Ian Fitzsimmons
Ian Fitzsimmons
I've been dabbling in Champagne and other sparkling wines over the past half-year or so, trying to find my personal sweet spot. Below are some notes - unsophisticated assessments from an unsophisticated taster, fairly new to the species.
What I've learned is that I like non-dosage Champagnes best of this genre: I like their chalky, dry bite, and the fidel sense of the underlying wine flavors, amidst the bubbles, un-softened and un-dressed-up with dosage. But perhaps I'm oversimplifying.
Anyway, my background prep for this was a couple of browses through Peter Liem's recent tome. None of the wines cost over $45, although Bollinger Speciale usually runs about 50 (mine was $40). I also tried two Dufour Champagnes - one from Pinot Blanc, one from Pinot Noir - which I respect as earnest efforts, but were way too avant-garde for me to enjoy. I have to try Turgy again soon, to see if I still like it.
Personal favorites were Lallier Grand Cru Non-dosage, among ND Champagnes; I also liked the Veuve Fournay ND. Bollinger Special, among the base-level dosage Champagne (inexplicably, I have no note); Moutard Brut Grand Cuvée ran away with the best value prize, by several lengths. Among non-Champagne Champagne varietals, Tissot Brut Cremate de Jura is a sentimental favorite, but it takes a day or two of air time to give up the Chardonnay goods. Among non-Champagne varietals, Huet petillant - though it looks like I don't really love them until 10 years or more past vintage.
Least-loved was le Mesnil GC, which was kind of horrible. Perhaps a flawed bottle, though not corked.
I've tossed in a few notes from temps perdus to round out the profile.
Interested in any/all reactions, naturally, I'm most keenly interested in views on age-worthiness of ND Champagne. I've read the in years past that these wines fail to develop without dosage, but am skeptical that this can be so, when the base wine is really good.
Santé.
NV Domaine Langlois-Ch“teau Crémant de Loire Brut White Blend more
4/20/2019
About $20. Superficially dry, scrubbed, pleasing, but fails to hold attention past the first glass, when it seems to be a bit thin and, despite the initial sensation of dryness, slightly sugared - not sweet, but perhaps a bit of RS together with possible effects of chaptalization. Not for trying again.
NV Taittinger Champagne La Française Champagne Blend
4/20/2019
On opening and for an hour after, dry, fizzy, acidic, no flavor or aroma. Next afternoon, from refrigerator, more accommodating, slightly yeasty, doughy aroma. Flavor is sweet-tart tart: Champagne acidity with a smidge of citrus and the merest hint of sugary roundness. This seems quite good, the dosage residual showing only slightly in the somewhat drying finish.
Louis Roederer Champagne Brut Premier Champagne Blend
2/8/2019
Delicious, toasty, yeasty Chardonnay. Crisp, dry, with a fine but assertive mousse. Liked this a lot the first day; second and third, rapid decline in freshness and depth.
NV Pol Roger Champagne Brut Réserve Champagne Blend
2/17/2019
From memory, excellent mousse and sweet-tart tartness. Pretty good overall, though a bit perfumed for my preferences. I think I like a dryer bottle with more direct fruit. Anyway, I know this is a well-loved cuvée and will try it again at some point.
NV Tissot (Bénédicte et Stéphane / André et Mireille) Crémant du Jura Champagne Blend
2/17/2019
This was the rose cremate, which I don't find listed on Cellar Tracker; I can't remember the whole name well enough to start a new category. Compared to the blanc cremate, this was quite rough and scratchy out to the bottle, though it progressed favorably over a few days, and I recall the last glass as being very pleasant - showing, like the blanc, excellent underlying fruit. I'd like to try this rose cremant again before settling into a firm opinion.
NV Moutard Père et Fils Champagne Brut Grande Cuvée Champagne Blend
2/17/2019
Continuing my meander through base-level Champagnes in the local market, I liked this one as much as any tasted so far: crisp, dry, tangy citrus flavor, solid (if not generous) mousse. Clean finish, perhaps the tiniest bit short. Priced near $30, this is the leading contender for our house Champagne. Preferred to Pol Roger white label, Laurent-Perrier la Cuvée, les Mesnil Grand Cru, Vouette et Sorbée Fidele. Differently-styled but comparable quality to Bollinger Special and Lallier zero-dosage, for less $. Maybe not quite equal to the Special. Preferable to the two Dufour bottling I've tired (pinot blanc and pinot noir), which were too exotic for my palate.
