Wine & Spirits - December 2019 - 63

YEAR'S BEST CHAMPAGNES
Our blind panels tasted 255 new-release Champagnes over the past 12 months. Joshua Greene rated 86 as exceptional (90+)
and 14 as Best Buys. We present the wines by house, accompanied by background information compiled by Corey Warren.
Find a complete list of wines tasted and all reviews at wineandspiritsmagazine.com.

91 | Paul Bara

ARTEIS & CO
Marque Auxiliare of Jean Diot, NégociantManipulant in Vinay (Vallée de la Marne);
founded 2011; owns 18.5 acres: 60% pinot
meunier, 20% pinot noir, 20% chardonnay; average vine age: 30 to 35 years; oldest
vines: 77 years. Cellarmaster/Vigneron: JeanPhilippe Diot; 600-1,000 cases produced. §
Imported by Concurrent Wines, Redondo
Beach, CA
273553

92 | Artéis & Co

$68

Champagne Grand Cru Brut Rosé ^ This
wine is 80 percent pinot noir, including 12
percent Bouzy Rouge for color; the balance
is chardonnay. The current release, based
on the 2014 vintage, feels brisk, bright and
sunny, with the sweet-savory balance of Red
Zinger tea. The red fruit lasts, suggesting it's
best enjoyed with dinner, especially if there's
Peking duck on the menu. (Disgorged 12/18)

JACQUES BARDELOT

$80

2007 Champagne Brut ^ This is a savory
Champagne, focused on scents of herbs,
roots and fresh chanterelles. The high acidity
creates a note of bitterness, like quinine, to
balance and amplify the yellow-cherry flavor.
Give it cellar time to mellow, or serve it in a
big wine glass with dinner, particularly roast
pheasant with chanterelles. (Disgorged 4/17)

Négociant-Manipulant in Oiry (Côte des
Blancs); founded 1993; owns 24 acres:
40% pinot noir, 30% chardonnay, 30%
pinot meunier; oldest vines: 30 years. Cellarmaster: Julien Lefevre; 5,000 cases produced. Imported by Prestige Beverage Group,
Mendota Heights, MN
273844

PA U L B A R A

Champagne Brut Rosé (Best Buy) ^ This is a
label from Les Roches Blanches, a négociant
based in Oiry. It's a brisk rosé with stemmy
greenness, flavors of forest berries and pink
grapefruit. Simple and rustic; a country
Champagne.
273848

Récoltant-Manipulant in Bouzy (Montagne
de Reims); founded 1860; owns 27 acres:
pinot noir, chardonnay; average vine age:
35 years; oldest vines: 50 years. Cellarmaster: Christian Forget; Vignerons: Evelyne
Dauvergne and Chantale Bara. Imported by
Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant, Berkeley, CA
273454

94 | Paul Bara

$68

2008 Coteaux Champenois Grand Cru
Bouzy Rouge ^ Paul Bara was a founder of
the Académie du Vin de Bouzy, a group of
growers who work together to promote
Bouzy Rouge, an appellation dedicated to
still pinot noir wines. His daughter, Chantale, now runs the estate, and Christian Forget makes the wine, including this 2008 that
lives up to Bouzy's grand-cru billing. As one
taster noted, "You could throw it into a highclass Burgundy tasting and it would be hard
to spot." Another described the wine's zesty
pinot noir flavors as "open and jovial." It's
floral and cool, with the limestone minerality
of oyster shells. Pour it with roast fish over a
pinot-noir reduction.
274360

89 | Jacques Bardelot

$40

88 | Jacques Bardelot

$35

Champagne Brut (Best Buy) ^ Focused on
red fruit (50 percent pinot noir, 30 percent
meunier), this has a spicy raspberry scent and
simple flavors that feel light, airy and pleasantly sweet. For a summer apéritif or a winter
vacation in the sun.

BOIZEL
Négociant-Manipulant in Epernay (Vallée de
la Marne); founded 1834; owns 17 acres: 20%
pinot noir, 30% chardonnay, 50% meunier;
average vine age: 30 years; oldest: 55 years.
Cellarmaster/Vigneron: Florent Roques-Boizel; 40,000 cases produced. § Imported by Palm
Bay Int'l, Port Washington, NY
274056

90 | Boizel

$100

2008 Champagne Grand Vintage Brut ^ Flavors of yellow peach and green apple unfurl
from this wine's sweet fruit density. It has a

clean lime scent and malic feel, still tight and
youthful. Pour it with pan-roasted snapper
over morels and cream. (Disgorged 11/17)

BOLLINGER
Négociant-Manipulant in Aÿ (Vallée de la
Marne); founded 1829; owns 405 acres:
60% pinot noir, 25% chardonnay, 15% pinot
meunier; average vine age: 25 years; oldest
vines: 60 years. Cellarmaster: Gilles Descôtes.
Imported by Vintus, Pleasantville, NY
271302

97 | Bollinger

$170

94 | Bollinger

$110

93 | Bollinger

$155

2008 Champagne La Grande Année Brut ^
Gilles Descôtes blends this from 18 crus,
pinot noir making up 71 percent of the blend
(mostly from Aÿ and Verzenay), the balance
from chardonnay (focused on Le Mesnil-surOger and Cramant). The base wine ferments
in oak barrels, adding to this Champagne's
concentrated power. Its dark intensity has
the coolness of Bollinger's deep aging cellars,
even as the wine sustains delicate notes of
wildflowers, morels and the perfumed grace
of pinot noir. Massive and still youthful, the
flavors rounded into a sphere, this is a wine
to cellar.
274163
Champagne Brut Rosé ^ Brisk and bold,
this mellows from a tough stance into long,
mouthwatering flavors of red forest berries with a rich underlying oak structure. It
includes five percent red wine from Verzenay
and Aÿ, contributing to the color and to the
lasting depth of flavor-this tastes good several days after opening, even after the bubbles have completely dissipated.
273462
2014 Coteaux Champenois La Côte aux
Enfants ^ Jacques Bollinger purchased this
parcel during the late 1920s. A site at the
top of the côte in Aÿ noted for the high level
of active limestone in its soils, it has been a
source of red wines for Bollinger's rosés since
the 1930s, and the winery has used the prime,
south-facing sector to produce a long-lived
pinot noir with its own distinct personality.
This vintage is tight, with floral red cherry
WINE & SPIRITS

DECEMBER 2019

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Wine & Spirits - December 2019

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