Wine and Spirits - December 2011 - (Page 40)

YEAR’S BEST CHAMPAGNE Our blind panels tasted 204 new-release Champagnes, which we presented to the tasting panels grouped by house. Joshua Greene, our critic for Champagne, rated 76 as exceptional (90+) and 23 as Best Buys. Greene reviews the wines below; we’ve also included short proﬁles of each house, contributed by Carson Demmond, Peter Liem, Tara Q. Thomas and Greene. L. AUBRY FILS The Aubry brothers, Pierre and Philippe, run a 42-acre estate in the western Montagne de Reims, where pinot meunier excels. The variety makes up the majority of their NV Brut and Cuvée Réserve, giving the wines extra depth of flavor. The brothers also encourage malolactic fermentation and use only a small amount of dosage, producing wines that feel at once crisp and creamy. Terry Theise Selections/Michael Skurnik Wines, Syosset, NY 179431 CHÂTEAU DE BLIGNY This Côte des Bar estate dates to 1773, when the Marquis de Dampierre bought it as a hunting lodge and made still wine from the vines growing on the surrounding hillsides. It began taking its present form in the 1990s, after Jean-François Rapeneau of Champagne Martel purchased the estate and began renovations. The fairytale castle remains—now ﬁlled with a collection of more than 1,000 Champagne glasses—as do about 100 acres of vines. W.J. Deutsch & Sons, Harrison, NY 179909 high percentage and an important factor contributing to the consistent character and high quality of the wines. Impressive for their acid structure and length of ﬂavor, these are regal and aristocratic Champagnes. Terlato Wines Int’l., Lake Bluﬀ, IL 179405 | Bollinger $ | L. Aubry Fils $ Champagne Brut Premier Cru (Best Buy) While the acidity keeps this crisp, the ﬂavors are heady and mild, creamy and soft. | Château de Bligny $ LOUIS BARTHÉLÉMY This Epernay house was established in the 1920s as Baudry Lebrun & Cie. In 2002, the Chancel family purchased and renamed the property, bringing investments from their base at Château Val Joanis in Provence. They now produce ﬁve cuvées, each named after a precious stone. USA Wine Imports, NY 179544 Champagne Brut Blanc de Blancs (Best Buy) This wine’s aroma is broad and classical, with a Cognac-like barrel-scent. The wood spice continues through the ﬂavors, as does a pure chardonnay fruit character of ﬂoral pear. It’s toasty and sophisticated, following a crisp line of ﬂowers and herbs. Serve it with whole ﬁsh roasted in a wood oven. 179911 | Château de Bligny $ | Louis Barthélémy $ Champagne Brut Amethyste (Best Buy) This wine’s leesiness carries some white pepper scents of alcohol. The rustic bubbles will clean up after country pâté. BERTRAND DELESPIERRE This estate is located in Chamery, a premier cru village in the Montagne de Reims. Didier Bertrand owns 25 acres of vines, most of it pinot meunier, for which Chamery is known. He keeps his wines on the lees for at least three years, crafting broad, earthy Champagnes. Hand Picked Selections, Warrenton, VA 179712 Champagne Grande Réserve (Best Buy) Ripe pear and melon ﬂavors contrast the tart citrusy acidity in this wine. It has a distinct scent of wood spice, which carries through the wine and takes it in a sweet, umami direction. A creamy, Rococo Champagne, this would be satisfying with simple dishes like ﬂuke crudo. 179910 2002 Champagne Brut La Grande Année There is Champagne, and then there is 2002 Bollinger. This wine makes me dizzy, stammering in cross-eyed bliss. Taking a step back, the sustained chord of ﬂavor comes into focus, revealing a limestone honey: scents of acacia, marzipan, apricot and golden citrus. Jamal Rayyis, one of our tasters with the broadest ﬂavor library in his head, described the scent as loomi (dried lime) and dried apricot, as if walking into a Middle Eastern market. Flavor details aside, the wine’s richness softens the structural grandeur of the vintage, which is buoyed in a mineral bath of power. This will reward another ten or 20 years of age, and the bottles that remain will likely only feed the wine’s legend. 179406 | Bollinger $ | Château de Bligny $ Champagne Grande Réserve Brut Rosé (Best Buy) Broad and ﬂowery, with the scent of roses and the red pepper spice of alcohol, this ﬁnishes tight and ﬁrm with a lasting buzz. For roast salmon. | Bertrand-Delespierre $ BOLLINGER Founded in 1829, Bollinger today is known for the rich, substantial style of its Champagnes. That style is shaped in part by fermentation of the base wines in neutral oak barrels, as well as the unusual and labor-intensive practice of storing reserve wines in magnum bottles. Bollinger’s vineyards provide for two-thirds of its needs, a remarkably 2004 Champagne Brut Premier Cru (Best Buy) Buttery richness up front transforms to fresh cream and chalk ﬂavors, those paler chardonnay tones balancing tart red raspberry scents. There’s good tension in the wine, the fruit sweetness refreshed by acidity. For lobster. 2002 Champagne Brut Rosé La Grande Année The sheer intensity and power of this wine is awesome, an almost violent red from the addition of Coteaux Champenois pinot noir from La Côte de Enfants (about seven percent of the blend). It’s in overdrive when ﬁrst opened, an extreme wine with the redness of roses on ﬁre, the impacted ﬂavor of seashell minerality and the cool crispness of apple skin. A day later, the wine is eﬀortlessly detailed, blissfully rich with the subtle toastiness derived from fermentation in old oak barrels. The acidity is there to keep it fresh for as long as it lives, a life that will be measured in decades. 179404 | Bollinger $ Champagne Brut Special Cuvée Richness is all in this latest release of Special Cuvée, a complex and supple blend based on red grapes (60 percent pinot noir and 15 percent meunier with the balance in chardonnay). Structured by reserve wines aged in magnum 40 W I N E & S P I R I T S D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 1

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Wine and Spirits - December 2011

Wine and Spirits - December 2011
Editor’s Note
Happenings
Contents
Fined & Filtered Luke Sykora on Napa's Latest Vintages; Wine Manga Hits Our Stores
Spirits: Winter's New Must-Haves from Lou Bustamante
Bordeaux on the Down Low
Post-Modern Barolo
Coombsville Rising
Breaking the Mold
Where’s the Beef?
Extreme Values
Tastings Overview
Champagne
American Cabernet & Blends
Barolo & Barbaresco
Rioja
German Riesling
American Wines
Imported Wines
Champagne’s Warming Trend

Wine and Spirits - December 2011