NV Domaine de Montbourgeau Crémant du Jura Chardonnay
1/19/2019
Excellent Cremant: totally clean and dry, with just a bit of yeast and apply malic, but no distracting fruit - which, in my book, is good. Good length; elegant, dry presentation. Bubbles are less fine than decent Champagne, and little complexity, but in its category, not to be faulted. At $25, a solid re-buy.
NV Laurent-Perrier Champagne La Cuvée Champagne Blend
11/18/2018
First day, très bright and fresh, citrusy, intense, acidic. Narrow rather than broad flavor profile, not a ton of depth, trades on its intensity, tartness, and sense of purity. I very often like my champagnes better the second day - yes, even NV - but not this one. Once the very keen freshness has lost its edge, the fizz is okay as such, but not lovable.
Tried this after reading recent discussion on Berserkers identifying recent disgorgements of this as much improved and on a par with the NV entry wines of Roederer and Pol Roger. But the style is not for me, given that it takes me a couple of days or more to finish any bottle. More attractive, I would say, as an aperitif than served with a meal. Next stop ... Pol Roger white label, which I haven't tried in many years.
2009 Champagne Le Mesnil Champagne Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs Millésimé Chardonnay
7/7/2018
Picked this bottle up at a local store after reading a favorable note on the house by Hugh Johnson. This is easily the worst bottle of Champagne I've run into since sallying forth in this direction, include bottles costing 40% less. Can't put my finger on what I don't like about it - had an off-taste the first day, which blew off eventually to reveal and altogether uninteresting, unexceptional bubbly wine without distinctive character, neither mineral, nor especially dry, nor crisp and acidic, nor really anything memorable. No silky texture, no scintillating bubbles. Even disregarding the cost, this is a bottle I regret having drunk. To paraphrase the Mullah Nasrudin, after the first glass, I wasn't drinking Champagne, I was drinking my money.
NV Champagne Lallier Champagne Grand Cru Zero Dosage Champagne Blend
6/30/2018
This wine seems less like Champagne than a really good white wine with bubbles in it. The wine is bone dry, pungent, pugnacious, and altogether engaging. Without the fig-leaf of dosage, it lacks the refined, silky texture of a good, non-nature bottlings; but the wine is so good, this brutally-naked presentation is justified. Better the second and third days, as the wine develops with air and the bubbles slightly recede, I like this very much and would happily re-buy.
Champagne Lallier Champagne Grand Cru Zero Dosage Champagne Blend
4/8/2018
This is very nice, extremely vigorous bubbles, some yeasty, toasty flavors bespeaking Chardonnay; that note of 'zero' chalky bite. A good bottle and a joy to drink both day one and day two, when the fizz was essentially exhausted. Need to try the Rosé again.
2002 Domaine Huet Vouvray Pétillant Brut Chenin Blanc
2/16/2017
Deliciously sour. Just a hint of fizziness. Drink at cool room temperature - not straight from the cellar or refrigerator.
2002 Domaine Huet Vouvray Pétillant Brut Chenin Blanc
2/8/2016
Upon opening, so stone-bone dry it's hard to understand. After a bit, a suspicion of fruit richness slips out and switches the wine from dumb to extremely racy. Over three days, quite delcious, with food and on its own. Lacks Champagne depth and body, but in every other respect, a sterling sparkler. 2nd release.
Rosé - Sparkling NV Domaine Désiré Petit Crémant du Jura Pinot Noir more
Options
7/3/2016 - I WROTE: NR (Edit)
Opened for an early start to the 4th weekend. This wine is a find: pupillon-based rosé fizz. Weightless, moussey bubbles with a mild yeasty-toasty halo. Not the depth or complexity of a fine sparkling wine from regions to the northwest, but just a third to fourth of the cost, eminently drinkable. Develops well over a day or two.
