Vintage Champagne

wines

(Krug Vintage Brut (served from magnum)) This magnum was sadly the last bottle of the 1985 Krug Vintage in my cellar, but it was shared at a tasting to celebrate my fiftieth birthday and a very good friend’s sixtieth birthday, so I surmised that this must have been the occasion I was saving this magnum for all these years. The wine is drinking splendidly out of magnum and seemed a tad more generous than the bottle of the ’85 I reported on a year ago, jumping from the glass in a deep, complex and very classy nose of pears, apples, beautiful minerality, a delicate touch of almond paste, rye toast and citrus peel. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and very light on its feet for such a broad-shouldered wine, with a superb core of fruit, fine, pinpoint bubbles, lovely acidity and superb length and grip on the complex and à point finish. A beautiful wine. (Drink between 2011-2035)John Gilman | 96 JG(Krug Brut Champagne/Sparkling) I have had a number of bottles, even from the same cellar, that have been showing plenty of age and even occasionally flirting with oxidative hints yet this most recent bottle (from my cellar) was among the freshest I’ve had in a while with its intensely yeasty and toasty aromas of white orchard fruit, citrus peel, marmalade and orange peel. This is arguably the most complex vintage of the 1980s (though not necessarily the most vibrant or the most complete) and in particular I like the way that the mousse has managed to maintain most of its original vigor on the sweet yet ultimately dry finale that delivers very fine persistence. While this bottle was admirably fresh it’s clear that it’s time to drink up sooner than later unless your taste runs to post-mature characters. (Drink starting 2015)Burghound | 94 BHThe 1985 Krug was delicate, perfumed and lithe on the palate, with superb freshness and a more compact frame than the 1988. I came back to it often and never failed to be seduced by its mesmerizing personality. The 1988 Krug was decidedly more intense and full-bodied. It had everything; gorgeous fruit, acidity, texture and loads of complexity. In short, it was stunning.Vinous Media | 93 VM

A sculpted Champagne, with a steely backbone of acidity swathed in a fine and silky texture, offering rich flavors of baked apple and plum fruit, almond financier, crème de cassis, honey and toasted coconut. Long and mouthwatering, and still very, very young. Drink now through 2090. 1,500 cases made, 200 cases imported.Wine Spectator | 97 WSCompared to the 2000, the 1996 Champagne Femme offers a touch more vibrancy and purity in a similarly rich, layered, complex style. Stone fruits, beautiful minerality, hints of charcoal, as well as a touch of brioche and nuttiness, all flow to a textured, balanced, beautifully long and layered Champagne that’s drinking brilliantly today.Jeb Dunnuck | 96 JD(Duval-Leroy Femme de Champagne Brut) The 1996 Duval-Leroy Femme de Champagne is a stunning wine that is now reaching its apogee of peak drinkability and is wide open and absolutely superb on both the nose and palate. The deep, complex and toasty bouquet offers up a classy mélange of apple, tangerine, pain grillé, a beautifully complex base of soil and a topnote of orange peel. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied, complex and toasty, with a superb core of pure fruit, crisp acids, utterly refined mousse, laser-like focus and superb length and grip on the wide open, vibrant and very classy finish. This is just a stunning bottle of bubbly. (Drink between 2012-2035)John Gilman | 95 JGDeep yellow in color the 1996 Femme de Champagne offers a complex, superbly clear, multilayered and fresh bouquet of cooked and roasted apples, citrus flavors, brioche, apricots, a touch of caramel and a hint of farmyard smell. Medium-bodied but full-flavored, clear and complex on the palate this is a stimulatingly and persistently pure, fresh and minerally flavored Champagne with citrus flavors in the aftertaste. Impressively vital and young this delicate but expressive Champagne is lovely to drink today but can be stored for another decade.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 93 RPThe estate’s 1996 Brut Femme de Champagne is really quite pretty in the way it balances some of the more mature notes from extended lees aging with the freshness of the vintage. To be sure, this isn’t a blockbuster 1996, but the Femme de Champagne offers plenty of class and elegance in an approachable, delicate style for the vintage. The rich, radiant fruit flows effortlessly through to the long, satisfying finish. This is a terrific effort from Duval-Leroy. This is Lot L9250N. Disgorged September 7th, 2009.Antonio Galloni | 91 AG

