length finish. Can stand a fair bit more age I’d say.
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6/19/2020 - jee27 wrote: 95 Points
Dégustation "Dreamers" chez Simon B. (Montréal, Canada): Superbe Champagne, un bouquet très frais et croustillant de fruits à chair blanche, citron, noix de grenoble et pain grillé. Très élégant avec une mousse très fine et belle concentration des arômes. Longue vie devant lui.
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6/19/2020 - BigTex22 Likes this wine: 95 Points
Ordered at Truluck’s for an anniversary dinner ($260). Young and vibrant with some nuttiness, brioche, and creamy lemon. Really well balanced and paired well with sea bass and ahi tuna. Struck me as still a very young wine with many years ahead and plenty of upside.
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6/16/2020 - wineappellation Likes this wine: 96 Points
Consistently one of the most open and welcoming vintage 08 Champagnes. Fine bubbles, lots of ripe and dried fruits, creamy, nutty, yeasty, smoky, round and zesty.
Utterly delicious!
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5/29/2020 - Aravind Asok wrote:
Disg 11/2018. Rich nose: vanilla toast, crystalline lemon, red raspberry and wild strawberry. On the palate, fantastic acidity, more crystallized strawberry, soft mousse, lovely palate density, lemon peel and pure lemon on the finish. Still very much a baby, but already stunning.
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5/21/2020 - jwsmith wrote: 94 Points
Really nice this big creamy was even better next day. Probably needs 5 years to improve.
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5/18/2020 - wineappellation Likes this wine: 96 Points
Blinded, crowd pleaser. All guessed better and older champagne. Ripe and concentrated apple jam, lemon, apricot and notes, smoky, hint of toast, honey and grilled nuts notes. Refreshing and delicious with fine beads of bubbles and linear structure. Already at great place now if you do not want to wait.
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5/13/2020 - Bruce 1er wrote: 95 Points
Elegant, vibrant, balanced, great fruit - especially crisp apples.
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4/20/2020 - Ennike wrote: 96 Points
A bit inexpressive and monolithic when opened. Much better on day 2. Broad and bold. Best to forget this for a few years I suppose. Great Champagne.
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4/5/2020 - Cailles wrote: 93 Points
Another nice 2008 Champagne which certainly needs more time to mellow and become more expressive. Promising but not yet there. I particularly like the purity of the aromas with a wonderful, fresh green apple as the highlight but a few steps behind the best 2008s I‘ve tried so far in terms of complexity (DP, Cristal) and finesse (Cristal). I see it in the same category as the Egly Ouriet 08 which has the edge from a structure/texture standpoint but is less interesting from an aroma perspective. 93 points with some upside.
TN: Fresh golden apple, some yellow fruit, citrus, slight brioche and hints of minerality. Medium expressive, good precision, good weight and length but not as soft, creamy and inviting as it should be. Despite rather fine perlage this still feels a bit angular.
Decanting: Improved significantly with some air - this needs some decanting. I will wait at least 5 more years before opening the next bottle.
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4/3/2020 - The Guzz Likes this wine: 93 Points
Bold apple/orchard fruit. Needs time to open. Very fresh with impressive size and length. Nothing not to like.
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3/21/2020 - sonodoc Likes this wine: 92 Points
I'd have to agree with others who have said really good, but not great.
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3/9/2020 - canan wrote: 93 Points
Lots of green and red apples with a lovely touch of yeast and a piercing acidity.
It is a bit muted at the moment and really benefits from some air. But it doesn't take long for it to open up.
A wonderful edition of this wine and there is lots to love. If you like the more sweet and broad style. I loved it. 93-94p
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2/9/2020 - hajoha wrote: 95 Points
Bollinger GA 2008.
Wow!
Strålende intensitet med fantastisk frukt som velter ut av glasset.
Parfymert med pen mineralitet.
Perfekt mousse, sublim fruktkvalitet.
Spenst som Jens Weissflog.
Intens og pirrende samtidig som den har en formfull rikhet.
Konsentrert og ren - meget elegant.
Ingen skam å drikke dette nå, men vil sannsynligvis lagre lenge.
