Wine among friends I

I recently tasted several wines with friends at their house and thought it would be fun to share a few thoughts.
First up was the Jean Extra Brut. Jean Veselle’s Champagnes have a habit of sneaking up and surprising you. The wines are well made and offer great quality to price ratio. Jean Vesselle is a small grower RM producing about 5,800 cases per year. The Vesselle family has been working vineyards in the village of Bouzy since 1885.
The Jean Vesselle Extra Brut is made with mostly younger vines consisting of 80% Pinot Noir and 20% Chardonnay, and finished with zero dosage.

Lean and clean with focused minerality, green apple, and floral aromas with a touch of toasted bread. This wine was arguably the surprise of the night. It is ultimately in the right position for the lineup, it makes a great aperitif. Nobody present wanted to take notes because it was so easy to drink you could not stop enjoying it long enough to take notes. Price: $49 Rating: + (+)

Next to the party was Deutz Brut Classic. Deutz (NM) was establised in 1838 and produces about 187,000 cases per year. Located in the village of Ay.
The Brut Classic is the NV entry point for Champagne Deutz consisting of about one third each Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier and Chardonnay. With about 9g/L dosage.

Light and lively this aperitif style displays chalky minerality with lemon, cinnamon, smoke and flowers with a balanced and focused mouth feel.  Price $45 Rating: +

Door number three revealed Champagne Roses de Jeanne (RM) Founded in 2000 by Cedric Bouchard.  While the founding is recent, Cedric Bouchard has wasted no time in making an impact, he was awarded Champagne winemaker of the year in 2008 by Gault Millau.
He farms organically and restricts yields to extremely low levels.
All of his wines are single parcel, single vintage, single varietal, and zero dosage, allowing the purist expression of terroir. To keep with the theme of purity, his wines are foot trodden and use only ambient yeast. His total yearly production is about 400 cases per year. His bottles are made using a special blend of unobtainium.
Roses de Jeanne Cote de Bachelin 2007 consists of 100% Pinot Noir from the 1.5 hectare lieu-dit of Côte de Bachelin. 150 cases produced annually.

I am not rating this bottle because Bouchard’s wines tend to be quite illuminating, but in this case was full of difficult aromas that indicated a problem. The wine was not showing as it should have. Sad day for all of us. Price: whatever you are willing to pay if you see one in real life.  Rating: NA

After this unfortunate turn of events we moved happily into the Veuve Clicquot La Grande Dame 2004. Veuve Clicquot is widely known, if you know Champagne exists you will know Clicquot from its’ ubiquitous “yellow label” in stacks at a store near you each December.  La Grande Dame is Veuve’s tête de cuvée. Veuve Clicquot (NM) produces about 1.5 million cases of Champagne per year. Founded in 1772 they own approxitmately 700 acres in 200 villages with the Grand Dame mostly coming from Ambonnay, Bouzy, Avize, Le Mesnil, Verzenay, Oger and Cramant. The blend runs around 60% Pinot Noir and 40% Chardonnay.

Big rich and chalky are the words that leap out of the glass at you on initial check in, Jordan almonds, toasted orange zest, brioche, with a hint of dark cherry pacing axiously around the bottom of the glass waiting to have it’s due. Great acidity with a long lingering and beautifully realized finish. Price: $145 Rating: + (+). I believe this wine will hit the ++ mark with a few more years in the cellar.

To finish the evening we moved to Burgundy. Specifically Domaine Maume Mazis Chambertin 1988. Tasting older wines is fun and educational, but this wine when paired with duck breast makes for a great end to an evening too.
The key to tasting older wines, or any wines really lies in keeping an open mind. You are drinking liquid history. What were you doing in 1988, what was going on in the world, in this vineyard?

Amazingly dark and brooding still with hints of age showing in the glass. It is definitely time to drink this wine but it’s relative youthfulness was encouraging. English breakfast tea, wet earth, wild mushroom broth and dark cherry. Full and elegant on the palate with a light hint of fine tannin. The tannin is slowly winning the age battle here as other components fade away. Price: NA Rating: + (+)

A great way to spend a Thursday evening. Thank you to the host who always chefs away the evening and makes amazing dinner for all of us to enjoy. Thank you everybody who joined us and made the evening so fun.  This needs to happen again soon!

Tags: ChampagneFrancePinot NoirTasting