Champagne

Grand Masque v Family Producers

A function of the

The Wine and Food Society of Western Australia

7 February 2010

The Champagne industry has been dominated for many years by the Grand Marque champagne houses. Producers like Pol Roger, Roederer, Moet and Krug are synonymous with fine champagne. To meet the massive demand for their wines, the Grand Marques purchase very large quantities of fruit from growers through-out the region.

Many of the growers also sell wine under their own labels. These wines have often been made by large co-operatives who return a portion of the finished wines to the growers to sell.

There is a growing trend for some fruit growers to actually make their own champagnes in-house. These family produced Champagnes are hand made in small quantities. This allows for a variety of styles to be produced. The quality of these wines can be very high and they can offer real value.

The aim of this tasting was to compare “Family” wines with the Grand Marques to see how they measured up. The results were fascinating. Each bracket of wines had a selection of both family and Grand Marque wines, and support was divided between the two. The wines that scored best had almost universal support from those attending.

To me the wine of the night was the Marc Hebrart! This delivered real excitement at a price that is unbeatable. In fact, it was the cheapest wine in the tasting at $46.20. Two other family wines that received significant support were the Lanais and the Gaston Chiquet. With the exception of the Launois ($59), most of the family wines were under $50 per bottle.

That most of the Grand Marques performed well is of no surprise. What was interesting was in the last bracket (Dom Perignon, Krug and Pol Roger 1999), most present preferred the Pol Roger! At less than half the price of the big guns, this must also represent a bargain! Importantly, there was no losers in this tasting, and I would be happy drinking any of the wines.

N.B. My tasting notes are a bit sparse, as I was also in the kitchen for this event.

Tasted

Krug – Grand Cuvee – NV (18.8). Wow, turbo charged nose with ripe fruit and a complex yeasty note. The palate starts with an incredible explosion of rich fruit and is followed by great length and complexity. A powerful wine that is VERY long and seamless. Be patient.

Moet and Chandon – Dom Perignon – 2000 (18.8). Very tight and closed. You can actually smell chardonnay fruit here. The palate is defined by the incredible length and complexity, but this is just a baby. Points mainly for potential. Give it 5 years.

Pol Roger – Vintage – 1999.(18.7). Fresher and more forward than the first two wines, but with wonderful balance to the citrus and brioche characters. This is seriously complex and long, but the creamy palate remains fine and delicate to the close. This is crying out for a few years in the cellar. At less than $100, this is an absolute bargain and a clear favourite on the night. (Tasted twice with similar results).

Pol Roger – Extra Cuvee de Reserve – NV (18.3). This wine was really alive. Fine, long, tight and fresh, yet with a degree of complexity and power. A lovely aperitif style now, or will develop more richness with bottle age.

Launois Grand Cru – Blanc de Blancs – 2004 (18.2). Quite distinctive on the nose. Long, tight and dry, with a lovely freshness. This is fine and very long. Just at the start of its life and worth a try.

Veuve Clicquot – Brut – NV (18). A richer wine than some in the tasting, this is complex and beautifully balanced. A lovely floral character runs through the wine, with some gentle spice to close.

Marc Hebrart – Cuvee Reserve – Premier Cru – NV (17.9). More open and forward with floral fruit characters. The palate has lovely creamy fruit with a savoury finish. This is fine and long, and has crunchy granny smith apples to close. Very easy to drink and a real bargain!

Bolinger – Special Cuvee – NV (17.8). A richer style and very complex, with yeast and bread and lees all apparent on the nose. Creamy, textured and long on the palate, the finish is surprisingly dry and fresh. Not everyone’s style but suits me.

Voirin-Jumel – Blanc de Blanc – Grand Cru – NV (17.8). A touch more developed, with lees and richness. On the palate, it is the length of flavour that really stands out. The creamy fruit is complimented by fresh acid to close.

Tattinger – Brut – NV (17.7). This really suffered from being too cold. Once it warmed up a little, it really started to sing. Consistently good in recent tastings.

Laurent Perrier – Brut LP – NV (17.5). Complex, with subtle yeast/lees characters on the nose. The palate is creamy and interesting, and whilst long, remains quite taught and linear in the mouth. Well balanced.

Henriet-Bazin – Blanc de Noirs – Brut Grand Cru – NV (17.3). The mousse was a little bigger to start. A bit more colour and quite complex. The nose has some nuttiness and lees characters. Fine and long, this is an enjoyable drink.

