2005 Lamiable Champagne Grand Cru Cuvée Les Meslaines Brut

Community Tasting Notes (8) Median Score: 90 points

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  6/5/2014 - honest bob wrote: 91 Points

  From 75cl, composite/glue "cork". After several disappointments, at last another fine bottle. Gentle but persistent bubbles. Warm, fully ripe white fruit, rose-petal aroma and texture; resonant, long finish. A gem. Shame about the >50% failure rate... 91P

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  3/18/2014 - honest bob wrote: 86 Points

  From 75cl, sticky-to-touch composite glue-based "cork". Another disappointing bottle, albeit in better shape than the last two. Aromatically truncated, some mouldy funk and a bit of PN warmth; generous, fruity entry, not obviously over-sugared; clean, linear sweetish mid-palate => finish. Pleasant after glow perhaps the best phase, the front end of the following sip alas distinctly less exciting. Rebuy? Duh? 85-86P(?)

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  2/26/2014 - honest bob wrote: 84 Points

  From 75, sticky composite cork. Another inferior bottle. (If this tired, flabby, sweetish juice is what John Gilman tasted, then I take back my critical remarks in a previous TN about his assessment and score.) Bottle variation (or composite cork-induced deterioration) was an issue with the 2003 bottling too. With a perceived failure rate of 40%, I won't be buying Les Meslaines again. 84P

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  12/31/2013 - honest bob wrote: 84 Points

  From 75cl, nasty "DIAMANT" composite "cork" sticky to the touch. This wine in this bottle has lost its sparkle, literally. Darkish yellow, weak bubbles as if it had been sitting open for 2 days. It's not the provenance (bought au chai in September 2010) nor is it the transport or storage —perhaps it's the plastic and glue closure? Some attractive, gently fading PN fruit nonetheless. I very much hope that my remaining bottles turn out to be in better condition. 84P

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  1/17/2013 - honest bob wrote: 90 Points

  From 75cl, composite cork showing no deterioration. I admit opening this bottle largely on account of reading John Gilman's hatchet jobs on the 2005 and 2006 vintages of Les Meslaines over breakfast yesterday and thinking: duh, I must be a real plonker having rated both wines around 90P in the past if the "View From The Cellar" is so depressing. Especially as Mr. Gilman makes such a point in his article of praising recent bottlings of a few Grandes Marques which I have recently tried and felt to be dull, commercial stuff. Obviously Mr. Gilman commands a lot of respect in this forum, but I take issue with him over this excellent artisanal wine, from grapes evidently worthy of their terroir's Grand Cru designation. (I don't think anyone could accuse me of saying THAT too often).
  
  Rich summer soft-fruit aroma, with a prick of oak and a very little cellar funk. Cherubs, Art Nouveau arabesques and velvet dresses come to mind. The entry: smooth as silk, with tiny bubbles (almost irrelevant to the taste) and a purring sweetish roll of Pinot soft-fruit and some lovely ripe red apple leading seamlessly to a shortish but very pleasant warm finish. Not great or complex, not extraordinary, but excellent, truly. Moreish. Good for another 5 years - at least - in the cellar. Serve at 14-15C, and coax it even higher in the glass. Please be wary of those who tell you that a fine artisanal product like this is inferior to mass-produced plonk with a fancy label. 90P

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