Month: January 2026

2015 Domaine Georges Vernay Sainte Agathe Côtes du Rhône

A quarter of a century ago I briefly gave up a relatively well paid job in the unforgiving construction industry to work in badly paid employment for an importer of European wine; not a happy experience as their attitude to their employees would have even made some of Dickens’ characters wince. One producer they imported was this doyen of Condrieu. Sadly their lack of staff product education meant I only tasted Vernay’s great wine once. It was enough. When four bottles of this came up for auction, a quick search revealed a great review from Jancis for the 2016 version and an explanation that the Sainte Agathe vineyard is planted to Shiraz in the middle Condrieu on soils very similar to the adjacent Côte Rotie. I spread my bets and bid what turned out to be a total of $43 for each bottle. Thanks maybe to Vernay’s relative obscurity in Australia, nobody else had a bid and I ended up with all four. Happy days as it’s a profoundly good wine. Despite ten years of age, the colour is still a fresh, low ph red and purple. After a serious triple decant, it all melds into a fascinating nose full of spice, dark raspberries, plums and something of a cross between sweet old leather, violets and dark slate roasting in the sun. A mouthful is almost painfully concentrated but loaded in charm. The same flavours and a texture like rough silk in the finest of dense tannin, all freshened by incredibly beautiful blood orange acidity. I can only imagine this is what a great Côte Rotie from a very warm year would be like? It left me hoping more comes up on the auction site. The wine budget be damned.

12.9% alcohol. Cork. RRP of about $85 in Australia.

95, maybe 96 points as it’s so well made.

2019 Champagne Drémont Marroy Écolsion Chardonnay

There’s been quite a bit of Champagne in the last few weeks. The most extraordinary was a last bottle of Lilbert et fils Perle Blanc de Blancs which thanks to an informative back label was disgorged in 2017. The years spent resisting temptation were worth the restraint. Grand cru Chardonnay worthy of the name which had developed perfumes of wattle blooms and the best flower honey that went on for light years. If you’ve $170, the current release is available in Australia at The Prince Wine Store amongst others. Not sure I’ve the money, patience or the years left to risk another. The original post from a few years ago.

https://cognitivecellartherapy.com/2019/02/22/nv-lilbert-fils-perle-blanc-de-blancs-grand-cru-champagne/

A friend devoted to still buying Champagne offered this Drémont Marroy as a swap for some spare auction bottles. As it comes from the usually well chosen selection of champagne-de-vigneron.com, it should be a good buy. Particularly as the importer has been pursuing good value on the ground for quite a few years. The hunt ranging west along the Marne to Charly sur Marne, just about halfway to Paris from the Côtes des Blancs. And another producer more interested in their farming than label bling as the back of the bottle explains a lot more than some…

Fruit so ripe these days of warming weather that there’s zero added sugar to hide any shortcomings. The wine itself, after all Champagne is wine, is beautiful but shy. There seems to be a wound up depth of crystalline citrus, lemon and maybe grapefruit that slowly unwinds after an initial hit of what could be confused with a good breath of fresh, saline seaside breeze. Most of all, it’s the sense of power in the middle that promises all sorts of mineral and stone depths to come with time. Add some delicious, life giving breath in the form of well modulated acidity and it’ll be a wonder in a few years. Nonetheless, a great bottle to share and wonder how much Champagne has changed for the better in quality if not price. Cheers indeed.

12.5% alcohol. Diam I think. Great swap for a few dodgy old auction bottles.

Another bottle of great bubbles shared with no little joy but not much objectivity was a Vilmart & Cie Premier Cru Grand Reserve. Really rich but light on its toes with a great depth of middle mouth fruit and the sort of ripe acidity that tingles and glides and shows how inadequate are some of the luxury goods companies’ bottles. Direct import from The Prince Winestore.

The great disappointment was a Champagne Veuve Monsigny Brut Selection from Aldi which has had some good reviews. Horribly cork tainted. I was many kms away from the nearest Aldi and not sure I could face explaining the problem to probably the only poorly paid and overworked staff member dealing with the madness that’s Xmess shopping. $35 dollars would have been better spent on a Barbadillo Sherry under screw cap and still had change.