Presis og stram i utgangen med meget lang ettersmak.
Brer seg flott ut med nydelig mineralitet.
Beste ferske GA smakt. 95p
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2/5/2020 - fotomill Likes this wine: 93 Points
Very classic Champagne, with ripeness and freshness combined.
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1/27/2020 - NickA Likes this wine: 93 Points
2008 Fizz n Chips (Masters Superfish): Consensus WOTN. Notable texture and finesse are a cut above. Some biscuity savour already, but more to come.
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1/25/2020 - AudunG wrote: 92 Points
Notes of red berries. Smooth and elegant with fine mousse. Still young with some sweet fruit. A bit muted and not so exiting at the moment. But the wine has good depth and intensity, so I guess this is getting better in some years.
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1/24/2020 - dcwino wrote: 92 Points
Marchand & Tawse / Pascal Marchand Dinner (Chloe, DC): Medium expressive nose displaying subtle yellow fruit with a hint of white, apple, fresh lemon juice, pear tart and a hint of sourdough. Medium concentration, subtle slightly sour yellow and white fruit, very fine but very shy mousse, good acidity and medium mineral and a medium long slightly sour finish. This feels fragile and slightly angular and lacks energy and concentration of the other 08 Tete de Cuvees. Alan comments that it seems a lot more mature and I agree. I typically agree with Antonio but not on this one. I need to try another bottle soon.
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1/24/2020 - pakabear Likes this wine: 92 Points
I didn't enjoy this nearly as much as the Winston Churchill we had along side of it. Good fruit, apple, pear, lichee, somewhat dry on the mid-palate that took away from the balance I was expecting. Probably will be much better with 5-10 more on it.
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1/24/2020 - Burgundy Al wrote:
Young Marchand-Tawse Wine Dinner: Not even close to as enjoyable as the wine tasted a few months back. This had good depth, but such a tart character from its middle through finish that I found it nearly shrill and barely enjoyable. An off bottle?
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1/18/2020 - jviz wrote: 95 Points
Latter 1/3 of a bottle that had been opened about 2 hours. Consumer at cellar temp in a riedel cab glass. This has tightened up and the edges have sharpened since I tried it last year. Acidity is coming to the forefront and green apple notes seem to dominate. Texture is still tete de cuvee quality. I think this wine is pure class but wouldn’t suggest to open any more from your home cellar for several years as it seems to be coiling up.
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1/15/2020 - N.Bonaparte wrote: 92 Points
20 min in glass. First thoughts were not as good as the 08 Dom Perignon or 08 Veuve grande dame. This has decent balance but finish is underwhelming. Don’t get me wrong, this is good juice but for $30 more 08 Dom or Grande dame or even the 164th Krug which has the 08 base are just so much more satisfying. This will age forever and it’s probably a decade away from its prime.
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1/14/2020 - KJO wrote: 93 Points
excellent.
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1/11/2020 - Zweder wrote: 92 Points
“Best Bottle” tasting in Fitzgerald, Rotterdam. (By JvT @ Fitzgerald): Really good bubble, but not mind blowing. Good freshness and acidity. No more notes.
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1/11/2020 - Peter Z. wrote: 92 Points
Magnum
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1/3/2020 - jerhardt Likes this wine: 92 Points
Really nice. Light on its feet, focused, and very well balanced. Not as pure as a recent ‘08 Cristal, but nor should that be a completely fair comparison. Will be excited to follow this over the years.
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1/2/2020 - Gemmink Likes this wine: 90 Points
Good wine but not really like this style, to much pinot for me
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1/1/2020 - tomoem Likes this wine: 92 Points
Wow ready to drink and rich wine. Needs to be served warmer. Ripe berry some red apple and pine nut flavors. Refined and balanced this makes a really good wine. On the finish this wine reveals fatty nuts and even possible pine nuts. Hard to dislike.
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12/27/2019 - Bagerhat wrote: 90 Points
90 points at this time. Tasted Up against krug 166eme, argonne 08, egly-ouriet 07. Bollinger LGA 08 definately didn't live up to krug and especially not argonne (which was kind of expected).
