Chardonnay – Cognitive Bottle Therapy

Domaine Vincey Interlude Chardonnay d’Oger Grand Cru

This bottle was probably the last of this summer’s luxurious Champagne, thanks to a generous best friend who’s still keen to indulge and share before it’s too late. And what a particularly great Chardonnay in particular. It’s interesting for the wine nerd to notice the grape variety and place are prominent on the label. As much as Champagne’s a label for fizzy celebration guarded often by a ferocious tendency to threaten litigation at the smallest hint of misappropriation, it can still be a gobsmacking Chardonnay from a very special bit of chalky soil. The back label explains whence and how….

A vin vivant indeed, it certainly made this life extra lively. Once the bubbles calmed a little and it warmed in the glass, the brilliant quality of the grapes involved was obvious, should you take the time to sip and think. There’s subtle grace and power. Reading the back label, there’s some passionate hand crafting involved. But there’s no rustic clumsiness. Instead there’s incredible detail and finesse for want of a better word. One of the Winefront crew recently noted they preferred ripeness still on the way up rather than overripe on the way down. This just teeters at the summit. Mouth watering crystalline citrus, quince and a splash of tangy white peach juice. Perfume of flowers and waxy honey. Once more there’s a palpable feel of something related to soil or rock which defeats my limited ability to put into words. To be totally pseud corner about it, it’s like standing in front of a great painting for a few moments in a quiet gallery and being inexplicably transfixed. Sort of… Needless to say, but I will, there’s impeccably fine acidity and a brush of texture that means a 750ml bottle is just far too small. Always loved Blanc des Blancs but a couple recently have been not a lot short of profound. Jewels in what was once literally Paris’ junk heap. Try googling gadoux.

12.5% alcohol. Cork. $ kind of irrelevant.

96 points but much more than that.

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.

94+ points.

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.

2022 Domaine de Cassiopée Bourgogne Hautes Côtes de Beaune Les Côtés

One of the great things about swapping some bottles with someone who’s on it when it comes to good wine made with less intervention is the chance to open bottles like this. Not the best metaphor but their choices are a great filter. A glass full of great contrasts. Full yellowish green colour and aromas full of crème brûlée and citrus zest. More complexity in peach and a bit of apricot in a faint mist of yeasty nattiness. A rich and satisfying mouthful of the same stretches long on honey drizzled hazelnuts. It all winds up nice and tight on chalk dust acidity and skin chew. Feels good. Less natty second day and rich and even. Excellent adventure.

Rest of the label has Cassiopeia.

12% alcohol. Cork. Great swap.

93 points.

NV Girard – Bonnet Au Bout du Chemin Chardonnay premier cru

A birthday bottle of bubbles for the dear ones from a favourite bit of Champagne, the Côtes des Blancs and the village of Vertus. Mostly biodynamic 2021 grapes with some reserve. Some oak fermented, most in stainless steel, the wood has barely left a thumb print. It had the sort of composure and poise that marks brilliant fruit and gifted making and a compulsion to keep sipping. Pristine cleanliness and a good measure of warm yeasty brioche proved a prelude to crystalline citrus and a little tang of white peach or melon. Long and linear with bursts of fruit and measured salinity right to the end of the road, just as the label says. It’s the texture that’s separates this breed of BdB from the humdrum celebration bubbles. Slides as it glides, tingles and just so touches of feathery texture, utter pitch perfect mouth music. Nicely dry but fruit rich, a low dosage of 3g. A real treat. A bottle between four really should have been a magnum. Rarely has a last half glass of fizz been enjoyed as much.

12.5% alcohol. Diam. A very well chosen swap.

94 points.

2022 Domaine Bitouzet Prieur Meursault

Didn’t think I’d be lucky enough to type the word Meursault in a post again but when one was included in a swap, the only thing to do was find the corkscrew. Rich in perfume and colour, this needed a long double decant and then another to shed some of the sulphide meatiness and round out a bit. Lots of compact concentration in smell and taste that seemed nicely balanced with a well meshed touch of skin texture and excellent acidity that carried a cracking depth of flavour. Those flavours indeed, perhaps auto suggestion but hazelnut and honey loomed large with a dash of yellow fruit and figgy richness. Maybe a bit too much bitter sulphide for me but nobody else seemed to complain, so don’t mind my foible. As a whole there’s a range of deep flavour beautifully floated on upper class acidity and texture. A treat to venture maybe one last time into a place where the entrance price makes me envy the very rich label drinker, more than I’d like to admit.

13.5% alcohol. Cork. Glad the generous swap avoided mentioning the cost.

94 points. Maybe less for the technically minded. Maybe more for the Chardonnay lovers that see a bit of that old matchbox as essential?

2023 Livio Felluga Sharis Bianco Venezia Giulia

A long time favourite of Italian white wine, Livio Felluga’s bottles have always seemed beautifully made, just the right amount of extraction, just rich enough, clean through the middle and a satisfying minerally end. Finding yourself in the so elegant town of Trieste close to the source, this seems a good way to benchmark other adventures into the local white supply. There’s a lot of interesting indigenous varieties and some uncompromising skin soaking ways. This is no disappointment, opens clean and fresh with a slightly green, nettle thing. Then there’s pear, citrus and a fresh almond swell leading to a neat mouth watering ending. Maybe you can judge a producer by how good is their cheapest bottle? This looks like your money won’t be wasted on a special bottle.

13% alcohol. Nomacorc. €15 in Italy.

92 pleasing points.

NV Champagne Voirin Jumel Cuvée 555

Well, I’m a silly boy, just noticed this is the second bottle. Old and forgetful as well as silly. The first one was reviewed in July 2020, two years ago, my only mitigation. Similar points and probably on the 94 side of 95, either seems right. Consistently delicious bottle of extravagant bubbles nonetheless.

