Does anyone include the guy from the Wine Advocate chiming in on this thread? He seemed to like it.
Yes and yes. It’s superb. At least as good as the 95 and 96 at the same age
That is a pretty high bar.
Yes, I really did like it! For me, one of the very best 2008 Champagnes from the big houses, and it’s built for the very long haul. I tasted / drank it again in France this Spring from the commercial disgorgement and my high opinion is unchanged from the note you may have seen published last year.
How do you compare it to the 06` at this early stage William?
Yes, wow. I often regret not having laid down any 1995. I opened my 2 bottles from Premier Cru early on and misguidedly believed that anything which tasted so good so early wasn’t going to age as well.
Lesson learned.
Pretty much as you’d expect: not as broad or rich, more tightly wound, incisive, and concentrated. I’d drink the 2006 over the next decade and then start on the 2008.
Kind of figured that. It’s like the 08 Cristal vs. the 09.
Mike and William is making me want to increase my purchase on the '08 taittinger
thanks.
Yes. It is kind of like I want to buy more bottles of the 2006 every time Blake posts a tasting note on it. 
I love Comtes. And 1995/1996 are tempting comparators. But it wasn’t too long ago that one could buy the stunning 2004 for $90-110 in the US.
I will look for sharp pricing or possibly to split a U.K. purchase. (Jay M?) Don’t think I can ultimately resist. The track record for early deliciousness and blossoming in bottle is too strong.
There’s a real problem for Taittinger with Comtes. Quality is high and production is reasonably big (well over a large Bordeaux estate).
The wine is only sold to winos and restaurants. Never in airplanes (back when they were still a thing - imagine how much DomP Emirates got through daily pre-covid), never in nightclubs, never in random stores that keep an expensive bottle back for when someone comes in with money to burn… this means not enough gets drunk.
Taittinger are currently selling the 05, 06 and 07 through merchants onto the “secondary” market. That’s why UK merchant pricing is so homogenous across those vintages.
Until the marketing department get their act together, Comtes is doomed to be cheap and oversupplied to people like us.
C Heidsieck’s 12 straight vintage was just offered at the same price as 06 Comtes and above 07… at some point the ocean of undrunk Comtes will Start harming the rest of champagne’s ability to sell to fine wine drinkers
Not entirely true. A couple of observations… Comtes has been served in Qantas First Class for many years and has helped that airline win many wine awards.
Secondly, Pierre Emmanuel has said on a few occasions (I’ve heard it directly from him) that he didn’t want to continually raise prices Like other French producers (a) to maintain customer loyalty … and that isn’t the nightclub crowd and (b) as a byproduct of ‘a’ , to ensure these customers are retained so that the business in turn can remain in family hands.
That said, you make some very valid points.
Cheers
Mike
Dom Perignon 2010 is coming out at $185. Makes it easier for Kobrand to milk the US Taittinger market.
CdC’s production is not “well over a large Bordeaux estate”.
Also, not sure what you mean by “Comtes is doomed to be cheap and oversupplied to people like us”.
In most recent vintages, Comtes production has been fairly steady at a production of around 500k-550k bottles of BdB and Rose combined with the BdB being the large majority. I think the consecutive releases of 2004, 2005, 2006 at high production volume + a decent volume of 2007 has put a lot of product in the market. Both the BdB and Rose were made in all four of these years. Taittinger also had a run of consecutive vintages from 1993-2000, but the Rose was not made in every year (no 94 and 98) and some years were very limited (94 and 97 BdB).
The supply in the market has been affecting Comtes for a little while now. They were behind in releasing the 2007 Comtes by almost two years and are now over two and a half years behind releasing the 2008 Comtes (vs. the original plan). I’m not saying that the wines are not benefiting from some of the extra time aging at the winery on/off the lees, but it will be interesting to see how the market demand treats the current supply. For my dollar, Comtes represents one of the great buys in Champagne and is a bargain at its often seen $100-$130 price point for currently released vintages.
*Edited to correctly state that 2007 Comtes is not at a high/full volume production level like 2004-2006.
Dom is very popular in the night scene
Sorry you’re quite right re:Qantas, but of course QF only flew a limited amount of first class (Essentially the A380s) and Comtes wasn’t their only house fizz in F, they also served Grande Dame.
I don’t understand how having 20+ UK merchants all up-to-their eyeballs in Comtes vintages initially released over 5 years ago is consistent with customer loyalty. It would certainly appear consistent with having only one distribution channel and not trying hard enough to help them to put product into the hands of people who drink it rather than park it in warehouses. Even this year Taittinger are actively trying to prevent the secondary market pricing of older Comtes being lower because they still want to sell the same wines and want a homogenous market price.
All is definitely not well with Comtes’ distribution strategy. I love the wines but I know a broken business model when I see one.
Yep, hence the “Luminous” glow in the dark bottlings (LVMH assure me it’s exactly the same wine in there and they don’t change the blend or dosage for the market). Certainly not for purists, but if you happen to be in a nightclub at 2am (in a different world to today), it’s kinder to your tastebuds than tequila …