Wine concepts, an up market wine retailer in Cape Town and organizers of a number of important wine local wine events held their annual French Champagne festival at the Vineyard Hotel in Cape Town. This is a special annual event and an opportunity to taste some of the top Champagne houses in the world.
But first, what is a Champagne house? It is a Champagne brand that represents a certain style of Champagne. Each house has their own brand of Champagne with its specific nuances, style and identity. Nuances of style vary greatly from Champagne house to house but they share one thing in common. Most start their range with a non-vintage Champagne which represents the blends of a number of vintages. Thus the term non-vintage. The Champagne houses then tend to have a vintage Champagne coming from one year tending to be more expensive and then a deluxe Champagne.
Take Moet & Chandon for example. They have their mass non-vintage brand. Their vintage Champagne and then their famous special deluxe wine, Dom Perignon. Almost all of the Champagnes on offer at the Wine concepts annual French Champagne festival were non-vintage Champagnes. So it is these that are of relevance to us…
Starting off with my favorite non-vintage Champagne Bollinger Special Cuvee. One of the manliest of Champagnes its average age is around 5 years giving it plenty of maturity. Always powerful, rich and yet soft and elegant on the palate. This sample was pale gold with green tinges. A biscuit nose with lemon touches the palate smooth and elegant. Very rich and lovely to taste. I always start and finish my tasting with Bollinger. It sells for R771.50 a bottle.
Moving on to the non- vintage Brut Reserve Billecart- Salmon. A very elegant and respected house with a lot of finesse. This wine was pale straw. The nose shy with a slight yeasty pong. The palate a bit sharp perhaps from the acidity with caramel hints. I enjoyed it. Price R581.00 a bottle.
Drappier is one of my favorite non-vintage Champagnes. It is elegant, soft with a yeasty character and is easy to drink. Their Carte D’Or non-vintage was a very pale straw. The nose was typically yeasty with citrus notes. The palate was creamy and delicious. It confirmed Drappier as one of my favorite non-vintage Champagnes. Excellent value at R313.00 a bottle.
Gosset is also one of my favorite Champagnes. A very full, nutty round bodied Champagne. I went straight for their Grand Millesime 1999 vintage. It was pale gold with a shy nose and a bit sour. Perhaps it was just a bad bottle? I have tasted this wine many times and it has always been excellent. I have a bottle in my cellar. Don’t right it off on one bottle it is a beautiful wine. R801.00 a bottle. It is a vintage wine after all.
Now to Guy Charbaut. A producer that I have a lot of respect for. I tend to drink their vintage Champagne but here I had their Selection Brut non-vintage. It was straw in colour with green characteristics. It had a palate of green apples, very hard and intense. A fine wine. Price R413.00 a bottle.
Now on to the highly regarded Champagne Jacquesson. It was the Cuvee 734. Apparently the Jacquesson always has a unique year so this year was 2006. Very pale straw. A nose of Turkish delights. Lovely Turkish delights on the palate. Superb wine and quite unique. Price R431.00 a bottle.
The Lanson. A very classical and elegant Champagne. The Black Label was medium gold with a very citrus and floral nose. It had an acidic, but elegant palate. A very high quality Champagne. Price R559.00 a bottle.
Laurent- Perrier has long been regarded as a very classical and elegant Champagne house. The Brut non-vintage was medium straw with green tinges. It had a classic yeasty nose with pear showing through and a very elegant palate. Quite a handsome Champagne. Price R429.50 a bottle.
The Moet & Chandon Brut non-vintage is a massive seller. Quality on large volume Champagne can vary but this was excellent. Pale gold with a shy nose with the palate smooth, round and very easy drinking. Price R559.00 a bottle.
Pol Roger Brut Reserve non-vintage. Winston Churchill’s favorite Champagne and one of the top classical, austere Champagne’s in the world. Very pale gold with the nose lovely, creamy and caramel. A classical, hard, austere palate. Price R525.00 a bottle.
Pommery. One of my favorite gentle Champagnes. The Brut Royale non-vintage very pale gold. On the nose creamy and citrus. Delicious palate, very easy drinking with a hint of apples. Price R531.00 a bottle.
Finally, Champagne Taittinger Brut Reserve non -vintage. Quite a big, powerful wine. Medium straw with a shy nose and acidic palate. Round and full bodied. I had tasted the Brut vintage 2004 before which was not available for tasting and it was superb. Price R525.00 a bottle.
What did the tasting tell us about the state of world Champagne? It is not often that I get a chance to taste so many top Champagnes together. Champagne is still in great shape. It is still the preeminent sparkling wine in the world. It has elegance, power, nuances and subtleties not found in any other group or tradition of sparkling wine region through out the world. Most important is the mouth feel. Champagne possesses great mouth feel and tastes delicious when you sip it. And the price? Yes, it is expensive but I suppose you get what you pay for. Champagne deserves its price tag.
And the event? It was a great success. There was exotic chocolate, oysters and jazz on offer. Altogether a very professional event. Another round of applause for the annual Wine concepts French Champagne Festival.
