Think Pink

Well done to all who managed to stick to your dry January resolutions. Only one of our team at Clos & Cru attempted it this year, and she very nearly made it. (Charlie, your willpower is awe inspiring for having ‘slipped’ on merely one occasion!)

As February rolls around (and Valentine’s Day nears), our own thoughts are rolling around to rose champagne, as they do every year at this time. Honestly, what’s not to like? Flavours range from the merest hint of elegant raspberry to pastry and sweet spice. Not to mention the gorgeous range of colours – pale salmon to deepest rose.

But how do winemakers achieve that pink colour?

There are 2 main ways.

Assemblage

A.k.a. Blending. By far the most widely used method in Champagne. The winemaker produces a ‘blanc’ champagne in the normal way. Then, before the second fermentation in bottle, they blend in a portion of still red wine (anywhere from 5% to 20%) until they achieve the right colour and flavour profile.

The trick here is getting a still red wine of high quality. And in enough quantity. The Champagne is a northerly region, and the red grape varietals – Pinot Noir and Meunier – don’t always ripen to perfection. They’re also more prone to rot in humid weather than Chardonnay, the region’s white grape.

Healthy Pinot grapes   © Louis Roederer

Charles Heidsieck’s non-vintage Rose Reserve – winner of a Gold medal at the Sommelier Wine Awards for 2016 – is a great place to start for anyone wanting to try an assemblage rose champagne.

Saignee

A.k.a. Bleeding. In this method, the winemaker allows the skins from the red grapes to macerate with the juice for a short period before pressing. Just long enough to “bleed” some pink colour into the juice from the skins, but not so long as to make a red wine. Once the saignee is complete, the winemaker makes the champagne as normal.

The challenge is having the knowledge and experience to judge exactly how long to bleed the colour before the wine is even made. Contact with skins doesn’t just bring colour, it brings other aromas, flavours and textures. Too little contact, and the house style might not be achieved. A fraction too long, and vegetal or bitter notes could creep into the finished champagne.

Cristal Rose, the prestige vintage cuvee from Louis Roederer, is made with this method, and is a favourite of top champagne critic Richard Juhlin. The 1979 vintage still features on his list of all-time favourite champagnes ever tasted – at 99 pts out of 100.

The “Seven Samurai” from Selosse

By Martyn Zemavicius

Having received an invitation from my dear friend Andrius to attend a blind champagne tasting called “the Seven Samurai”, I immediately told him I’d be there. Not just because every degustation Andrius organises is magnificent. Mainly because of the fun theme for the tasting.

His grand idea? To serve seven different champagnes from the house of Jacques Selosse, each representing a character from Akira Kurosawa’s legendary sword-fighting movie, The Seven Samurai. Moreover, each champagne would be opened by sabrage.

For those who have never seen the film, it tells the story of a poor village that gets raided every year by a band of 40 ruthless bandits, who steal the villagers’ crops and kidnap their women.  The villagers decide the only way they can save themselves is to scrape together what little money they have to hire samurai. They manage to find seven samurai who will fight for their paltry reward.  These brave samurai must defy the odds to defend the village and fight an epic battle against the bandits.

The wines were served in flights of two, with some chapter titles to give us clues.  So as we listened to the dramatic soundtrack from the film, we got stuck into our first flight.

Chapter One – The Walled Field Ends Below the Hill

• NV Jacques Selosse Mareuil sur Ay ‘Sous le Mont’
  First release of this cuvee, which is 100% Pinot Noir (from a solera begun in 2005). Disgorged 2012.

Heihachi Hayashida (林田平八) was the character chosen to represent wine 1. Recruited by Gorōbei, he is an amiable fighter, if less skilled than the others. His charm and wit maintain his comrades’ good cheer in the face of adversity.

As this samurai was less skilled, he symbolised the fact that the ‘Sous le Mont’ is made from Premier Cru fruit, whereas the other wines were Grand Cru. (The name ‘Sous le Mont’ can be translated into English as ‘below the hill’.)

