Wine & Spirits - December 2019 - 66

YEAR'S BEST CHAMPAGNES
94 | Krug

$299

Champagne 23rd Edition Brut Rosé ^ The
base of this wine comes from the 2011 vintage, an early and challenging harvest, while
a majority of the blend comes from reserve
wines (56 percent). Those reserves, dating
back to 2000, create a complex and fascinating rosé, deepened by 13 percent red wine
from pinot noir. Its luscious red- berry flavors
carry a range of exotic spices, from cumin to
curry and black tea. There's also an oystershell minerality, lifting all the succulent fruit
so that the wine feels graceful.
273314

94 | Krug

$299

Champagne 22nd Edition Brut Rosé ^ This
rosé is based on the 2010 vintage, including
nine percent pinot noir red wine to provide
color. The blend is mostly red grapes-51
percent pinot noir and 32 percent meunier
with 17 percent chardonnay-and all that
red fruit gives the wine dense and sunny raspberry power, lightened by a pointedly fresh
acidity from the relatively young reserve
wines that make up 47 percent of the blend.
It's a meaty rosé to serve with charcuterie or,
more formally, with a crown roast of pork.
273313

93 | Krug

$175

Champagne Grande Cuvée 167th Edition
Brut ^ As grand as its name would suggest, this
is a complex and substantial blend, based on
the 2011 vintage. Eric Lebel included reserve
wines going back to 1995, providing 42 percent of the final blend. In the mix of 191 individual lots, there's a lot of flavor complexity, layering hazelnut, white flowers, exotic
fruit, hints of butterscotch and toast. There's
also an earthy, meaty tone, like mousse truffé,
which is what you might serve with it.

Récoltant-Manipulant in Cramant (Côte des
Blancs); founded 1967; owns 22.5 acres: 60%
chardonnay, 30% pinot meunier, 10% pinot
noir; average vine age: 40 years; oldest vines:
60 years. Cellarmaster/Vigneron: Gilles
Lancelot; 5,800 cases produced. Imported by
Vintage '59 Imports, Washington, DC
273640
$64

Champagne Instant Présent Brut Blanc de
Blancs ^ This chardonnay is based on the 2015
vintage, with 20 percent reserve wines. It's
floral and tense, the fruit so bluntly chalky
it feels like a direct transfer of terroir into
the glass. It has a crunchy tannic structure,
like the crunch of silver-queen corn in midAugust, mild and intense at once. Intriguing
now, this will mellow with a year in bottle.
273645
66

WINE & SPIRITS

DECEMBER 2019

$74

Champagne Grand Cru Table Ronde
Extra Brut Blanc de Blancs ^ This is chardonnay from the Lancelot-Pienne family's parcels in Cramant, Avize and Chouilly. Based
on the 2014 vintage, it includes reserve wines
(20 percent) maintained as a solera. The richness gives an impression of lemon-custard,
while the wine's salty chalkiness ghosts it in
a red blush of fruit. It would be delicious next
to the caramelle pasta with corn and chanterelles at NYC's Crown Shy. (Disgorged 9/18)
273642

JACQUES LASSAIGNE
Négociant-Manipulant in Montgueux
(Aube); founded 1964; owns 9.1 acres: 100%
chardonnay; average vine age: 45 years; oldest vines: 55 years. Cellarmaster/Vigneron:
Emmanuel Lassaigne; 4,500 cases produced.
Imported by Jenny & François Selections, NY
273996

93 | Jacques Lassaigne

$63

Champagne Accord Majeur Brut ^ Mostly
meunier (70 percent), the balance equal
parts pinot noir and chardonnay, this release
is based on the 2013 vintage. It's earthy and
tart, with strawberry and rhubarb notes
underlying the light earthiness of its tannins.
Gentle and complex.

Champagne Vignes de Montgueux Extra
Brut Blanc de Blancs ^ Subtly refreshing, this
wine has a gracious generosity that kept our
panelists going back to taste it again and
again. It has a woodlands character, the fruit
hinting at heirloom apples and fresh chanterelles, while the bubbles carry a beautiful
chalkiness and brioche scents. Its clean, lingering richness will complement a range of
foods, from oysters to meaty roast fish with
chanterelles and cream.

LANSON

JEAN LAURENT

Négociant-Manipulant in Reims; founded
1760; owns 143 acres: 50% pinot noir, 35%
chardonnay, 15% pinot meunier; average
vine age: 30 years; oldest vines: 56 years. Cellarmaster: Hervé Dantan; Vigneron: Jérôme
Courgey; 333,333 cases produced. Imported
by Lanson Int'l Americas, NY
274164

Récoltant-Manipulant in Celles-sur-Ource
(Aube); founded 1952; owns 37 acres: 70%
pinot noir, 25% chardonnay, 5% pinot blanc;
average vine age: 25 years; oldest vines: 60
years. Cellarmasters: Jean Laurent, Maxime Rivière; Vignerons: Jean Laurent, David
Rodriguez; 8,300 cases produced. Imported
by Hand Picked Selections, Warrenton, VA
274353

91 | Lancelot Pienne

92 | Lanson

$64

$100

2008 Champagne Gold Label Brut ^ Sustaining purity and freshness as it ages past the
decade mark, this has lovely depths of golden
apple and a silky weave of chalk and lemon.
There's a crisp, quinine-like bitterness to the
wine's minerality, with chalk dust adding
another layer of complexity. (Disgorged 2/16)
274160

92 | Lanson

LANCELOT-PIENNE

93 | Lancelot Pienne

92 | Lancelot Pienne

$65

Champagne Rose Label Brut Rosé ^ If you
haven't tried a Lanson wine lately, check
out this Rose Label Rosé. It's a delicious
wine grown under the clouds and over the
chalk of Champagne, lasting on pale raspberry flavors and a subtle, mellow gaminess.
As concentrated as the fruit may be, it follows a cool, brisk line. Pour it as you would a
light Burgundy, with lacquered duck or other
dark-meat game birds. (Disgorged 2/18)
274156

90 | Lanson

$45

Champagne Black Label Brut (Best Buy) ^
With brisk flavors ranging from green apple
to orange and red raspberry, this wine
emphasizes fresh fruit and chalky limestone
acidity. It's clean and simply presented, ready
to pour with briny oysters. (Disgorged 1/18)

92 | Jean Laurent

$104

2008 Champagne La Griffe de l'Ource
Brut Blanc de Noirs ^ This is all pinot noir
and yet it tastes as much like heirloom apples
as it does like red fruit. The fruit is clean, fragrant and impressively fresh, lasting with gingery acidity against its crisp tones of yellow
apple and light strawberry. Finely integrated
and pretty, this will continue to age well, if
you don't open it now with a plateau des
fruits de mer. (Disgorged 7/19)

LAURENT-PERRIER
Négociant-Manipulant in Tours-sur-Marne
(Grande Vallée); founded 1812; Groupe Laurent-Perrier owns 3,830 acres; Cellarmaster:
Michel Fauconnet. Imported by LaurentPerrier US, Long Island City, NY.
273528

92 | Laurent-Perrier

$100

Champagne Brut Cuvée Rosé ^ Intensely floral, this wine has a copper-pink color that's
reflected in the coppery and salty edge of
its raspberry and mineral depths. It's ripe,
savory and clean, and hard to resist if there
are duck rillettes nearby.
273529

Wine & Spirits - December 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Wine & Spirits - December 2019