2002 Domaine Huet Vouvray Pétillant Brut Chenin Blanc
3/29/2015
From the second release (not the reserve). Shockingly fresh and juicy, stunningly good. Fruit, acids, modest petillance all riffing in harmony. A delightlful light fizz; much more straightforwardly pleasurable than the remembered last bottles of my first-release cache. Drink or hold.
1996 Pol Roger Champagne Vintage Brut Champagne Blend
12/31/2014 - I WROTE: NR (Edit)
From magnum. Drinking very nicely, fine bubbles, decent intensity, very refined. Yellowing color.
NV Patrick Piuze Crémant de Bourgogne Val de Mer Non-Dose Champagne Blend
11/12/2013 - I WROTE: NR (Edit)hard fizz for the money. Crisp, clean, chardonnay fruit, yeast. Very pleasing and a re-buy. Lacks the intensity, finesse and complexity of Champagne, but not by too much, and costs half the price.
NV Veuve Fourny & Fils Champagne Blanc de Blancs Brut Nature Vertus Chardonnay
9/17/2013
Opened dirt dry, with a hint of chalk and intense acidity. Chardonnay fruit flavors crept into the profile the longer it was open, and the chalkiness increased, while the acidity never wavered. The chalky-acid combination reminded me of Belliviere's Jasnieres Rosier, though the fruit here is unmistakably Chardonnay, and the fizz added to textural and flavor complexity. I liked this bottle very much, but would recommend decanting it for at least an hour, to allow the fruit-derived flavor dimension to develop, which makes a very substantial difference in how the wine presents.
2000 Gloria Ferrer Royal Cuvée Vintage Reserve Carneros Champagne Blend
7/25/2012
Not good wine. Has a bit of toast and yeast on the nose, but it's overly sugared, lacks adequate acidity and has no fruit-related flavor at all, no depth, no complexity. It's actually irritating to drink. GF's NV blanc de noir offers better quality for less money. If you really enjoy good fizz, skip this gargle.
2007 François Pinon Vouvray Pétillant Brut Chenin Blanc
NV Michel Turgy Champagne Grand Cru Réserve Selection Brut Blanc de Blancs Chardonnay
10/23/2011 -
Reliable, tasty Chard-based Champagne: good balance, tasty fruit rightly spun by keen acidity and carbon-filled bubbles. I'm not among the Champagne cognoscenti, but at $35, in today's Champagne market, I don't see how you can go wrong with this wine, when fancy bubbles are on the agenda. clean, pure chardonnay with fine, elegant bead, flavors gaining in nuance and volume with exposure to air.
2007 François Pinon Vouvray Pétillant Brut Chenin Blanc
7/17/2011
So-so bottle; decent fizz, but flavors muted, not especially well-balanced, bitter on finish. The bottles of this wine I open seem to alternate, one very good, one meh. Variation?
2007 François Pinon Vouvray Pétillant Brut Chenin Blanc
5/8/2011
Creamy, hint of richness, smooth, delicious. Excellent petillant you could drink like soda.
NV Tissot (Bénédicte et Stéphane / André et Mireille) Crémant du Jura Champagne Blend
12/25/2010
Good value; bead could be a bit finer, but with couple hours air time the chardonnay fruit comes to the fore making for a delicious Champagne-style fizz.
NV Domaine du Closel-Ch“teau des Vaults Crémant de Loire Brut Sauvage Chenin Blanc
6/7/2010
Medium-bodied, with yeasty aromas and flavor, and a somewhat sauvage bead. A bit elbowy, almost rustic for a cremant, but clean and good. Modest fruit and complexity, but altogether likable and good with Thai stir-fry. I liked this quite a bit, though it may not show in the note. $19 from CSW.
NV Domaine de Montbourgeau Crémant du Jura Chardonnay
6/7/2010 - I WROTE: NR (Edit)
Very finely crafted wine with champagne-like dryness and bead, which you rarely find (or necessarily want) in cremant. Very high-toned: tons of breed and pedigree, as Serena Sutcliffe might say. Good chardonnay fruit, though excessively modest, drinking over a three-four hour period. Too austere for me; maybe exceptional for some. $20, CSW.
NV Franck Peillot Vin du Bugey-Montagnieu Pétillant Brut White Blend
6/7/2010
Light-medium bodied, fine froth, with tasty light and elegant chardonnay-like fruit on the nose and in the mouth. Charming. Good by the glass as an aperitif. $18, CSW.