It developed a quite interesting note og vanilla after a few hours, but otherwise led the thoughts to a normal Apple juice with boubles... Lga 05 and 07 are much more mature and exciting at this point, and I hope lga 08 follows down the same path, and develops a more interesting taste.
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12/27/2019 - Bobhelge wrote: 94 Points
Annual Delayed Christmas Day Tasting: Extremely vivid and elegant. La Grande Annee ’08 joins the club of excellent 2008 Champagnes. Starts off with pure yeast then fresh baked bread, green apple, citrus and later dried figs. Steely on the edges, mineralic slate and a fresh finish.
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12/24/2019 - harpercn Likes this wine: 95 Points
Infanticide at the moment, but this is superb Champagne. Amazing depth, complexity and length. The citrus astringency will soften with years. Patience now required.
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12/21/2019 - Aravind Asok wrote:
Just a baby, but another of my wines of the night. Lovely nose with peach, lemon, lime, vanilla. On the palate, glorious acidity, so lively. More peach. So lifted on the nose and palate. Stunning.
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12/18/2019 - Danneskjöld wrote: 94 Points
Duft av modne epler. Svakt av bakverk.
Tett og konsentrert smak av moden frukt. Nydelig kremete tekstur med delikat og frisk syrestruktur. Lang fersk utgang med tydelig tørrstoffer.
Nydelig. Drukket med Nicolai og Haakon.
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12/15/2019 - francois999 wrote: 95 Points
best vintage after 1990
WOW
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12/7/2019 - Goldstone Likes this wine: 93 Points
Degustation Dinner & Wine at Amador, Vienna (Amadors Wirtshaus, Grinzinger Str. 86, 1190 Wien, Austria): Drank a glass as an aperitif from the wine list at Amador, Vienna. Light gold. Small bubbles. Nose is sharp and razor-precise. Palate is similar Pinot driven razor precision on entry then a BLAM of deeper straw-driven Chardonnay. Big finish! Kept putting on weight and depth until 3 hours in the glass when the final drops soured. 93 easy.
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12/7/2019 - Zweder wrote: 92 Points
Occasional dinner group. Keller, Coche Dury, Guigal La Landonne plus some ringers. (By PVa @ Monarh in Tilburg, The Netherlands): The bouquet shows some nuts and brioche. Same on the palate, good acidity and a bit drying. Very youthful.
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12/1/2019 - RolfT Likes this wine: 93 Points
Blind. Notes from memory.
Im usually not a big fan of newly released champagne, but must say that this was a beautiful champagne already. Like the 2008 Dom Perignon already very accessible. Extremely well balanced. 93+
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11/25/2019 - peternelson wrote: 93 Points
Clear brilliant yellow; fresh yellow peach, peach pit, touch of oak, very ethereal, precise, elegant yet powerful. So young, so 2008, rich but bright, high acid, tight. Needs a few years. Capital Seafood for DD.
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11/19/2019 - wineappellation Likes this wine: 97 Points
2nd bottle. Let it open up and warm in glass. Voluptuous, energetic, ready to drink despite its youth. Ripe red apple, red berries and orchard fruits, smoky and nutty, yeasty, wet stone like minerlas, hint of oxidative notes make it feel more developed. Expansive and intense mid palate yet long and refined. Crowd pleaser.
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11/12/2019 - BenBlu Likes this wine: 95 Points
Confirming my prior TN this is absolutely fantastic champagne. Drinking already but certainly more to come. It was remarked at the table that this was like a coiled spring and that is accurate. Great concentration and tension on the bruised apple finish. Once mature this could turn out a true belter!
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11/9/2019 - Burgundy Al wrote: 92 Points
La Fête du Champagne Grand Tasting (Pier Sixty - New York NY): Walk around tasting. Berry hints behind orchard fruit with good weight and toasted baguette. Rich throughout with rounded textures. While I certainly enjoyed this wine, I hate to admit that I'm less enamored with this wine than most other people seem to be.
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10/12/2019 - WetRock wrote:
No notes taken. From memory this show grace over underlying power. Some spice and autolytic notes. There seems to be some concern about aging Bollinger these days but I'll take my chances as I like more mature notes in my top end Champagne. This is a pup for my palate but more expressive than many this close to release.
