Reviews

Chartogne-Taillet Champagne Blanc de Blancs Heurtebise

A fantastic showing, and the best yet from this bottling, the Heurtebise displays wonderful pear, ripe lemon, and melon fruit flavors that are perfectly carried on a limestone and chalk carriage.…

Bérêche et Fils Champagne Premier Cru Le Cran

Baked apples and spices lead the charge, with honey, limestone, grilled lemon, ginger, quince, and Rainier cherry filling in the profile. In a lovely spot now, with solid freshness and focus. Never…

Huré Frères Champagne L'Instantanée Blanc de Noirs

Cherry, limestone, bruised lemon, and white raspberry. A fairly simple attack, with limited expansion and a constricted mid-palate that prevents the fruit from offering much added depth at the…

Bollinger Champagne R.D. Extra Brut

Ginger root, poached pear, apple pie crust, pecan, honey, and granite make for a gourmand experience, but one with sound cut and lift. The attack isn't sweet, which adds to the experience of focus…

Domaine des Malandes Chablis Grand Cru Vaudésir

Mostly lemon, with lime and clementine as well. Medium all the way around, with just enough zing to keep it interesting. No fireworks, but it's an especially solid QPR. I prefer 2019 and 2021.

Huré Frères Champagne Terre Natale

Yellow apple, yellow citrus, and yellow pear fruit dominate, with hints of oxidized and baked notes. Rounded and a bit one-note, this hits with "yellow fruit" (slightly poached) plopping on the…

Philipponnat Champagne Les Cintres

Similar in profile to the 2008 Cintres, this 2006 is an absolute stunner of a wine. Perfectly cadenced flavors of ripe red and yellow apple, ginger, honey, poached pear, limestone, olive oil, grilled…

Laherte Frères Champagne Premier Cru Extra Brut Les Longues Voyes

A broad (almost chewy) expression of honey, peach pit, cherry, bruised pear, grilled lemon, and orange. A bit loose on the finish, lacking some tension and intensity on the tail. Fairly one-note…

Laherte Frères Champagne Extra Brut Les Vignes d'Autrefois

Salt rock, cherry water, unripe quince, granite, crunchy yellow and red pear, bruised lemon, chalk, and brioche. Zippy and a little high strung at first, deepening with time in the glass. More yellow…

De Sousa et Fils Champagne Grand Cru Cuvée des Caudalies Millésimé

At first pass, this presents as a little boxy and less refined in cadence and texture. With time and air, the flavors become more amalgamated, with tasty but predictable flavors of lemon, white…

Dhondt-Grellet Champagne Dans un Premier Temps Assemblage Extra Brut

Mostly white fruit and hints of yellow, with a linear mineral element dominating the delivery. Fairly strict and thin, with a short finish. Not much depth or complexity emerging from this bottle.…

Pierre Paillard Champagne Grand Cru Rosé Extra Brut Les Terres Roses

Decided to give another bottle a fair shake. This was as weak as the one back in June. Diluted strawberry water and tangerine, with some chalky fizz. Even food fails to elevate it. Anemic and bitter.…

Chartogne-Taillet Champagne Les Barres

Firm and precise on entry, this bottle is another strong showing. As before, ginger, Mirabelle plum, brown, red, and yellow pear, honey, wood, and granite lead the charge, followed by a salty bite…

Doyard Champagne Premier Cru Extra Brut Clos de l'Abbaye

Much improved from last year's stricter and more linear performance, this bottle was undulating all sorts of honeydew melon, mint, lemon, travertine, and white/yellow pear flavors. Still a tad…

Leclerc Briant Champagne Premier Cru Le Clos des Trois Clochers Brut Zero

As before, flavors of lemon and lime pith, yuzu kosho, and lemon verbena dominate, with some honey, grilled lemon, blanched almond, chalk, and limestone notes that add depth and interest. Finishes…

Philipponnat Champagne Les Cintres

In a word: beautiful. From the tenderloin (as in, the best and tenderest part of a loin, not the worst part of S.F.) of Clos des Goisses, the Cintres is seemingly the pinnacle of the Philipponnant…

Ultramarine Sparkling Rosé Heintz Vineyard

A solid sparkling Rose right here. Rhubarb, grapefruit, chrysanthemum, watermelon, strawberry, travertine, and chalk notes make for a wine with superb gravitas, but also one of precision and keen…

Adrien Dhondt Champagne Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs Chetillon de Haut

A much more wiry profile than the Coullemets, the Chetillon highlights chiseled precision and striking minerality at the moment. This is a wine of promise, but it's in less of a mood to show much…

Krug Champagne Brut Grande Cuvée Edition 169eme

The 2013 base does everything right here to maintain wonderful acidity and precision for the weightier brioche crust, nut, and honey notes that make Krug so yummy. The splits (.375s) are easy go-tos…

Dom Pérignon Champagne

Awesome again. Best bottle of young Dom out there, 2013 is a winner. Prickly green pear, yeast, lemon and lime juice and pith, flint, limestone, travertine, white and green melon, Drink or hold.

Marguet Sapience

A much improved showing from the last time, this bottle of Sapience shows some Krug-type biscotti, honey, poached pear, and grilled lemon flavors, and also kicks off limestone, bitter apple, and…

Michel Fallon Champagne Brigitte Fallon Avysia Avize

This bottle was exceptional, with all the lemony BdB Chardonnay goodness you'd want, with noteworthy length on the back end that keeps a continuous flavor train circling the palate though…

Roses de Jeanne / Cédric Bouchard Champagne Blanc de Noirs Cote de Bechalin

The spine and tension here are prominent, especially for a 2012. There is Pinot power at the forefront, with less richness overall, washed over by an acidic pulse that shoots across the palate.…

Larmandier-Bernier Champagne Grand Cru Les Chemins d'Avize

Similar showing to the bottle I had at the domaine a year ago, the Chemins d'Avize is a go-getter from the start. This bottle shows white fruit and crisp minerality counterbalancing the lemon,…

Larmandier-Bernier Champagne Grand Cru Vieille Vigne du Levant Extra Brut

At Madcap* restaurant.