What I've learned is that I like non-dosage Champagnes best of this genre: I like their chalky, dry bite, and the fidel sense of the underlying wine flavors, amidst the bubbles, un-softened and un-dressed-up with dosage. But perhaps I'm oversimplifying.
Anyway, my background prep for this was a couple of browses through Peter Liem's recent tome. None of the wines cost over $45, although Bollinger Speciale usually runs about 50 (mine was $40). I also tried two Dufour Champagnes - one from Pinot Blanc, one from Pinot Noir - which I respect as earnest efforts, but were way too avant-garde for me to enjoy. I have to try Turgy again soon, to see if I still like it.
Personal favorites were Lallier Grand Cru Non-dosage, among ND Champagnes; I also liked the Veuve Fournay ND. Bollinger Special, among the base-level dosage Champagne (inexplicably, I have no note); Moutard Brut Grand Cuvée ran away with the best value prize, by several lengths. Among non-Champagne Champagne varietals, Tissot Brut Cremate de Jura is a sentimental favorite, but it takes a day or two of air time to give up the Chardonnay goods. Among non-Champagne varietals, Huet petillant - though it looks like I don't really love them until 10 years or more past vintage.
Least-loved was le Mesnil GC, which was kind of horrible. Perhaps a flawed bottle, though not corked.
I've tossed in a few notes from temps perdus to round out the profile.
Interested in any/all reactions, naturally, I'm most keenly interested in views on age-worthiness of ND Champagne. I've read the in years past that these wines fail to develop without dosage, but am skeptical that this can be so, when the base wine is really good.
Santé.
NV Domaine Langlois-Ch“teau Crémant de Loire Brut White Blend more
4/20/2019
About $20. Superficially dry, scrubbed, pleasing, but fails to hold attention past the first glass, when it seems to be a bit thin and, despite the initial sensation of dryness, slightly sugared - not sweet, but perhaps a bit of RS together with possible effects of chaptalization. Not for trying again.
NV Taittinger Champagne La Française Champagne Blend
4/20/2019
On opening and for an hour after, dry, fizzy, acidic, no flavor or aroma. Next afternoon, from refrigerator, more accommodating, slightly yeasty, doughy aroma. Flavor is sweet-tart tart: Champagne acidity with a smidge of citrus and the merest hint of sugary roundness. This seems quite good, the dosage residual showing only slightly in the somewhat drying finish.
Louis Roederer Champagne Brut Premier Champagne Blend
2/8/2019
Delicious, toasty, yeasty Chardonnay. Crisp, dry, with a fine but assertive mousse. Liked this a lot the first day; second and third, rapid decline in freshness and depth.
NV Pol Roger Champagne Brut Réserve Champagne Blend
2/17/2019
From memory, excellent mousse and sweet-tart tartness. Pretty good overall, though a bit perfumed for my preferences. I think I like a dryer bottle with more direct fruit. Anyway, I know this is a well-loved cuvée and will try it again at some point.
NV Tissot (Bénédicte et Stéphane / André et Mireille) Crémant du Jura Champagne Blend
2/17/2019
This was the rose cremate, which I don't find listed on Cellar Tracker; I can't remember the whole name well enough to start a new category. Compared to the blanc cremate, this was quite rough and scratchy out to the bottle, though it progressed favorably over a few days, and I recall the last glass as being very pleasant - showing, like the blanc, excellent underlying fruit. I'd like to try this rose cremant again before settling into a firm opinion.
NV Moutard Père et Fils Champagne Brut Grande Cuvée Champagne Blend
2/17/2019
Continuing my meander through base-level Champagnes in the local market, I liked this one as much as any tasted so far: crisp, dry, tangy citrus flavor, solid (if not generous) mousse. Clean finish, perhaps the tiniest bit short. Priced near $30, this is the leading contender for our house Champagne. Preferred to Pol Roger white label, Laurent-Perrier la Cuvée, les Mesnil Grand Cru, Vouette et Sorbée Fidele. Differently-styled but comparable quality to Bollinger Special and Lallier zero-dosage, for less $. Maybe not quite equal to the Special. Preferable to the two Dufour bottling I've tired (pinot blanc and pinot noir), which were too exotic for my palate.