Next up is Philipponnat’s 1996 Clos de Goisses. Tasted from magnum, the 1996 is remarkably fresh, vibrant and powerful. This is a great bottle.Vinous Media | 97 VMOne of the greatest examples of the ’96 vintage, this wine has it all with elegance, intensity, subtlety and grace, not to mention buckets of unrealized potential that will enable this beauty to improve for at least another decade and perhaps longer. I can only imagine just how good this would be from magnum format! The nose is discreet, reserved and pure with lemon, green apple and layers upon layers of fruit framed by just the right amount of yeast influence that continues onto the exceptionally dry and tight flavors that are crisp and refined as well as superbly intense yet through it all there is this underlying sense of harmony, as though all of the elements are working in concert. The greatest wines, at least those cut from classical cloth, persuade through the subtlest means and so it is with the ’96 Goisses, which is indeed a great wine by any measure. While it is drinkable now, for my taste preferences a lot of potential would be left in the glass and I wouldn’t start in earnest on this for another 5+ years.Burghound | 97 BHAs I noted back in my feature on Clos des Goisses back in the autumn of 2014, the 1996 vintage here is a bit atypical, as its cépages is a fifty-fifty split of chardonnay and pinot noir, rather than the more customary two-thirds pinot. The wine has started to really hit its plateau of peak maturity since I last drank it four and a half years ago, as the musky floral tones and beautiful nuttiness of mature Clos des Goisses are really starting to be felt in the beautiful bouquet of pear, white peach, macadamia nut, brioche, chalky soil tones, a touch of citrus blossoms to go along with the more stridently musky floral overtones. On the palate the wine is pure, full-bodied and shows off beautiful, rock solid mid-palate depth, with lovely mousse, racy acids and laser-like focus on the very long and very complex finish. Though this is a bit of an outlier in the pantheon of Clos des Goisses, with its half chardonnay blend, it is one of my favorite vintages of this great wine and one of the best examples of the vintage, as there is no shortage of fruit here to stand up to the vintage’s snappy acidity. A great, great wine that is getting awfully good to drink, though still in climbing mode and has not yet reached its apex. This bottle was disgorged in June of 2010. (Drink between 2019 - 2060)John Gilman | 96+ JGOne of the most powerful wines of the 1996 vintage, Clos des Goisses grew at the famed walled vineyard in Mareuil-sur-Aÿ. There the vines provide a direct connection between the limestone soil and the wine, the same kind of uncompromised connection that the riesling vines provide at Clos Ste. Hune in Alsace. The tension in the wine is palpable, even after it delivers a blast of flavor, a flavor that might be described as quince paste made of limestone, with so much acidity to balance it that the flavor intensity lasts for minutes and feels cool and clean. This ’96 may be best left in the cellar for another ten years before you pop the cork.Wine & Spirits Magazine | 96 W&SOffering up complex aromas of candied peel, warm biscuits, golden orchard fruit and toast, this perfectly preserved original disgorgement of the 1996 Clos des Goisses is medium to full-bodied, incisive but fleshy, its bright spine of vintage-typical acidity cloaked in lively fruit, and complemented by a pearly mousse. This is one 1996 Champagne that has finally arrived at full maturity.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 94 RPWhile this is unexpectedly reticent on the nose, it’s generous and expansive on the palate, showing golden, honeyed flavours and a pronounced richness. Its acidity is equally as forceful, keeping the finish firm and taut, and while it’s not extremely complex, it’s alluring for its powerful presence and extroverted intensity. Disgorged: April 2006.Decanter | 93 DECHints of orange marmalade vie with whole-grain bread and roasted almond in this dry, mealy Champagne. Turns austere on the finish, but has intensity, so enjoy with food. Drink now through 2015. 2,500 cases made.Wine Spectator | 91 WS

Bright yellow. Powerful smoke- and ginger-accented aromas of poached pear, honey and white flowers, along with a suave mineral overtone and a hint of toasted brioche. Sappy and buttery on entry, then tighter in the middle, offering intense citrus and orchard fruit flavors underscored by a chalky mineral nuance. At once fleshy and energetic, finishing with outstanding clarity, thrust and smoky length. Cream-colored label, indicating a later disgorgement, in this case 2012, as opposed to the earlier disgorged black label version, which was disgorged in 2011. LHWCB9.Vinous Media | 95 VM(Ruinart, Dom Ruinart, Champagne, France, White) Dom Ruinart 2002 is a blessed creation with 72% Avize and Chouilly and more surprisingly 28% Chardonnay from Pinot villages like Sillery and Puisieulx. Painfully youthful but already completely harmonious. All the bits and pieces are there in small portions and time will make them stronger and deeper. (Drink between 2016-2028)Decanter | 94 DE(Dom Riunart Blanc de Blancs Brut (Reims)) The 2002 Dom Riunart Blanc de Blancs is a pretty good example of the vintage, but in their rarefied air of pricing, I was expecting a bit more. Perhaps the wine is just too young to be showing a lot in the mid-palate, as it is certainly quite structured today, offering up youthful scents of lemon peel, grapefruit, sourdough bread, chalky minerality and a touch of straw in the upper register. On the palate the wine is medium-full, tight and frothy, with a fien core, brisk, snappy acids and good length and grip on the primary finish that closes with a touch of bitterness from citrus peel flavors. This may just need cellaring to come into its own. (Drink between 2018-2035)John Gilman | 92 JG

