It hurts like Billiot

H. Billiot Fils Champagne Grand Cru Brut Réserve (Champagne) – Disgorged 10 September 2007. Subtle. Perhaps too subtle for my tastes. Copper and sourdough starter, divergence and dissipation come the finish. (5/11)

Egly-May Clampett

Egly-Ouriet 1996 Champagne Grand Cru Brut (Champagne) – Disgorged July 2004. Powerful, strong, even muscular, but not overwhelming…though I would opine that it has reached its full maturity, and should be put in the drinking queue ASAP. Copper toned old citrus, burnished but still antiqued, forms a core from which emanates a lush sheen of many polishings. Beginning to shorten, just a bit. (1/10)

The first

Jean Milan 2002 Champagne Grand Cru “Sélection” Blanc de Blancs Brut “Cuvée Terres de Noël” (Champagne) – An acid-drenched pillow, simultaneously comforting and bracing, and dancing through fields of berries, their flowers, earth-driven ripe red-fruitedness, and sunny Georgia peach. Endlessly long. Rich like a winter ale, and oh so very beautiful. (12/09)

Nay Ouriet?

Egly-Ouriet Champagne Grand Cru “V.P.” Extra-Brut (Champagne) – Pinot-dominated by the aromas, but there’s a sharpness more reminiscent of something chardonnay-based as well. Whatever the cépage, it’s highly alive and present, almost in-your-face, with a coiled energy. It’s a dramatic wine at the moment, but I’d be interested in seeing where it’s headed. (9/09)

The needs of the Mesnil outweigh than the needs of the few, or the Oger

Pierre Peters 1998 Champagne Le Mesnil-sur-Oger “Grand Cru” Brut Blanc de Blancs (Champagne) – Vibrant, in the prime of its young adulthood, with a throbbing core of life and energy. Ultra-ripe (but not sweet) heirloom apple, lemony yeast, and the last lingering crusts of a flaky pain levain – there’s something more fundamental here than the standard brioche – with firm acidity, fine-grained electric bubbles, and a long, precise finish. Yowzers. (7/09)

Held back

Pierre Peters Champagne Le Mesnil-sur-Oger “Grand Cru” Brut Blanc de Blancs “Cuvée de Réserve” (Champagne) – This is the NV bottling that would have been in stores in 1998, so it’s getting long in the tooth for an NV, even one that was as good as this has long been. Alas, it appears to have reached the end of its useful life, and is now on the downslope…though it should be said that this bottle tastes considerably older than one tasted last year, more than would be accounted for by the time that’s passed. There’s that antiqued bread character, bronze-ish and autumnal, common to older Champagnes, and the way this facet it tiring – paired with a new, elbowy sharpness to the acidity – is the clearest sign of the fade. Still plenty characterful,, but drink up. (7/09)

The first Noël

Jean Milan 2002 Champagne Oger “Grand Cru” Brut Blanc de Blanc “Sélection Terres de Noël” (Champagne) – Beautiful. Soft golden complexity, with a hint of curry dusting exotic flowers and heirloom apples. Very pure and gentle. Extremely long, eventually getting around to showing apples in every possible form, from flower to juice. Gorgeous. (12/08)

Oger Simpson

Jean Milan Champagne Oger “Grand Cru” Brut Blanc de Blancs “Spécial” (Champagne) – Delicate, with fine-grained crystals. Crisp but fullish acidity, ripe lime, and lots of molten metal…which hardens on the finish, driven through like a ramrod. Long and in need of time, despite the presence of lovely hints of maturity dancing around the aromas. (12/08)

The needs of the Mesnil outweigh the needs of the few, or the one

Pierre Peters Champagne à Le Mesnil-sur-Oger “Grand Cru” Brut Blanc de Blancs “Cuvée Réserve” (Champagne) – Heady toast and pastry, ripe lemon, and Granny Smith apple. Very powerful with a fine baring of its minerality on the finish. The nose is just a little weird…an odd mix of youthful and advanced characteristics that don’t quite gel. Perhaps in time. (12/08)

One Lallement in time

Jean Lallement Champagne Verzenay “Grand Cru” Brut (Champagne) – Mist-shrouded but heady, with suggestions of animalistic wildness. Sauvage, perhaps, and that’s not something I’ve ever said about a Champagne not made by Selosse. Intense lemon-loam (as opposed to lemon-lime), clementine. Turns a bit unctuous as it broadens, and the finish is a bit of a disappointment in its lack of length. (12/08)

Beta Verzenay

Jean Lallement Champagne Verzenay “Grand Cru” Brut “Cuvée Réserve” (Champagne) – Crushed strawberry and rather bodacious red cherry, leaves, and thyme. Smells fruit-sweet. Sizeable. Rolling watermelon rock candy on the finish, and then the tactile sensation of frozen metal to which one has unwisely stuck their tongue. I can’t quite figure this one out. (12/08)

Holiday Jouy

Aubry Champagne à Jouy-les-Reims “Grand Cru” Brut Rosé (Champagne) – Tart cranberry somewhat overwhelms a core that leans more towards red and black cherry; this is a wine that leads with its acidity, and never takes its foot off the sour pedal. And is that hollyberry? Sharp and linear. Not really my thing; it’s more like an intermezzo that it is a beverage, though I suppose with the right accompaniment it could sing. Maybe an edgy berry dessert? (12/08)

Feeling Bouzy

Bara Champagne Bouzy “Grand Cru” Brut “Grand” Rosé (Champagne) – From 375 ml. Piercing x-rays of raspberry, crisp apple, and essence of mountain wildflower over a gravel bed. Complex and yearning, but painfully youthful; even if this won’t age (which I think it will), it needs some time to settle into itself. (8/08)

Who wants to be a Mesnil-aire?

Pierre Peters Champagne Le Mesnil-sur-Oger “Grand Cru” Brut Blanc de Blancs “Cuvée de Réserve” (L 0931) (Champagne) – This is the version that was available in early 1998, and is thus a ten-year old NV Champagne. And this bottle hasn’t been stored in pristine conditions. That said, it’s holding well, perhaps just a year or two past its best stage for nut fans, with weight and minerality underneath the toasted almonds. My personal preference is to drink chardonnay-based sparklers early, and save the aging for those made from more red grapes, but there are always delicious exceptions. (8/08)

Lenoble rot

Lenoble 1998 Champagne “Grand Cru” Blanc de Blancs (Champagne) – Lemon and massive appleness. Bright and sharp, though perhaps a bit obvious. (2/07)

H. Billiot & Fils 1998 Champagne Brut “Millésime” “Grand Cru” à Ambonnay (Champagne) – Valencia orange and Thai basil. The fruit’s on the sweeter side, and the wine is both big and slightly obvious (in this, it probably suffers from being served after a Larmandier-Bernier). But the finish is long and crisp, and I suspect this is a good deal better than I’m giving it credit for. (10/07)

Delos, I love you, won't you tell me your name?

Pierre Moncuit Champagne à Le Mesnil sur Oger “Grand Cru” Brut Blanc de Blancs “Cuvée Pierre Moncuit-Delos” (Champagne) – Brilliant bubbly with fine poise, creamy texture, and complexity to spare. Brioche and hazelnut are in the mix, as well as preserved lemon, old wood shavings, and a delicate aroma of faded yellow flowers. Just beautiful. (8/07)