NYE Champagne Dinner

[barsacpinci]

Another wine dinner hosted by Eric! Lots of caviar, cheese, crab cakes, mac and cheese, cool veggies, and chocolate pie. This time for New Year’s we focused on Champagne! The group was careful with COVID protocols but I do think this will be the last get together for a while until Omnicron settles down.

2007 Vilmart Grand Cellier D’Or - on first taste soon after opening, I thought, let this sit. An hour later, it bloomed into a full bodied wine with tons of stone fruit, a nice mousse and very long finish (my 3rd favorite Champagne)
2002 Drappier Reserve de l’Oenothique - simpler and more forward than the other Champagnes but nice and fresh
Krug 164 - My favorite of the night. I’ve had this several times before and this is definitely the Krug signature. Wonderful wine with lots of power and nose of fresh mushrooms. (I got carrots, too) Very precise champagne.
Krug 159 - Not too different from the 164 but with a touch more acidity to it and less of a complex nose and palate. But still a delicious Champagne. Some thought it didn’t evoke the Krug brand but I thought it definitely shouted Krug.
2004 Bollinger R.D. - My second favorite. Nice and dry and powerful. Nuts on the nose with yellow peaches on the weighty palate. A very long finish. I brought this one and will definitely seek more. I enjoy the ultra brut.
2007 Taittinger Comtes de Champagne Rose - a dark rose. I’ve seen references to blood oranges with this wine and that definitely comes thru on the wine. It did show very odd flavor combinations. At one point you got berries, another point pastry, another time citrus. A wine trying to identify itself. A bit light on the acidity. I brought this and I have more in the cellar. I believe it needs much more time.
1985 Heidsieck Monopole Diamant Bleu - this crowd likes old and oxidized wines. This fit that bill to the point of being maderized. They think I have a “Parker” palate because I don’t care for musty, over the hill wines. LOL!
2012 Herbert Beaufort Bouzy - another fresh and simpler Champagne like the Drappier.
2014 Xavier Monnot Meursault Les Charmes - both this wine and the Kistler should have been decanted. (Decant a white wine? - Yes!). A delicate floral nose. A flinty palate showing tropical fruits like guava and papaya. A touch of oak showing thru. Very nice.
2013 Kistler Kistler Vineyard - a bit more broad and extracted than the Meursault but showing similar characteristics. Obviously a bigger wine in the Cali style with a heavy oak influence the did meld together the wonderful fruit with the vanillin. A very beautiful wine. I brought this one too and have more in cellar.
2001 Gunderloch Nackenheim Rothenberg Auslese Goldkapsul - oh wow! lush fruit, lime, tons of florals. This is a candy in bottle. Just lovely.
1967 Chateau Latour - quite old and shows it’s age but highly perfumed. Beautiful nose of moss and old wood. Surprisingly, the palate was not fading at all. It still offered plenty of fruit and freshness. And they say I don’t like old wines! Beautiful wine from a not so popular vintage.
1970 Chateau Sudiuraut - this one was dead. Brown color. No mid palate or fruit or acidity. Very flat. I would have loved to have tasted it in its youth. I love Suduiraut, just not this one.

[ericindc]

Well, again, we have opposite opinions of the wines, lol.

My favs were in order (and pretty predictable for those that know me)

1. 85 Heidsieck Monopole - hands down my WOTN. It did start to fall away at the end, but for the first couple hours, this rocked (for my palate). Fully mature, all the fruit tastes had converted to mature flavors. I didnt think it went too far into oxidativeness to be sherry-like. I loved the sweetness that came out after a while to complement the mature flavors.
2. 1970 Suduiraut - It has the up front caramel and creme brulee that I search constantly for in a sauternes. Perhaps not as much spicy botrytis, but this was a great wine in spite of (or perhaps because of) the slight leak and bad cork.
3 1967 Latour - Pretty much everything I look for in an old Bordeaux, perhaps not the power but that is what made it so great for this tasting. Because it was mellow it worked really well in a lineup of all whites or sparklers. This would have been overlooked or overpowered in a lineup of Bordeaux from better years.
4. Krug 159 - just edged out the 164 as it had a tiny, tiny hint of maturity, mostly on the nose.

2007 Vilmart Grand Cellier D’Or - this was really rocking. needs a bit more time, but it was lush and a quite fine young pinot heavy champagne.
2002 Drappier Reserve de l’Oenothique - This wasnt showing that great. I think it needs time. I had the '79 recently so I think this needs 10+ years.
Krug 164 - As mentioned above, this is alot better than last time I had it a couple years ago. Having the 159 and 164 side by side, their were only very subtle differences. Great bottle. No shame to open now, but this will be magnificent in time.
2004 Bollinger R.D. - I had a hard time with this. I think it was just closed. I find the RD to be problematic. Perhaps I just like the Grand Annee better.
2007 Taittinger Comtes de Champagne Rose - Really stinky pinot nose. This was weird and a touch to vinous for me. I also felt that it was a touch off.
2012 Herbert Beaufort Bouzy - Nice bottle, great young pinot heavy champagne. Just not quite in the class of the others
2014 Xavier Monnot Meursault Les Charmes - This was nice. Young of course, but nice fruit density and acidity.
2013 Kistler Kistler Vineyard - This was kind of a shock to the system after all the other wines. Full barrelled fruit, oak and butter shot. It was really delicious though. I think it didnt fare well in the company of the other wines and the food.
2001 Gunderloch Nackenheim Rothenberg Auslese Goldkapsul - This was fantastic with a great density of fruit and acidity. However I only had a little bit. Love the 2001s.

[Harry C.]

Sounds like a Lovely night. In reviewing my favorite wines from the year, I realized that 2021 was a Champagne year for me. 3 ‘discoveries’ this past year. Drink some higher end ones you haven’t had before is my resolution!