• NV Jacques Selosse Ambonnay ‘Le Bout du Clos’
  The first release of this cuvee (from solera beginning 2004).
  80% Pinot Noir, 20% Chardonnay. Disgorged 2011.

Kikuchiyo (菊千代) is a humorous character who claims to be a samurai, but has falsified his ancestry. Mercurial and temperamental, he identifies with the villagers and their plight. He reveals to the group that he is not a samurai, but a peasant. When the fight begins, he proves his worth.

Just as Kikuchiyo was different from the others (not being a real samurai), this champagne is different. It is a blend of grape varieties, whereas the others are single variety. Not many people know that Le Bout du Clos is not a blanc de noirs. Anselme Selosse adds 20 percent Chardonnay to the blend, because this lieu-dit is very small and some Chardonnay was historically grown there. (‘Le Bout du Clos’ translates as ‘the edge of the walled field’.)

Chapter Two – The Essence

• Jacques Selosse Substance (base 2008)
  100% Chardonnay. Disgorged 2015.

Katsushirō Okamoto (岡本勝四郎) is a young untested warrior. The son of a wealthy landowning samurai, he left home to become a wandering samurai against his family’s wishes. After witnessing Kambei rescue a child who was taken hostage, Katsushirō vows to be Kambei’s disciple.

• Jacques Selosse Substance (base 2005)
  100% Chardonnay. Disgorged 2012.

Gorōbei Katayama (片山五郎兵衛) is a skilled archer recruited by Kambei. He acts as the second-in-command, and helps craft the master plan for the village’s defense.

These characters represent Substance because they are both men of character at, with Katsushiro (the younger of the two) represented by the younger wine, and Gorobei the older.

Chapter Three – Origins

• Jacques Selosse Extra Brut
  100% Chardonnay, an assemblage of 1992, 1991 and 1990 from Avize, Cramant and Mesnil. Disgorged 1999.

Shichirōji (七郎次) is an old friend of Kambei and his former lieutenant. Kambei meets Shichirōji by chance in the town and he resumes this role.

• Jacques Selosse Origine
  100% Chardonnay (from solera 1986-92).
  Disgorged in 1999.

Kambei Shimada (島田勘兵衛) is a ronin (a masterless samurai) and the leader of the group. The first to be recruited by the villagers, he is a wise but war-weary soldier.

These two characters both symbolise origins.  Shichiroji and Kambei have a relationship that begins years ago.  The Selosse Extra Brut is made from an assemblage going back in time, and the Origine is the predecessor wine to the Substance.

Chapter Four – Skill

• Selosse 1998
  100% Chardonnay. One of the two finest vintages Selosse has produced.

Kyūzō (久蔵) He initially declines an offer by Kambei to join the group, but he changes his mind. A serious, stone-faced samurai, of whom Katsushirō is in awe.

Because of his supreme skill as a swordsman, his character was chosen to represent the 1998 Selosse, which is one of the two best vintages Selosse ever produced. (The other is the 1986, the vintage that earned Anselme Selosse the title of Winemaker of the Year in France.)

Chapter Five – Blue Blood

Just as we thought the tasting had finished, our other dear friend Andrej brought a decanter with red wine. And from the first smell it was very clear that this ‘blue blooded’ wine was imperial in quality. The nose alone was worthy of 100 points straight away. And it was poured from magnum, as befits an emperor of a wine.

• 1959 Chateau Pavie, Saint Emilion (from magnum)

The story of the Seven Samurai takes place in 1586. At that time, the Emperor of Japan was Emperor Ōgimachi (正親町天皇).  He reigned from 1557 to 1586. His personal name was Michihito (方仁).

The Emperor

Arigato Gozaimasu

This was a truly unique tasting of great creativity, with much thought and time taken to organise it.  

These wines confirmed to me yet again that Anselme Selosse is a genius. His champagnes are magnificent and as full of character as the samurais immortalised on film.