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10/6/2019 - bjamesclark wrote: 94 Points
71% Pinot Noir and 29% Chardonnay taken across 18 crus. Finished with an eight grams per liter dosage. Disgorged 10/18
Wonderful aromas show notes of chamomile, bruised apple, oxidized white peach and pear, dried white flowers, baguette, fresh baked biscuits and chalk with hints of sea spray and honeycomb. Very reminiscent of a delicate Manzanilla.
The palate shows a super-fine mousse with tiny pinprick bubbles. Great weight and viscosity with a creamy texture. Flavors show intensity repeating the nose with its bruised apple, white orchard fruits, dried white flowers, chamomile, biscuit and baguette notes that lead into the chalky minerality and almond tones. The finish is unending showing the depth and broadness of this wine.
Young- but sometimes you owe it to yourself!
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9/25/2019 - Lehto Likes this wine: 94 Points
Bollinger VVF Vertical Tasting at Geranium in Copenhagen hosted by Philipson Wine.
Crazy potential after further aging!
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9/21/2019 - lolo66 wrote: 94 Points
Tightly wound. Strong mineral profile and then the pure fruit takes over - apples and pears here. some herbs. Young, but very enjoyable.
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8/23/2019 - danhenry11 Likes this wine: 91 Points
Nose of fresh fruit and toast, taste bruised apple, lemon tart, a hint of cherry flesh. Delicious.
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8/11/2019 - CharlatanDario wrote: 96 Points
Surprisingly open already
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8/10/2019 - tobyc Likes this wine: 94 Points
Made from Pinot noir (70 %), Chardonnay (30 %).
Colour: Straw.
Bouquet: Med intense w. vruised apples, banana, resin, toast and mushrooms. The air really helps this to open up.
Palate: Dry, med acid, med+ body. Apples, warm spices, black tea, anise, creamy texture though the bubbles are a bit aggressive. Long finish.
Outstanding.
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7/30/2019 - galewskj wrote: 93 Points
Champagne and Sushi (Nakamori): Served too warm in a warm restaurant, the class of this bottle still shone through. This wine is balanced, sophisticated, and nuanced. I would love to drink this again under more ideal circumstances.
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7/15/2019 - Buddrow Likes this wine: 93 Points
Opened to celebrate England winning the cricket world cup. Can't remember much about it due to the excitement of the cricket but I do remember it being super smooth and super nice. What a game of cricket. BUZZING.
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7/14/2019 - Purple Tooth wrote: 95 Points
A muscular champagne that is just a beast right now and is clearly built and ready for a long, long evolutionary life ahead. Now its filled with punchy, super tight and racy wine that has a chalky feel and a mineral tinged demeanor. Now its super clean and fresh and though I don't eat caviar, I see this being a perfect companion to something mild, rich, and oily. I can't wait to see this develop nuttiness in 10 years or so....I am going to buy more of this and simply forget about them. Drinkable now but worth a big HOLD
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7/13/2019 - AllRed wrote: 88 Points
This bottle was disappointing. Orchard fruit notes with a dominant cheesy, almost gouda-like, overtone that I found distracting. The palate is much more what I expected however, so brings my score up a bit. Fine bead. Apple, honeyed citrus, dried yeast and marzipan flavors. Good length.
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6/16/2019 - ManhattanBeach Likes this wine:
£19/glass at 67 Pall Mall. Greatly preferred to the Philipponat, compared to which it was a dramatic contrast. Big and bold.
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6/13/2019 - Patrik H Likes this wine: 91 Points
On the nose: Red apple, wet wool, some hint of fudge
On the palate: Almost tutti frutti, gooseberry, very fresh and balanced. Good acidity.
Medium + finish
91-94
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6/13/2019 - MWiking wrote: 94 Points
First try of this vintage, still very young and not open for business, nevertheless its a big champagne and will have a great future. 94 for todays performance
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6/12/2019 - vinhslee wrote: 96 Points
Nose is very expressive.