Raymond Boulard – Cuvee Reserve – Blanc de Noirs – Brut – NV (17.2). Lovely nose with a touch of developed characters, honey and apple. The palate is creamy but taught and appears to have a fairly low dosage. A blend of 70% pinot meunier and 30% pinot noir.

Gaston Chiquet – Brut Tradition – NV (17). The nose was quite closed, but the palate was generous, textured and showing good acid balance. Not so complex now, and just a touch too foamy in the mouth. Should improve.

All the family wines were sourced from Ross Duke in Melbourne. Their contact details are:

Tel: (03) 9696 7920
Fax: (03) 9696 8703
E.mail: rdwc@frenchwinecentre.com
Website: www.frenchwinecentre.com

“A Mouth Full of Joy”

18 November 2009 – Lamont’s Cottesloe

I was lucky enough to attend the “Mouth Full of Joy” tasting at Lamont’s in Cottesloe the other day. I don’t know if John Jens coined the phrase or if he heard it somewhere else, but when he suggested that Champagne should taste like a “mouthful of joy”, I felt that this summed up quality champagne perfectly.

It stands to reason that the better the wine, the more joy it brings, and this tasting gave me the opportunity to taste many of the better known wines on the market. I was interested to see whether reputation and price were reflected in the absolute quality of the wines.

So how did they look?

The big winner was the Pol Gesner NV. This is a direct import by BWS (Woolworths) and has performed consistently in my tastings over the last couple of years. This was the equal of many wines in the tasting, but is available for as little as $33 dollars in dozen buys.

It was not surprising that Pol Roger, Veuve, Roederer etc. performed well, nor was it a surprise that Moet was quite mediocre.

On a side-bar, it is worth getting on to the Lamont’s mailing list, as they have the best line up of tastings in Perth at present.

Results

Louis Roederer – Brut Premier – NV (18.6). Lifted, bright and racy. The nose had floral characters, lemon, fresh bread and a touch of toast. The palate was creamy, fine, fresh and vibrant with grapefruit to close. Not showing the greatest complexity, but a delightful aperitif wine. This is my style of wine.

Pol Roger – Vintage – 1999 (18.5++). Wow, this is special. Opens with complex brioche and citrus characters, but appears quite closed. The palate is super fine and tight and is defined by powerful fruit with excellent length. Lemony acid to close. This will get even higher marks in a couple of years (the 1990 is sensational now). As with the entire Pol Roger range, this represents great value!

Pol Roger – Extra Cuvee de Reserve – NV (18.5). Bigger and more complex than most here. Very fine mousse and nose. This is very fine and elegant, but has a degree of richness and depth that makes it stand out. Lovely mouth feel and persistence.

Pol Gessner – NV (18.5). Lovely colour and very fine mousse. The nose is complex with yeasty/brioche notes, but retains enough freshness to keep it really interesting. The palate is complex, rich and round, with a very fine finish. Excellent length and mouth feel, with racy acidity to close. This is an absolute bargain at under $35 from BWS.

Gossett – Brut – NV (18.5). This is rich, complex and very long. Lovely almond meal and fresh brioche. A complete wine that is seamless from front to back.

Veuve Cliquot – Brut – NV (18.4). Creamy and complex nose with a fine mouse and elegant nose. The palate was zesty, big, rich long and fine. The texture and mouth feel were great. Very persistent. A lovely wine.

Tattinger – Brut – NV (18). A touch more colour than some here. This also had more honey characters and some mushroom/forest floor notes. The palate is developed, honeyed, round and long. Builds in the mouth to a very satisfying finish. Finer than I expected.

Bollinger – Special Cuvee – NV (18). This was a more forward fruit driven style. The fruit is a bit simple right now and it is a touch foamy in the mouth, but the fruit was clean and fresh, with good length and persistence. Opened in the glass and built power. The balance of the wine stood out. I expect this to improve in the short term.

Laurent Perrier – Brut LP – NV (17.6). Citrus and brioche dominate the very fine mousse. There is also a slight toastyness and mealy character. The palate is richer and broader than some here, but lacks the length of the best.

Moet & Chandon – NV (17). The darkest of all the wines here. A fine mousse, but not revealing a lot on the nose. The palate is creamy and quite rich and builds intensity. Lacks the depth of flavour or freshness of the best here. Easy drinking (I wonder if this is a pinot dominant blend?).

Piper Heidsieck – NV (16.9). This is a lighter style that appeared a bit young. The mousse was a little coarse, and it was a bit foamy in the mouth. Simple clean and fresh with no rough edges. Value at $33 from Vintage Cellars.