The 1959 Pavie was and is one of the top red Bordeaux from an outstanding vintage. In magnums especially, wines of this quality and structure can age gracefully for decades and could take pride of place on any imperial table.

I am bowing my head very low and saying arigato gozaimasu to Andrius and Andrej for my introduction to The Seven Samurai and The Emperor of Japan.

 

The sabred bottles

Tasting with Dominique Demarville

By Margaret Elderfield

Ask any chef. The right seasoning is essential to creating a great dish.  And according to Dominique Demarville, the cellar master at Veuve Clicquot, winemakers need their own ‘seasoning’ to assemble great wines.

Dominique was in London last week for the launch of Veuve Clicquot’s 2008 Vintage. In between sharing the latest news from Champagne and presenting the wines, he explained his rationale for reintroducing oak into the vintage wine.

Dominique Demarville

For some time, he had been wanting to expand the range of vins clairs going into the vintage – to have more types of “seasoning” to use “like a chef”. When he is making the non-vintage, he can select from a broad array of reserve wines dating back years. Adding small doses of these complex, characterful wines can bring amazing complexity to the final blend. But to produce the vintage, he is limited to the raw materials from that year alone.

Reintroduction of oak

So starting in 2007, they purchased a range of oak foudres, large casks of 55-75hl in size, with capacity for temperature control. The oak is sourced from French forests in the Vosges, Alliers, Fontainebleau and the centre of France.

Being able to chose from tank-fermented and cask-fermented wines has given Dominique a wider palette of flavours and textures to choose from, with greater complexity in the final wine.

Dominique stressed that the use of oak is minimal (only around 5% of the 2008 vintage wine saw any oak, rising to around 12% for 2012), and he will only consider oak fermentation for the grapes “with the biggest shoulders”, i.e. fruit that can take well to oak without being dominated by it.  In practice, this includes the very ripest grapes, typically harvested early in the vintage and often from the older vines.

To illustrate his point, he poured us several vins clairs from 2015 – Chardonnay from Cramant, Meunier from Villedommange and Pinot Noir from Bouzy. For each village, we tasted tank- and cask-fermented wines side by side. In each case, the cask-fermented wines had subtle but recognisable touches from the oak – slightly more roundness and breadth in the middle palate, and a bit more aromatic complexity. Dominique also likes the greater fruit length from cask fermentation.

He has no plans to introduce oak for the Grande Dame at the moment. According to Dominique, La Grande Dame is all about the pursuit of freshness and silkiness. He selects grapes with a very different fruit profile than the Vintage.  With the Vintage, he is aiming to achieve power and complexity, as well as freshness and silkiness.

Veuve Clicquot 2008 Vintage wines

The 2008 Vintage overall has given wines of crisp acidity with great delicacy of structure. Dominique believes it will be a superb vintage for ageing potential.

Weather-wise, the early season in 2008 was cool and rainy in the spring.  From flowering onwards there were good weather conditions, with hot days reaching 24-25C, and cool nights of less than 10C.  The harvest at Veuve Clicquot took place from 14th September to 10th October – a very long harvest due to the very favourable weather conditions, so they could pick at the best moment.  In bad years they will be forced to pick fairly early to avoid botrytis, but this was not the case in 2008.  On average, the grapes came in at 9.8 degrees of potential alcohol, 8.6 total acidity, with pH of 2.96.

Vintage Rose is a very important and growing category for Veuve Clicquot, accounting for 30% of all vintage sales (compared with 8-9% for non-vintage).  Dominique even has two full-time winemakers making only red wines. They share a winemaking facility dedicated to reds in the Cote des Bar with Moet.

Veuve Clicquot Vintage 2008 – from bottle
61% Pinot Noir, 34% Chardonnay, 5% Meunier.
Nose: Fresh, with some development. Nutty, biscuity, white peach.
Palate: Lovely texture and mouthfeel. Apple, fruity, yeasty, creamy dairy. Saline minerality. A honeyed quality to the fruit. Complexity and intensity. Drinking well now, sufficiently open. 95 pts.