NV Domaine de Montbourgeau Crémant du Jura Chardonnay
1/19/2019
Excellent Cremant: totally clean and dry, with just a bit of yeast and apply malic, but no distracting fruit - which, in my book, is good. Good length; elegant, dry presentation. Bubbles are less fine than decent Champagne, and little complexity, but in its category, not to be faulted. At $25, a solid re-buy.
NV Laurent-Perrier Champagne La Cuvée Champagne Blend
11/18/2018
First day, très bright and fresh, citrusy, intense, acidic. Narrow rather than broad flavor profile, not a ton of depth, trades on its intensity, tartness, and sense of purity. I very often like my champagnes better the second day - yes, even NV - but not this one. Once the very keen freshness has lost its edge, the fizz is okay as such, but not lovable.
Tried this after reading recent discussion on Berserkers identifying recent disgorgements of this as much improved and on a par with the NV entry wines of Roederer and Pol Roger. But the style is not for me, given that it takes me a couple of days or more to finish any bottle. More attractive, I would say, as an aperitif than served with a meal. Next stop ... Pol Roger white label, which I haven't tried in many years.
2009 Champagne Le Mesnil Champagne Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs Millésimé Chardonnay
7/7/2018
Picked this bottle up at a local store after reading a favorable note on the house by Hugh Johnson. This is easily the worst bottle of Champagne I've run into since sallying forth in this direction, include bottles costing 40% less. Can't put my finger on what I don't like about it - had an off-taste the first day, which blew off eventually to reveal and altogether uninteresting, unexceptional bubbly wine without distinctive character, neither mineral, nor especially dry, nor crisp and acidic, nor really anything memorable. No silky texture, no scintillating bubbles. Even disregarding the cost, this is a bottle I regret having drunk. To paraphrase the Mullah Nasrudin, after the first glass, I wasn't drinking Champagne, I was drinking my money.
NV Champagne Lallier Champagne Grand Cru Zero Dosage Champagne Blend
6/30/2018
This wine seems less like Champagne than a really good white wine with bubbles in it. The wine is bone dry, pungent, pugnacious, and altogether engaging. Without the fig-leaf of dosage, it lacks the refined, silky texture of a good, non-nature bottlings; but the wine is so good, this brutally-naked presentation is justified. Better the second and third days, as the wine develops with air and the bubbles slightly recede, I like this very much and would happily re-buy.
Champagne Lallier Champagne Grand Cru Zero Dosage Champagne Blend
4/8/2018
This is very nice, extremely vigorous bubbles, some yeasty, toasty flavors bespeaking Chardonnay; that note of 'zero' chalky bite. A good bottle and a joy to drink both day one and day two, when the fizz was essentially exhausted. Need to try the Rosé again.
2002 Domaine Huet Vouvray Pétillant Brut Chenin Blanc
2/16/2017
Deliciously sour. Just a hint of fizziness. Drink at cool room temperature - not straight from the cellar or refrigerator.
2002 Domaine Huet Vouvray Pétillant Brut Chenin Blanc
2/8/2016
Upon opening, so stone-bone dry it's hard to understand. After a bit, a suspicion of fruit richness slips out and switches the wine from dumb to extremely racy. Over three days, quite delcious, with food and on its own. Lacks Champagne depth and body, but in every other respect, a sterling sparkler. 2nd release.
Rosé - Sparkling NV Domaine Désiré Petit Crémant du Jura Pinot Noir more
Options
7/3/2016 - I WROTE: NR (Edit)
Opened for an early start to the 4th weekend. This wine is a find: pupillon-based rosé fizz. Weightless, moussey bubbles with a mild yeasty-toasty halo. Not the depth or complexity of a fine sparkling wine from regions to the northwest, but just a third to fourth of the cost, eminently drinkable. Develops well over a day or two.
2002 Domaine Huet Vouvray Pétillant Brut Chenin Blanc
3/29/2015
From the second release (not the reserve). Shockingly fresh and juicy, stunningly good. Fruit, acids, modest petillance all riffing in harmony. A delightlful light fizz; much more straightforwardly pleasurable than the remembered last bottles of my first-release cache. Drink or hold.
