France: Wine, French Wine Regions, Bordeaux, Burgundy, Champagne, & More Profiled

NV Vilmart & Cie Champagne Premier Cru Grand Cellier, France, Wine Review

Score: 
91
Grade: 
A-
Current Price: 
$60.00USD

This is 70% Chardonnay and 30% Pinot Noir.  It was disgorged on October, 2017.  Light golden in color, clear and bright.  The nose has minerals, slight lemons and a bit of spice/oak.  On the palate, this has good acidity.  It has a lemon hard candy quality to it, that I find enjoyable.  Lots of energy.  Long finish.  This should drink well for the next five to seven years.  It will pair well with most foods.  

2006 Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin Champagne Brut La Grande Dame, France, Wine Review

Vintage: 
2006
Score: 
92
Grade: 
A-
Current Price: 
$115.00USD

Always nice to revisit this wine.  This time it was in a tasting with other sparkling wines and tasted blind.  It started out quite tight and took some time to open up.  It continued to open up all night long.  it was the groups wine of the night though not mine.  Light golden in color.  The nose has a lemon/citrus quality to it along with minerals and slight ginger.  On the palate, the citrus carries thru with nice minerality.  Good acidity.  This is just starting to enter its peak period and  should be good for another decade or more before slowly starting to fade.  With the (better) 2008

2010 Pierre Callot Champagne Grand Cru Les Avats, France, Wine Review

Vintage: 
2010
Score: 
88
Grade: 
B+
Current Price: 
$90.00USD

This is 100% Chardonnay from a vineyard originally planted in 1951.  Les Avats means "All Good" in old French.  Silvery gold in color.  The nose has minerals and lemons with slight yeast notes.  On the palate, this is slightly sweet.  Not a lot of effervescence.  It seems slightly oxidized.  I don't know if that is the house style or an issue with this bottle.  Either way, it is not to a level of being a problem.  The lemon/citrus carries thru to the palate.  Nice finish.  This probably should be consumed in the next five years if this bottle is representative.  It will go with most foods. 

NV Moët & Chandon Champagne 150th Anniversary Impérial Brut, France, Champagne, Wine Review

Score: 
90
Grade: 
A-
Current Price: 
$45.00USD

This ubiquitous Champagne seems to be everywhere and sometimes, that means it can be easy to look past it (for wine geeks anyway).  It is quite good.  This is actually a special bottling to celebrate their 150th anniversary of their founding in 1869.  It is a blend of equal parts Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier (30% to 40%) and the rest Chardonnay.  Golden in color with a bit of copper.  The nose is nice with toast, apple and slight ginger.  On the palate, this has nice full carbonation.  Good acidity.  Slight tannins.  Pears and apples.  Long finish.  This is drinking well now and should cont

NV Chartogne-Taillet Champagne Cuvée Sainte Anne, France, Wine Review

Score: 
91
Grade: 
A-
Current Price: 
$42.00USD

This is a 50/50 blend of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.  It is 50% from 2013, and 50% from 2014 and 2015.  It was disgorged on 12/2017.  Silvery gold in color.  The nose is interesting with toast, pear, slight dried floral notes but also this interesting chocolate quality.  It took some time to open on the palate and continued to improve all evening.  Notes of pears with good acidity.  A slightly oily texture.  A bit clipped initially on the finish, that worked itself out with air.  This needs some time to develop.  It certainly should improve with a couple of years of good cellaring.  Then, it

2004 Michel Furdyna Blanc de Noir, France, Champagne, Wine Review

Vintage: 
2004
Score: 
88
Grade: 
B+

Golden in color, slightly copper.  On the nose this has a bit of toast, slight ginger, and a bit of straw/yeast.  On the palate, there is some citrus.  Some strawberries.  Just a touch of residual sugar.  This seems to be showing some age and probably should be consumed in the next couple of years.  It will work well with medium or lighter foods, especially sea foods.  

NV Pierre Paillard Champagne Grand Cru Extra Brut Les Parcelles, France, Wine Review

Score: 
92
Grade: 
A-
Current Price: 
$40.00USD

Great label with lots of info.  The base wine for this NV wine is 2013.  it is 70% Pinot Noir and 30% Chardonnay.  This bottle was disgorged on 04/2018.  It is also a really good wine.  Medium gold in color.  The nose has apples, honey, and slight ginger and minerals.  On the palate, this has a nice backbone of acidity.  Tart apple fruit.  Lots of depth and complexity.  Long finish.  This is drinking well now and should for at least the next five to seven years.  It will work with just about any food.  

2015 Chartron et Trébuchet Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Embazées, France, Burgundy, Wine Review

Vintage: 
2015
Score: 
88
Grade: 
B+
Current Price: 
$95.00USD

Served to a group blind.  I thought it was a bit oxidized (just slightly) which is worrisome.  The group guess was California although I leaned to a more modern, bigger Chablis.  Light golden in color, clear and bright.  The nose has some lemons with oak/spice but a streak of apple cider.  Not fresh apples thought perhaps that was there too.  On the palate, apples with some cider notes.  Slightly oily texture (which is why I thought Burgundy).  Some viscosity.  Slightly flabby.  It was likely the oak and the lack of acid that led the group into thinking it was from California.  OK finish. 

MV Krug Champagne Brut Grande Cuvée Edition 167eme, France, Wine Review

Score: 
97
Grade: 
A+
Current Price: 
$168.00USD

This wine (or at least this bottle) seems to be a bit better than a prior bottle which is saying a lot.  It mostly the difficult 2011 vintage but includes almost two hundred different wines going back to the 1995 vintage.   Forty-two percent of the cuvée is made up of Reserve wines.  The final blend is 47 % Pinot Noir, 36% Chardonnay and 17% Pinot Meunier.

2016 Domaine des Pierres Seches St. Joseph Sainte-Epine, France, Rhone, Wine Review

Vintage: 
2016
Score: 
94
Grade: 
A
Current Price: 
$47.00USD

This is a relatively newer producer in the Rhone whose wines should be on your radar.  Inky purple in color.  The nose has black raspberries, white pepper, roasted herbs and a slight violet note.  On the palate, this is full bodied.  Delicious.  Black raspberry fruit over smoke and nice minerality.  Long finish.  This will go great with roasts and casserole but also Indian and more robust Thai food.  It still will continue to improve for the next five to seven years and should be good for ten to fifteen, at least, after that.  

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