Veuve Clicquot Vintage 2008 – from magnum
Nose: Very closed in comparison. Apple, lemon, some yeasty notes, but less overt than bottle sample.
Palate: Fruity, some citrus fresh lemon and ripe grapefruit, some more tropical fruit notes, with hint of spice.  Seems too young, not open yet. 93 pts.

Veuve Clicquot Vintage Rose 2008 vintage – from bottle
61% Pinot Noir, 34% Chardonnay, 5% Meunier. Contains 14% still red wine from Bouzy.
Medium salmon pink in colour.
Nose is fruity and autolytic, apple and light red fruits, some apricot. Nutty and bready also, opening to dairy.
Palate: Dominant portion of pinot noir immediately evident. Steely base note, cherries, lemon, apricot. Crisp, mineral with some creaminess. Balanced. Gentle bitterness on the back palate, typical of Bouzy reds.  One to have with food ideally. 93 pts.

Next Vintages and a Superb Cave Privee

Dominique confirmed that 2012 and 2015 will be the next Veuve Clicquot vintages.  He said that although they typically have enough quality grapes to produce more vintage wines, there are no plans to raise the current average of around 3 vintages per decade. This is because they want sufficient quantity of reserve wines to maintain the style of the non-vintage.

To finish, we were treated to a glass of Veuve Clicquot 1989 Cave Privee from jeroboam, disgorged in January 2014. This delicious wine is drinking perfectly now.  It was made by former cellar master Pierre Peters, who confided to Dominique that it was a personal favourite.

1989 Veuve Clicquot Cave Privee – from jeroboam
Disgorged January 2014.
Medium gold.
Mature honeyed nose, with smoky and coffee notes, bruised apple.
Palate beautifully complex and powerful. Honeyed and silky.  Apple peel with tangerine acidity. Finely textured with excellent length of fruit. Lovely bitter twist on the finish. Mature. Autolytic character strong but well integrated. 98 pts.

Thanks to Dominique for sharing so much of his time and his winemaking wisdom. And to all the team at Veuve Clicquot for the delicious Cave Privee and canapes!

Dom Perignon vs Dom Ruinart

By Martyn Zemavicius

 

Today’s post includes notes from a special tasting we organised in early March that featured two of the ‘Doms’ of Champagne – Dom Ruinart and Dom Perignon.

The idea for this tasting came after our old friend from Moet Hennessy, Jack Dundas, had invited me to a very interesting tasting with the current Ruinart chef de cave, Frederic Panaiotis.  Thanks for the inspiration, Jack and Frederic!

Ruinart

Origins
Ruinart has been commercially producing sparkling champagne since Nicolas Ruinart founded the house in 1729, making it the oldest champagne-producing house in the region. (While Gosset, founded in 1584, is the oldest existing wine producer in Champagne, it was not making sparkling wines then.)

Wines from those very early days were sold exclusively in cask, and it wasn’t until 1728 that wine was legally permitted to be shipped in bottle, thus allowing for the sale of bottle-fermented champagnes.

Following financial difficulties, the house of Ruinart was sold to the Moet & Chandon group in the 1960s.  Frederic Panaiotis is the current chef de cave.

Crayeres
Ruinart is known for its crayeres – the deep cellars near Reims tunnelled from chalk dating back to Gallo-Roman times – which it has owned since 1782.  Other houses such as Taittinger, Pommery, Charles Heidsieck and Henriot own crayeres in the area as well. But it is widely acknowledged that Ruinart’s are of exceptional beauty.

Style
The Ruinart house style is influenced by chardonnay from outside of the Cote des Blancs, giving the wines a distinctive breadth and body on the palate. The areas of the northern Montagne de Reims around Sillery and Verzenay, as well as the Massif de St-Thierry north of Reims, have been important sources of grapes over the years.  