Like a stallion out of the gate, this shows an initial explosion of power, in the form of mouthwatering flavors and fine texture, before quickly settling into an elegant gait. The racy acidity is seamlessly knit, buoying the lacy mousse and flavors of cassis, toasted brioche and tangerine, with accents of candied ginger, hazelnut and fleur de sel lingering on the long, creamy finish. Drink now through 2035. 2,000 cases imported.Wine Spectator | 97 WSThe 2008 Champagne Rare is luxurious with aromas of graham cracker, honeysuckle, quince, and orange zest. It is round and opulent, with a fine and pillowy mousse, and retains freshness throughout, with apricot and yellow flowers. It is impressive and long, and fully luxurious. Drinking well now, it is sure to hold its own for years to come. Drink 2022-2044.Jeb Dunnuck | 96 JDA lively first nose of candied lemon, guava, also a hint of lime. With aeration, notes of almonds and almond flowers come to the fore. On the palate, there is a nervy tension that energises its fine, crystalline texture. This is an upright and elegant Champagne whose long, airy finish is mouthwatering. After some time in the glass, it evolves towards notes of smoke, flint and vanilla. A sumptuous Champagne. Disgorged: November 2019. Dosage: 9g/L. Drinking Window 2021 - 2040.Decanter | 95 DECThe newly released 2008 Brut Cuvée Rare is very promising, unwinding in the glass with a youthfully reserved nose of citrus oil, crisp green apple, freshly baked bread, iodine and oyster shell, as well as some rather herbaceous characteristics that depress my score a little, even if I suspect that they will resolve with a bit more bottle age. Medium to full-bodied, incisive and tightly wound, if the 2006 vintage was gourmand and demonstrative, the 2008 is slower to show all its cards. Built around racy acids and complemented by a pillowy mousse, this rendition of Cuvée Rare will reward a few years more on cork.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 93+ RP

A super-complex Champagne with chewy tension. Aromas of coffee beans, lemon peel, burnt sugar, chalky minerality, barley candy and tarte tatin. Fine pinprick bubbles with flavors of lemon leaves, aspirin and Mirabelle plums, plus a touch of grapefruit bitterness keeping the tension. Zesty yet integrated chewy acidity and a medium body with a toasted finish. Drink of hold.James Suckling | 97 JSThe 2015 Dom Pérignon is terrific. Bright and poised, the 2015 shows terrific energy. Citrus peel, white flowers, mint, white pepper and slate all race across the palate. There’s gorgeous tension and backbone here, with bright saline notes that extend the mid-palate and finish. This is a fine showing in a vintage that has proven to be tricky. I am intrigued to see how the 2015 develops in the coming years.Vinous Media | 96 VMDisgorged in January 2023, the 2015 Dom Pérignon shows a singular, ethereal profile with aromas of white pepper, iodine, ripe orchard fruits, toast, smoke, herbs and spices. Medium to full-bodied, layered, and structured, it’s enveloping and round with a delicate phenolic mid-palate that underlines chalky dry extracts, concluding with a sapid, penetrating finish with gastronomic bitterness. This iteration of Dom Pérignon, though replete with the customary charm and vinous generosity that typify the label, distinguishes itself by its structural delicate austerity and a notably phenolic profile, giving rise to a remarkably linear and well-defined style that diverges markedly from the more familiar expressions of Dom Pérignon. This is a blend of 51% Pinot Noir and 49% Chardonnay with a dosage of 4.5 grams per liter; it will age wonderfully and can be enjoyed now or over the next 20 years.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 95 RPBurnished gold color with a fine, effervescent bead, the Grand Vintage 2015 shows abundant ripeness on the nose with notes of white peach, quince, butter pastry, elderflower and nougat. A 44% Pinot Noir 32% Chardonnay and 24% Meunier, it was disgorged in May 2022 and finished with a five gram per liter dosage. The medium to full-bodied palate possesses a straightlaced acid-line that lifts the rich orchard fruit core through the honeyed finish.The Wine Independent | 91 TWI