1996 Pol Roger Champagne Vintage Brut Champagne Blend
12/31/2014 - I WROTE: NR (Edit)
From magnum. Drinking very nicely, fine bubbles, decent intensity, very refined. Yellowing color.
NV Patrick Piuze Crémant de Bourgogne Val de Mer Non-Dose Champagne Blend
11/12/2013 - I WROTE: NR (Edit)hard fizz for the money. Crisp, clean, chardonnay fruit, yeast. Very pleasing and a re-buy. Lacks the intensity, finesse and complexity of Champagne, but not by too much, and costs half the price.
NV Veuve Fourny & Fils Champagne Blanc de Blancs Brut Nature Vertus Chardonnay
9/17/2013
Opened dirt dry, with a hint of chalk and intense acidity. Chardonnay fruit flavors crept into the profile the longer it was open, and the chalkiness increased, while the acidity never wavered. The chalky-acid combination reminded me of Belliviere's Jasnieres Rosier, though the fruit here is unmistakably Chardonnay, and the fizz added to textural and flavor complexity. I liked this bottle very much, but would recommend decanting it for at least an hour, to allow the fruit-derived flavor dimension to develop, which makes a very substantial difference in how the wine presents.
2000 Gloria Ferrer Royal Cuvée Vintage Reserve Carneros Champagne Blend
7/25/2012
Not good wine. Has a bit of toast and yeast on the nose, but it's overly sugared, lacks adequate acidity and has no fruit-related flavor at all, no depth, no complexity. It's actually irritating to drink. GF's NV blanc de noir offers better quality for less money. If you really enjoy good fizz, skip this gargle.
2007 François Pinon Vouvray Pétillant Brut Chenin Blanc
NV Michel Turgy Champagne Grand Cru Réserve Selection Brut Blanc de Blancs Chardonnay
10/23/2011 -
Reliable, tasty Chard-based Champagne: good balance, tasty fruit rightly spun by keen acidity and carbon-filled bubbles. I'm not among the Champagne cognoscenti, but at $35, in today's Champagne market, I don't see how you can go wrong with this wine, when fancy bubbles are on the agenda. clean, pure chardonnay with fine, elegant bead, flavors gaining in nuance and volume with exposure to air.
2007 François Pinon Vouvray Pétillant Brut Chenin Blanc
7/17/2011
So-so bottle; decent fizz, but flavors muted, not especially well-balanced, bitter on finish. The bottles of this wine I open seem to alternate, one very good, one meh. Variation?
2007 François Pinon Vouvray Pétillant Brut Chenin Blanc
5/8/2011
Creamy, hint of richness, smooth, delicious. Excellent petillant you could drink like soda.
NV Tissot (Bénédicte et Stéphane / André et Mireille) Crémant du Jura Champagne Blend
12/25/2010
Good value; bead could be a bit finer, but with couple hours air time the chardonnay fruit comes to the fore making for a delicious Champagne-style fizz.
NV Domaine du Closel-Ch“teau des Vaults Crémant de Loire Brut Sauvage Chenin Blanc
6/7/2010
Medium-bodied, with yeasty aromas and flavor, and a somewhat sauvage bead. A bit elbowy, almost rustic for a cremant, but clean and good. Modest fruit and complexity, but altogether likable and good with Thai stir-fry. I liked this quite a bit, though it may not show in the note. $19 from CSW.
NV Domaine de Montbourgeau Crémant du Jura Chardonnay
6/7/2010 - I WROTE: NR (Edit)
Very finely crafted wine with champagne-like dryness and bead, which you rarely find (or necessarily want) in cremant. Very high-toned: tons of breed and pedigree, as Serena Sutcliffe might say. Good chardonnay fruit, though excessively modest, drinking over a three-four hour period. Too austere for me; maybe exceptional for some. $20, CSW.
NV Franck Peillot Vin du Bugey-Montagnieu Pétillant Brut White Blend
6/7/2010
Light-medium bodied, fine froth, with tasty light and elegant chardonnay-like fruit on the nose and in the mouth. Charming. Good by the glass as an aperitif. $18, CSW.