NV ‘R’ de Ruinart
48% Pinot Noir, 47% Chardonnay, 5% Pinot Meunier.
Pinot Meunier was recently introduced to the blend. Frederic intends to increase the percentage, but has no plans to go over 15%. The fairly young reserve wines, usually from the last three vintages, and the high proportion of Chardonnay make Ruinart a storable non-vintage.
Delightfully toasty bread note and a hint of citrus aromas.

NV Ruinart Blanc de Blancs
100% Chardonnay.
2001 was the first release. It now accounts for 20% of total production and is becoming the main face of Ruinart.
Roundness comes from grapes grown in Sezanne and north of Reims. Blended from 20 villages, about 40% from the Cote des Blancs. Only Premier Cru grapes are used.
A lot of floral and exotic notes. This is our favourite NV, and currently like all other NVs it is  based on the great 2012 vintage

NV Ruinart Rose
Chardonnay 45%, Pinot Noir 55%.
The blend includes about 20% of red wine produced with a short maceration, about five days, for fruitiness and freshness.
Wine had a lot of structure, maybe from strong vintage like 2012. With plenty of red crunchy berries.

Dom Ruinart

Dom Ruinart – the house’s prestige cuvee – is the jewel of the house. The first vintage was the 1959, released commercially in 1967.  It was named for Nicolas’ uncle, Dom Thierry Ruinart. A Benedictine monk who lived from 1657-1709, Dom Ruinart was a native of Champagne who impressed upon young Nicolas his conviction that “vin de mousse” (wine with bubbles) had a promising future.

It is made from 100% Grand Cru Chardonnay, typically about a third of which is from the Montagne de Reims, and around two-thirds from the Cote des Blancs.

2004 Dom Ruinart
For two years in a row, this has been our top wine at the annual Champagne Bureau tasting in London.
Incredible structure with floral notes and ripe citrus fruit.

1996 Dom Ruinart
This is the second time we have tried this wine in the past month, and the second time it was corked. Bad luck!
But even through the cork taint we could taste toasted nuts and dried fruit with the smoky 1996 minerality.

Dom Ruinart Rose

First released in 1966. It is based on the same blend as the blanc de blancs, with the addition of about 15 percent of pinot noir that is vinified as a still red wine, with ten days’ maceration to extract more color and tannin.

1998 Dom Ruinart Rose
85% Chardonnay. 15% Pinot Noir.
Only 5 g/L dosage.
What a pretty wine! Lovely floral notes mixed with bags of red fruit. Beautifully balanced and very long. Just entering its drinking window.

1959 Ruinart Rose
80% Pinot Noir, 20% Chardonnay.
Made by the Ruinart family before the house was sold to LVMH in 1963. Not only was 1959 the first vintage of Dom Ruinart blanc, and it was also the legendary first vintage of Dom Perignon Rose.
We have been very lucky with this bottle. The cork broke when we tried to take it out. But that’s often a good omen for such old bottles, as it signals the bottle was sealed well.
Colour still had dark red hinge. On the nose it still had some red fruit. Wine was very powerful and with long finish.

Dom Perignon

Origins
Dom Perignon was launched by Moet & Chandon as a prestige cuvee in 1936, with the 1921 vintage the first to be released commercially.

Moet had previously made a private release of 300 bottles of the 1926 for one of its English clients, Simon Brothers & Co, to mark their centenary celebrations in 1935. Due to the publicity and demand that this one-off cuvee generated, Moet offered the 1921 vintage the following year under a newly created brand, named after Dom Perignon, the legendary cellar master of the abbey in Hautvillers.

Follow-up releases of the 1928, 1929 and 1934 were also Moet vintage wines, transferred into the special Dom Perignon bottles.  1943 was the first Dom Perignon to be fermented inside its own bottle.

Today Dom Perignon is a unique brand within the LVMH portfolio, kept separate from Moet & Chandon.

Richard Geoffroy, the current chef de cave, has been with the house since 1990. He is among the finest winemakers in Champagne.

Vineyards
In general, Dom Perignon is always made from 8 Grand Crus and one Premier Cru, Hautvillers, where Dom Perignon lived and where his remains are buried.

