I had seen mention of this fairly new bottling from Pierre Peters before (L’Etonnant Monsieur Victor), but I either didn’t remember or just found out that it includes the best tank of wine destined for the Les Chetillons bottling. So, this is a pretty abstract question, unless some people here have direct knowledge of how much of the Chetillons that tank represents, and how much quality variation there might be between tanks (a couple of people here might, so I’m hopeful), but here it is. Would the exclusion of this tank mean Chetillons is significantly less good than it would have been otherwise?
Side note: I really need to do some side by side comparisons of the same vintage of Peters Chetillons and Taittinger Comtes. I’d love to better understand how these wines compare and whether or not I think one is better than the other. I hope people will comment on that too. I think these are the best Blanc des Blancs Champagnes in a price range I’m comfortable with. I exclude Selosse Initial because, as much as I’ve been blown away by some bottles, there’s too much variation for me to consider it on the same qualitative level as these two.
In theory, you can say that this should affect the Les Chetillons bottling, but I haven’t noticed it and not all Peters’ wine from Les Chetillons goes into the Les Chetillons bottling. ‘Best tank’ can also mean various things especially when you have to blend. There are definitely differences between the tanks of Chetillons juice and when I have tasted, I may have a preference for one over another, but I don’t think it is of any real worry in terms of the Les Chetillons bottling. In terms of Comtes de Champagne and Chetillons. They are vastly different when young, but after 20-30 years they do start to taste a bit similar.
Apologies for the thread drift; Brad I’d love your take on drinking windows for the Chetillons. I’ve found them to be great young, but am not so sure about what comes after (fwiw the oldest I have are 2002s)
Chetillons can age with the best of them. Rodolphe did a dinner conjunction with Fete du Champagne in Nov 2018 In NYC with magnums of 12 vintages back to 1970 from his cellar (so perfect storage and provenance). The wines from the ‘80s were still in great shape, and the ‘70s vintages were in better shape than wines Ive had from other houses in that era. The ‘88, ‘90 and ‘08 were my favorites that night.
Mid-2000s vintages are drinking well now, and while tempting, you will get rewarded for waiting for the ‘08 and younger vintages IMHO.
Side note: Rodolphe mentioned that ‘12-‘13-‘14 reminded him of ‘88-‘89-‘90 - obviously high praise.
Skurnik hosted a Zoom with Rodolphe Péters. Anyone who is interested in the wines, and some additional discussion regarding special bottlings needs to find and watch the replay. Rodolphe has some firm opinions on a few things.
I asked the host, and it’s not posted yet. Will add a link when it’s up.
That being said, he was quite clear that he will never let any bottling have a negative effect on another. He gave some very detailed answers that are difficult to summarize. I am looking forward to seeing it again myself.
In the Skurnik interview with Rodolphe, he said that about half of the Les Chetillons goes into the NV Reserve. He stressed that the Reserve is the champagne that most people associate with Peters and it’s important to the house to keep its quality and consistency.