Throwing in my previous post on this especially since it also deals with revisiting later on:
2008 TAITTINGER COMTES de CHAMPAGNE BLANC de BLANC- the first amazing thing about this champagne is that I’ve had it in my cellar for over a week and not opened one up until now; the advanced hype has been that this is a stellar bubbly and just needs time to integrate and evolve and I have to agree; no doubt, this is laden with lots of power, but short on finesse; it has bracing acidity, a serious dose of lemon oil exploding the taste and texture sensors, a huge streak of spice running through to the back end and a creaminess that seals the deal, the future deal that is; it’s just a bit discombobulated and I could just feel its struggle to come together and shine ever so brightly; of all the 08s Ive had, I’m thinking this has as much if not more than the others, Cristal included.
OK folks, here`s a 2nd time around for the bottle in this thread with 48 hours on it and only a small taste remaining:
There’s a whole lot of difference. It’s not nearly as huge, big and clumsy and actually has settled down a bit but by no means is it balanced. The acidity level is much more subtle. The flavor profile is much more inclusive this time with honey and ginger accented lemon, lime, apple, kiwi and strawberry guava fruit. The intense steak of spice is now in the background. Even the feel component was not as creamy, but still had nice viscosity. In both cases, the expected hit of brioche i often find in Comtes was not apparent.
So, I won’t conclude this one sampling is the end all and be all, but I’m more hopeful this will evolve into a quality bubbly perhaps even reaching its advanced hype; only time will tell.
Here’s to a stellar outcome. OK, maybe I’m being too optimistic, but I’m not ready to off the remaining bottles.
I’m no scientist, but I found that leaving the stopper off (or loose) left me with more bubbles in the wine at the end of the day than if I sealed it tight and then released it at each account. Maybe the pressurization and subsequent release is worse for the wine than just a slow, natural release?
I think we’re derailing this thread with further discussion of this topic, but I just wanted to say that this is pretty fascinating if this is the case. Perhaps the agitation from rapid decompression causes more CO2 to come out of solution than a slow release?
I wonder if we should start a new thread on this topic to see if anybody else has any anecdotal (or non-anecdotal) evidence of such.
Day 3 and the fizz finally fizzled and left me with essentially a still Chardonnay. I never found the brioche or cream notes some have mentioned, too young of a wine IMO to develop those notes.
It’s definitely a high acid wine with lots of citrus and spice, while I am glad it tried it, will bury the rest of a case and let it age a while before trying another. I don’t think this will have any issue aging, and I believe it shows quite a bit of potential.
Nose upon PnP is unique, with elements of ginger (identified above, spot on) and spice. It fades with 15 minutes in the glass and starts to exhibit some of the yeasty elements that also seem to fade quickly. Nose settles on lemon and persists for the next 4+ hours.
Acid levels seem lower than the previous vintages though it’s still apparent. The mid palate and finish are pure cream. It exhibits tremendous power compared to other young comtes but nowhere near what you see in cristal and dom p from 2008, nor remarkable vintages of Salon (haven’t tried 08 yet).
Does not survive the first night but the concentration and promise of long term development are there. This needs to be judged against prior vintages and experiences with Comtes, not against the peer group that generates power from the inclusion of Pinot (or the million dollar per bottle salons)