Moet & Chandon are the largest landowners in Champagne, and that gives the house access to a vast array of vineyards. So even in weaker vintages Dom Perignon can make very good wines.

Blend
A typical blend will include slightly more chardonnay than pinot noir, although the exact blend depends on the character of the vintage, and it’s even possible that certain vintages will contain a majority of pinot noir.

2003 Dom Perignon
40% Pinot Noir, 60% Chardonnay.
This wine is all about elegance and power at the same time. Possessing ripe but very well balanced fruit, with minerality and freshness. A masterpiece, considering how hot the 2003 vintage was.

1995 Dom Perignon
48% Pinot Noir, 52% Chardonnay.
This vintage was the opposite of 2003, as classic as it could get. Silky smooth with delicate sweet spice notes, roasted nuts, dry apricots. Stunning.

Conclusion

One of the attendees had commented at the start of the tasting that it would be a fight between the two Doms to see which is better.  But what transpired wasn’t a fight at all – more of a delicious experiment proving that Dom Ruinart and Dom Perignon are two of the best prestige cuvees.  Those who are patient will be rewarded as they age beautifully.

For those of us who cannot afford to drink at the prestige level every day, the NV Ruinart Blanc de Blancs offers superb value, particularly now as it is currently based on the excellent 2012 vintage.

 

Tasting our Way Through Piedmont – Day Two

The second day of our tour was dedicated to Barbaresco, and we had the good fortune to begin in one of the best Barbaresco crus – Rabaja – where we visited two neighbouring estates, Bruno Rocca and Giuseppe Cortese.

Bruno Rocca

Here we met all the Rocca family: Bruno Rocca himself, his daughter Luisa and his son Francesco. He regaled us with entertaining stories. In one tale, he confessed about the single vineyard Barbaresco wine that he made in secret, because his father didn’t believe the project was worthwhile. When he worked up the nerve to serve the wine to his father blind, his father was impressed and asked him what he was tasting. When Bruno proudly revealed what he had made, his father was completely won over.

They have been producing Barbaresco from the celebrated Rabaja cru, of which they own 4 hectares, planted by clonal selection.  The Rabaja vineyard was purchased by Bruno’s father in the 1950s, and they are one of four different producers of this cru. Originally they were growers, and the first vintage they produced was in 1978. Until the 2013 vintage, the wine was blended with some cabernet, but they stopped in order to focus on single varietals. They mark their vines with red ribbons, and are farming organically, aiming for certification by 2017.

Typically, the wines are vinified in stainless steel for 2-3 weeks, before being matured in French oak.  Their oak cask cellar is 15 meters deep and humidity is kept at 90%, with water sprayed to keep the barrels moist.

They produce a range of wines in addition to their celebrated cru Barbarescos, ranging from a Langhe Rosso to a Barbera d’Asti DOCG, and including one white – a Langhe Chardonnay “Cadet”, grown in the village of Neive.

We ended our visit with a simply but deliciously prepared lunch at the winery, and Bruno treated us to a sample of his Barbaresco “Maria Adelaide” DOCG, which was originally made in honour of Bruno’s mother.

Tasting Highlights

Bruno Rocca Barbaresco DOCG 2012

Produced from a blend of several vineyards around Neive.

Ripe aromas, fruit driven, spice and red cherry. Round, elegant palate, with soft red cherry fruits. Yummy.  91 pts

Bruno Rocca Barbaresco DOCG Rabaja 2012

The soil is clay, marl and limestone. The average age of the vines is around 50-60 years.

Nose of spice, strawberry, raspberry and floral notes, amazing depth of aroma. Stunning. Soft entry with a mineral, firm backbone on the palate. Red berries, strong spice notes, very long. 93 pts

Bruno Rocca Barbaresco DOCG Rabaja 2006

Aromas of dark fruit, plums, dark cherries, pepper, dark spice. Amazing. Firm and earthy on the palate, with spice, dark fruit and eucalyptus. 95 pts

Bruno Rocca Barbaresco DOCG “Maria Adelaide” 2011

Approximately 2500 bottles produced.

