2008 Francis Boulard Champagne Les Rachais Extra Brut

Community Tasting Notes (9) Avg Score: 92.9 points

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  9/27/2023 - Benoit Hardy Likes this wine: 94 Points

  dgt 07/2015
  
  Bottle bought at the estate, and I bought some at auction recently for 60€, something to note since we complain enough about inflation on beautiful bottles.
  
  Delicious nose, we keep coming back to it, it starts with autolysis, a hint of fine oxidation, a hint of wood, mature citrus notes and finally a hint of butter.
  
  In the mouth, it is the creamy attack that first fills the palate. Very nice integrated acidity that stretches a dense juice with buttery notes from the pastry shop. The 2008s are beginning to offer great complexity, especially the extra brut with a magnificent chalky second part, all in salinity. Delicious finish, on toasted nuts, with a nice length that reminds me of orange peels.
  
  It is a great champagne.

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  2/25/2020 - Vanja1 Likes this wine: 95 Points

  Gyllen og klar på farve. Duft av søt gjærbakst, kjeks, nøtter med hint av honning samt steinfrukt. Smaken følger godt opp nesen sammen med en mengde små potente bobler som gir en kremete, deilig mousse.
  Kompleks og elegant, mektig med god dybde og lang sitrusdreven ettersmak. Gjør seg med mat, fois gras, kremet ost og copa de Parma. Lekker, delikat, mineralsk og noe helt for seg selv i forhold til resten jeg har smakt fra 08. Hadde den samme store opplevelse for 1,5 år siden.

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  9/3/2018 - Vanja1 Likes this wine: 94 Points

  Francis Boulard Les Rachais Extra brut 2008 er til nå noe av det beste som har truffet min gane fra Champagne!
  Strågul på farge. Rik duft av søt brioche, eplemos og aprikos, nydelig mousse og smak av sitrus, moden frukt med hint av honning. Vinen har dybde, er kompleks og mineralsk med en flott lengde, elegant og delikat, alle favorittene i godtebutikken: 94-95 p.
  
  100% Chardonnay fra 43 år gamle vinstokker, degorgert i juli 2015, biodynamisk dyrket, spontanfermentert med naturlig forekommende gjær, malolaktisk gjæret, høstet ihht måne&sol og vinen er faktisk ufiltrert.

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  1/1/2018 - Superjojo57 Likes this wine: 92 Points

  Brut Nature. Très joli Champagne qui exprime une belle mineralité tout en longueur. Très beau en apéritif, s'est moins bien comporté avec un risotto au homard.

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  7/6/2017 - forceberry wrote: 95 Points

  An organic, biodynamic, non-interventionist Blanc de Blancs made from Chardonnay grapes sourced from a 40-yo plot, vinified in old oak barrels and bottled unfined and unfiltered. Full MLF. Brut nature with 2 g/l of natural residual sugar. Disgorged quite exactly a year ago, on 3rd of July, 2016. Served blind.
  
  Luminous lemon yellow color. Very expressive, nuanced and quite autolytic nose with alluring aromas of sweet, toasty character, very ripe red apples, some delicate buttery notes of creamy richness, hints of lemony citrus fruits and a brooding whiff of nutty oxidation. The wine is medium-bodied and very bright and lively on the palate with very high, laser-sharp acidity. There are complex, layered flavors of chalky minerality, leesy creaminess, some buttered toasty notes, a little bit of tangy Granny Smith apple and a wee hint of nutty oxidation, even a hint of salted caramel. Despite its bracing acidity and rather rich and persistent mousse, the mouthfeel is velvety smooth and surprisingly gentle. The finish is very lengthy with lively, mouth-cleansing flavors of steely minerality, browned butter, rather pronounced apple peel bitterness, some pithy lemony fruit, a little bit of leesy yeast character and a hint of roasted nuts.
  
  Just like the Rachais 2009 I had tasted a few years ago, this was a stunning, focused a complex single-vineyard Blanc de Blancs as well. True to the remarkable Champagne vintage of 2008, this wine is still very focused and tightly-knit with angular, chiseled mineral character and tremendous acidity. The wine is little by little starting to show hints of maturity, but even though it's slowly reaching the end of the first decade of its life, the wine is still painfully young and far from its plateau of maturity. I must admit that Les Rachais 2008 is starting to drink quite nicely already, but it is also quite obvious that the wine will reward those, who have the patience to cellar it for longer. With a wine like this, you really don't want to hurry. Very highly recommended, solid value at 60€.

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