Yes. Lots of people are still living under the perception that they are supposed to hate VC because the NV yellow bottle was mediocre and popular and thus, too expensive for a time. My last couple tries with the regular vintage bottles have turned my head. I wish I had bought more of the '08 when Envoyer sold it at $55.
I remember looking at some Champagnes in my cellar on CT. I forget which one it was but I had something right next to the '08 VC where I could see the Gilman and B Baker scores. Their scores were within one point for each critic yet the CT scores were like 2 or 3 lower for the VC bottle. I just chuckled. Too bad it didn’t keep the price low on the VC though.
I actually have it quite regularly as it works really well for my non-geek friends and I don’t mind drinking it.
I do have to question the quality of the NV Champagnes you are drinking, or maybe you just like your fizz with a sweeter edge, and the RE does have that.
Just ordered this Vilmart yesterday. Also added a NV Philipponnat Royal Reserve Brut to the order. Look forward to trying them after they sit a bit. Does Vilmart & Philipponnat list disgorgement dates on the back label?
Vilmart shows the disgorgement date and here is the key to the vintages (from my La Fete notes):
“NV Grand Cellier - I have the code! This is a 3 year solera. You can figure out the years by looking at the disgorgement date and subtracting 2 years. Since this was disgorged in 2019 the vintages are 2015, 2016, 2017. At least that’s what the quite knowledgeable lady behind the table said.
Beautiful and steely Champagne. B+/A-”
If I understand correctly, the Roederer Collection (of which 242 is the current “blend”) is the entry level NV from Roederer, replacing the Brut Premier. I like the 242 but it’s definitely not in the same league as Cristal. It is priced similarly to the base NV wines from the other large houses and less than 20% of the price of Cristal.
A friend who is a serious bubblehead and has a deep cellar of Champagnes served a Moet 2000 Grand Reserve recently, and that was the equal of the Doms I’ve had in recent years. Obviously, it’s a different concept, since the blend varies substantially year to year, but it was top notch. He prefers it to the Dom, and pointed out that it’s produced in much smaller quantities, yet still sells for far less.