Wonderful flavours of green apple, lemon curd, minerality, with some nutty flavours. Flavours become more expressive after 15-30 minutes of aeration. Very enjoyable now, will certainly get better.
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6/5/2019 - BenBlu Likes this wine: 96 Points
2008 Champagne horizontal (Medlar (London)): For most/all at the table this was the wine of the flight. Dry, nutty, mineral, some faint sherry tones, very long. When revealed we agreed that this is terrific value and it truly performed at prestige cuvee level. I was a bit anxious to see how this would show as I bought a few cases and I was very pleased to see this champagne drank blind to be Grande Annee. I look forward to my bottles in the future. Will only get better with age surely but already today a fantastic experience. If you don't already own this go and grab a case.
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5/23/2019 - wineappellation Likes this wine: 97 Points
Bright mid gold color, immediate bursting out attractive aroma of red apple, apricot, honey, smoked almond, sweet ginger and cinnamon, yeasty and toasty. Vibrant and zesty on palate, very intense yet focus flavours melting in the mouth with added oxidative and mineral notes on top the already complex flavours. Superb! So approchable now already. Among the best 08 Champagnes. 97+
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5/18/2019 - jviz wrote: 97 Points
This is amazing stuff. Nose is totally effusive, with candied green apple, lemon curd, with incredible depth. Just fantastic purity and weight on the palate. Dosage is not detectable to me. William Kelley got this one right. 97+
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5/3/2019 - nzinkgraf wrote:
84% GC, the remainder 1er Cru. 100% barrel fermented. A very elegant approach. Light sugar cookie and lemon curd to the palate. Really mouth-watering. Classic and elegant, not too bombastic. Lemon biscuit palate.
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4/27/2019 - mflesh wrote: 94 Points
Compared to a Selosse, this one was a clear second. Still in oxidative style, which my palate definitely tends to lean towards, yet in my opinion less apparent than the Selosse. Small bubbles, citrus, lemon and lime. Seemed a little creamier and mouth coating towards the front and dried to a zesty mineral-rich finish. I honestly think this one needs to lay down for 5 years before attempting it again. But very nice right now as well. Definitely would not kick it out of bed for eating crackers, but if I had an extensive cellar of Champagne including this one, I would leave this one right where it was!
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4/22/2019 - champagne99 Likes this wine: 89 Points
Dracks under en halvblind provning av Bollinger Grande Année 02, 03, 04, 07 och 08.
Ljusast i färgen av alla och mycket bubblor. Jag upplevde doften som mycket behagligare och mildare än 03. Andra kände desto mer som t.ex. citrus. Härligt brus i munnen, massor av Granny Smith-äpplen och hög syra. Andra omdömen var röda/gröna vaxade och saftiga äpplen, citrus, krita, chardonnay, blommigt och en friskare stil. Klart att den går att dricka nu om man gillar väldigt hög syra men jag tycker att den ska ligga i många år till.
Jag gissade på 08 och det gjorde alla andra med. Ingen hade den som favorit.
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4/18/2019 - finewinedude wrote: 93 Points
Young yellow color with tiny compact bubbles.
Lots and lots of citrus & lime zest, some toast, butter-scotch and lots of fresh acidity. Balanced but not fully developed. Far from it.
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4/12/2019 - canan wrote: 94 Points
Misc Wines - By Kasper (@MichaelsPlace): Lovely brioche and coffee flavors mixed with a lovely red/green apple touch. There is some sweetness to the fruit but the wine itself seems quite dry.
There are some white flowers and some grapefruit bitterness. Very fresh and an extreme acidity. Great wine but still very young. 94-95p
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3/29/2019 - beatles wrote: flawed
Served blind and people (including i) was guessing much older, this is a bit flat, very mineral, not corked, but very odd - and this one was exactly like the first one, we opened at the release-tasting. Three bottles tasted now, only one performed ... tsk tsk
#FormelB
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3/28/2019 - beatles wrote: 96 Points
Bursting with creamy fruit, this is actually already approachable - but of course far from open and showing, what it can do; full bodied with butter and citrus, lively acidity and great balance.
#FormelB
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