Carl Steefel
Carl Steefel
I read one of the critic's reviews that described this wine as "balanced", which is true enough, but maybe misses the point a bit. This is balancing on a the high wire, with the tension palpable underfoot. IMO, a beautiful example of what can be done in the Extra Brut style, when combined with perfectly ripe fruit, and perhaps, perhaps a very deft touch of oak. Actually, I did not pick up any oak here myself, only read about it after the fact, but perhaps it accounted for some of the polish on those high tension wires. But there was evidently no loss of transparency, crystallinity, and clarity here as a result of whatever treatment this Champagne saw. I kept thinking of some Baudelaire poem I wrote a short paper on 40 years ago, something about adolescents twisting on their pillows (wet dreams, who knows?), but for the life of me, cannot find out which poem this is from (or whether it exists at all). Anyway, maybe captures for me the physical sensation of tasting this wine. Consumed at Maison de Colombier in Beaune, which by the way, has a spectacular list of younger wines...