Roses for Jeanne, bulles for her

Bouchard 2005 Champagne La Bolorée Blanc des Blancs “Roses de Jeanne” (Champagne) – Difficult to know, difficult to like. I don’t mean that I don’t like it, at all…rather that my experience of it is more of an appreciation than something more visceral. It seems like it wants to be pretty, but there are so many rigidities and barely-hidden edges to it that it really can’t be, and instead what it ends up being is sharp to the point of aggressivity, and rather abrupt as well. There’s also a sense that it’s trying a bit too hard. If this note reads as a lot of vague characterization without anything in the way of organoleptic specificity, that’s because that’s how the wine expresses itself to me: no “fruit” as such, structure mostly just bite and snap, ultra-fine electric-shock bubbles, and quite a bit of attitude. (9/11)

Miss Chétillons

Pierre Peters 2000 Champagne Le Mesnil-sur-Oger Grand Cru Brut “Cuvée Spéciale” Blanc de Blancs “Les Chétillons” (Champage) – Jeebus, that’s a lot of words. Here’s a bit of info that’s not a word: L.SBAA02, for the interested. And what about the wine? Lurid white flowers that quickly flash into an even more lurid state of decay, white pepper, intense Granny Smith apple. Long. Very long. Incisive and, once some of the overt floral prelude has sorted itself out, focused. Frankly, this is a brilliant wine. (1/11)

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)

Who wants to be?

Charles Heidsieck 1990 Champagne Brut Blanc de Blancs “Blanc des Millénaires” (Champagne) – Reggiano rinds, stale lemon, green olive, and slightly sweaty socks. As bad as the previous sounds, I actually kind of like the result. Later, a little zing of black cherry skin appears; unusually so, considering that this is a chardonnay-based sparkler. Very good, but I wouldn’t hold it much longer. (3/05)

Qu'est-ce Cuis?

Gimonnet Champagne Cuis “1er Cru” Brut Blanc de Blancs (Champagne) – Metal-jacketed apple, makrut lime, and rhubarb. Interesting, to say the least. I’m not sure how to describe the texture here, as it’s something a little out of the ordinary. Rhomboid? Sure, why not? Incisive, long, and strong-willed. Insistent stuff. Almost certainly needs age. (3/09)

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)

C'est Cuis

Pierre Gimonnet Champagne Cuis “1er Cru” Brut Blanc de Blancs (Champagne) – Striking nose of rainforest rocks and humidity. Huge lemon brioche (sprinkled with grapefruit shavings) on the palate. There’s excellent balance between bitterness and acidity. Massively long and frankly gorgeous, with skins dominating right now, and a very trebly midpalate that I expect to mellow with a little age. (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)

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)

Count Champagneula

Taittinger 1990 Champagne Brut Blanc de Blancs “Comtes de Champagne” (Champagne) – Brioche, biscuit, old butter, and fine-grained dandelion pollen, shown delicately but plainly. This would seem to be fully mature. (5/08)

Whiteout

Larmandier-Bernier Champagne “1er Cru” Brut Blanc de Blancs “Vertus” (Champagne) – If there were such a thing as mineral soda, this would be it. Not in the hyper-austere fashion of a sekt, but in a poised, brilliant, flowing way; elegant mineral soda as conceived by Frank Gehry, perhaps. (3/08)

Patrick & Lalou

Duval-Leroy 1997 Champagne “Blanc de Chardonnay” (Champagne) – Ripe lemon curd, skins, and incredible intensity. Clean, with bubbles taken down to powdery fineness. (2/07)

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)

Acute, Vertus

Larmandier-Bernier Champagne “1er Cru” Blanc de Blancs “Vertus” (Champagne) – Delicate and floral, with strobe-like metals and powdered lemon-apple crystals. Incisive but not sharp, long, feminine (with gentle but inexorable strength), and just beautiful throughout. (1/08)

Larmandier-Bernier Champagne “1er Cru” Vertus Blanc de Blancs (Champagne) – Stunning elegance, with the finest particulate matter forming some sort of indescribable sculpture of beauty. The finish is long and supremely refined. Fabulous Champagne. (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)