On the nose, wild strawberry jam, sweet spice and earth. On the palate, firm and ripe dark fruit, dried flowers, long finish. 93 pts

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Giuseppe Cortese

For our second visit of the day, we walked over to the neighbouring estate of Giuseppe Cortese.  The family own 8 hectares of vineyards, and began producing their own wines in 1971.  Currently, they produce around 50,000 bottles annually.

Their picturesque Rabaja holdings are laid out just below the winery, over a natural amphitheatre running between 260-315 metres above sea level. Exposure to light is excellent here, with south and south-western exposure, and it is in these old vineyards where they grow their celebrated Nebbiolo.  The family also have a large holding in the Trifolera vineyard, with west and south-west exposure, where they grow their Chardonnay, Dolcetto and Barbera.

 

They laid on a wonderful vertical of Barbaresco Rabaja for us to taste, going back to 1998. They have some of the largest holdings of this cru, around 4 hectares. This was all about getting to know the Rabaja terroir, and how it is expressed in the hands of a very good producer in different vintages.

Tasting Highlights

Giuseppe Cortese Barbaresco DOCG Rabaja 2012

Matured for around 22 months in Slavonian oak.

Subtle aromatics of spice, earth, deep red fruits. Elegant and subtle red fruit on the palate, fresh and delicious. 90 pts

Giuseppe Cortese Barbaresco DOCG Rabaja 1998

Tobacco, earthy, eucalyptus aromas, with gunpowder and dried cranberry. Earthy on the palate, with hints of mushroom, dried berry fruits. Firm tannins, drying. 89 pts

Giuseppe Cortese Barbaresco DOCG Rabaja Riserva 2008

Spices and dark berries on the nose, earthy depth of aromas, smoky. On the palate, intense dark fruits, powerful, smoky and complex, long finish. 91 pts

Giuseppe Cortese Barbaresco DOCG Rabaja Riserva 2006

Still so restrained, but with a depth of aromas of dark forest berries, sweet spice, fresh cigars. Wonderful nose. Ripe dark berries on the palate with balanced acidity and oak spice. Very long. 93 pts

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Castello di Neive

Our evening festivities were held at the estate of Castello di Neive, where a tasting and dinner were arranged in the castle, purchased by the Stupino family in the 1960s. The original castle was erected in the 12th century, but it was destroyed before being rebuilt in 1530.

Our visit was organised by Claudio Roggero, the winemaker and director. We were welcomed with a chilled glass of the estate’s 2011 spumante – a brut nature made from 100% Pinot Noir, and produced in the traditional method with a second fermentation in bottle, with 30 months on the lees and then riddled by hand. Even for us champagne connoisseurs, it was a very enjoyable bottle indeed, and accompanied by delicious canapes. Before dinner, we had a chance to tour around the castle, which boasts its own chapel as well as a long history of winemaking.

We finished with a delicious dinner, which Claudio had arranged to be delivered from a local Michelin starred restaurant, where his aunt works.  Needless to say, the pasta was to die for! We were fortunate that Italo Stupino could join us in  tasting a vertical of their best wine, the Barbaresco Riserva from the single vineyard of Santo Stefano. This vineyard has been owned solely by the family since 2009. Their holdings total 8.5 hectares, of which 7 ha are planted with Nebbiolo, and 1.5 ha are planted with Barbera. We finished with a 1959 Dom Perignon – after all, it was our friend’s birthday that day.

Tasting Highlights

Barbaresco Santo Stefano Riserva DOCG 2004

On the nose, wonderful depth and concentration of red fruit and earthy notes, rose petals, cherries. Remarkable concentration, freshness, power and elegance at the same time. Fruit, with a touch of tobacco. Stunning. 94 pts

Barbaresco Santo Stefano Riserva DOCG 1999

Only 20,000 bottles made.