A weekend of treats from the cellar. This one from the good value direct importer, Champagne de Vigneron. A few years rest after 50 months on lees and it smells so good. Voirin Jumel again disclose more info than most on the back label, hundred percent grand cru Chardonnay from the Côte des Blancs, five different vintages plus 20% reserve wine, barrel fermented in old oak between 15 and twenty years old, no malo and 6g/l dosage. Complicated bit of wine making. The result is amazingly single minded. Great perfume of savoury brioche yeasty lees, crystalline fruit and chalky freshness. Drives long and narrow all the way to a lingering end of grapefruit and a sort of yeasty floral honey. Quiet power that ends in a puff of steely acidity leaving the mouth fresh as fragrance fills the senses. Over a couple of days maybe a little oak texture and definitely a tarte tatin richness to add weight to a memorable end. Not flamboyant but plenty of flavour. By way of understatement, what a good way to encourage an appetite.

12% perhaps, the gold print on black velour label is very posh but faded. Cork. Think it was well under $100 which in the scheme of the Champagnois price thinking is a bargain.

94 very poised points. Extra for appetite sharpening.

2014 Michel Laroche et ses enfants Le Domaine d’Henri Chablis Saint Pierre

It was perhaps last century when I realised how good Michel Laroche’s Chablis were in terms of clean winemaking and consistency. Maybe not the magic of the now beyond reach Raveneau or Dauvissat. Laroche was perhaps one of the first French producers to use screw caps as a logically scientific answer to the organic whims of tree bark, such was the care taken. It was a surprise to read the family business had sold. I should try and keep up. It must have been of some size. Le Domaine d’Henri seems to be a much smaller operation run by ses enfants and named after his père. This particular bottle came as another hearty recommendation from Randall’s Wine Merchants. Starts off with a whiff of sulphur reduction that clears quickly in the glass. In honesty you can only describe aromas in terms of those which are familiar. So bear with me but this has that heady perfume of one of those Australian wattles in full bloom, don’t know which one and there’s a lot of them. Like walking in seaside forest on a warming sunny winter day as those acacias are vivid in their yellow fragrance. More familiar are flavours of pears in honey, exotic citrus, yuzu or Meyer lemon, a whisper of white peach and cut apple, all cruising to a detailed end of real length. Texturally there’s a quiet build of feather tickle acidity that starts as a murmur and builds to a self confident sweep of beautiful fruit. Plenty of wine description fancy too in those Chablis chalky mineral flavours. Such good manners and maybe at a point in life where it’s most comfortable in its skin?

12.5% alcohol. Diam. Didn’t keep a receipt which is wise after visiting Randall but about $60 I think.

94 points, just fading a scintilla on day two to 93. Silly quibble really.

2020 Domaine Denis Race Petit Chablis

A pre arrival offer from Randall’s, a local Melbourne importer of good things, and some great reviews from Bill Nanson’s Burgundy Report made buying irresistible at the sort of prices we are warned won’t last. The increasingly earlier vintages seem to bring flavours and structure to Chablis which aren’t perhaps exactly typical. Recently, if I hadn’t known what’s in the glass, my first guess would have been more Yarra Valley Chardonnay than Chablis in a couple of cases. Wondering why, a bit of…er…my own research found accounts of early seasons more like the Yarra in timing where the tartaric acid remains firm with little of the malic acid which of course turns into that mouthwatering lactic tang I love in Chablis. Isn’t science good? Thus, it was a joy to stick my nose into this and think Chablis. More ripe citrus and sweet green herbs than stone fruits and then that invigorating marine scent of oyster shells and chalk. Gloriously refreshing. Perhaps more of a firm grip than a luscious tingle but still impossible to put down. Tremendous depth of fruit for the humble bottom of the Chablis pyramid. So clean, fresh and head first into a cool ocean. Didn’t buy enough.

12.5% alcohol, nice. Diam, hooray, the difficulty of getting one back in the bottle won’t be a problem here. Currently $33 in store. Hope there’s some left.

93 points, as many as the richer, more powerful 2019 1er cru on the table at the same time.

June 2022 and another bottle. Like the first, much better the second day. The fruit gains so much weight and length. There’s quite a grapefruit tang in the middle verging into pleasantly sour. Maybe a whisper of pyrazine green capsicum? Nonetheless, so delicious. Did I mention I love Chablis?

92 points perhaps for this but don’t expect objectivity.

2012 Domaine des Héritières Chablis Montmains 1er cru

A negotiant bottling I think as the front label has a cryptic OT reference and the back label says bottled by Maison Tricon, perhaps the Olivier variety of Tricon? The source aside this was one of those bottles that was disappointing to start and ended up with the feeling the bottle was too small. Still a good fill level and a long firm cork with virtually no travel was encouraging. Still lightly coloured with a tinge of green gave even more hope. First sniff and taste was a let down of cheese and nuts aldehyde, sort of oxidised like Fino. Grapes with no protection from oxidation like apples cut and left to brown. First taste, crisp and fresh to start, then a cloud of the oxidative making hides any fruit through the mouth until a flicker of citrus and honey to end. Enough to stuff the cork back in and back into the fridge to see what happens with a day’s air. Kill or cure. Second day and the oxidative edge is still there but as it sits in the glass, booming flavours of beeswax, acacia flowers, honey, exotic citrus, mushrooms and that sense of stream water over cool limestone or something similarly fanciful. The aldehydic note nearly disappeared. Not sure how wine science explains that. The lessons here I think are, the 2012 Chablis vintage is very, very good and despite some old fashioned or dodgy winemaking that fruit quality will out. So wish I had some 2012s in the cellar.

13% alcohol. Cork. $48 at auction.

Started 85 points, ended up 93 days of yore points.