Ripe cherries, lavender, earthy, what a concentration, tobacco, wonderful. Palate a little a bit on the rustic side, with red fruit, earthy notes. Silky, juicy texture, long finish. 94 pts  

Barbaresco Santo Stefano Riserva DOCG 1985

Earthy, tobacco, cedar, dry lavender, dry pine forest floor. Elegant, earthy, silky smooth on the palate. Long and so very pretty. 95  pts

Dom Perignon 1959

So fruity at first on the nose, with apricots and honey. Then earthy, and eventually showing tobacco, nuts, chocolate and sultanas. Silky smooth on the palate, creamy with honey. Focused, and ever changing. Ripe, apricot jam. So complex and long. 98 pts

 

To be continued …

 

The lady ages gracefully – The largest La Grande Dame tasting ever?

Prestige cuvees are the pinnacle of a Champagne marque’s production – representing the essence of the house and the purest expression of their Chef de Cave’s vision. Only produced on outstanding vintages, grapes are selected from their finest plots with the oldest vines, elaborated with great care, and the cuvees are only released when they are considered to be showing well.

Despite the history and quality of their production, it was only relatively recently, in the early 1960’s, that Veuve Cliquot decided to produce their own prestige cuvee – La Grande Dame. The first bottles weren’t released until 1972 to commemorate the bicentennial of the founding of the house. Pinot Noir from their Grand Cru holdings is dominant in the blend, the wines are aged for seven years on lees, and perhaps due to the natural sweetness of the Pinot Noir fruit tend to show well in their youth. According to cellar master Dominique Demarville “The goal is not necessarily to express the style of Clicquot… but to achieve the most delicate and elegant expression of pinot noir that we can.”

So when I received an invitation from Marina Olsson at Tasting Group Gomseglet Wine & Champagne Connoisseurs to join a vertical of La Grande Dame from the first vintage in 1962 and including some top Veuve Cliquot vintages I accepted right away. I wasn’t the only one, people flew in from all over Europe for what would perhaps be a once in a lifetime opportunity to taste such a comprehensive selection.

Champagne Devaux – an historic house with contemporary ideas

Champagne Devaux was founded in 1846 and was family owned until 1987 when Jean-Pol Auguste, the last member of the Devaux family, who didn’t have an heir, decided to entrust the future of the company to Laurent Gillet, president of Union Auboise – known today as the Groupe Vinicole Champagne Devaux.

Devaux’s new flagship Collection D range.

A sense of place: pinpointing the terroirs of Champagne

Nicolas Feuillatte isn’t a name that generally sets pulses racing in the champagne world. Founded in 1971 and partnering with the Centre Vinicole de la Champagne in 1986 to form one of the largest cooperatives in the region. Richard Juhlin is lukewarm and describes the wines as “fresh and fruity, and good when one considers the volume.”

It wasn’t the Brut or the Palmes d’Or we were trying this week though, in 1995 Nicolas Feuillatte started to produce a collection of single-village, 100% varietal vintages sourced from six grand crus villages in a single year. This was a real departure for the house, and they only made these wines over a three year period (1995-97), which means it is difficult to find examples – particularly of all six. We were doubly lucky to have the selection from the 1996 vintage, which is renowned as being one of the best in champagne since the famed 1928s. A long, dry summer ensured ripe grapes, but they maintained acidity which promises great ageability.

One of the reasons we were so anticipating this tasting is that in a region so renowned for blending this gave a unique opportunity to examine the influence of the landscape and geology on the wines, and perhaps from there we will start to understand what each village can contribute to a blend.

The wines naturally split into two flights those from Chouilly, Cramant and le Mesnil sur Oger – all grand cru for Chardonnay, and the second from Ambonnay, Verzy and Ay – grand crus for Pinot Noir.

The line up, the Cote de Blancs in glass

Round one: Cote des Blancs

The Cote des Blancs stretches south from Epernay along the D9 to Bergeres-les-Vertus, the soils and geographies vary greatly over this 15km stretch.