Taittinger Champagne Tasting Notes

Taittinger Champagne

What a privileged tasting! Always one of my favourites, it was a pleasure to welcome their Brand Ambassador Justin Llewellyn back to OUWS. This is a chap who endured 135 champagne dinners last year in the line of duty. Little sympathy was shown!

The history of this famous “Grand Marque” is well known if somewhat convoluted. The key point is that it remains family owned, which is unusual for a house of this size in the commercial world of Champagne today.

Taittinger was originally founded as “Fourneaux” in 1734 (the third oldest), and the Taittinger family link began in 1931 when Pierre-Charles Taittinger acquired the property and cellars. The vineyards were thrown in for free! Pierre-Charles had originally been billeted in Chateau La Marquetterie during the 1914-18 war and had vowed that if he survived he would one day return and purchase it. Despite the larger family conglomerate which included Taittinger being purchased by American owners briefly in the 1990’s, the Champagne house has always remained under family control and is now back in their hands again as an independent producer under the leadership of Pierre-Emmanuel Taittinger.

It was interesting to take our guest speaker off-topic a few times during the evening. Grey market Champagnes, loss leader offers and the significant differences between the Champagne and the rest of the wine trade were all covered. In the current time of economic uncertainty Champagne sales are apparently being crunched across the board for all producers. Many prestige cuvees that were previously on allocation are now freely available as producers try to shift unsold stock. With respect to the newly enlarged Champagne AC area, the feeling was that despite recent publicity this will make little difference to the market for 20-years. In the current climate no-one will be rushing to define and plant this anyway.

An interesting defence was made for the Pinot Meunier grape during the tasting. Others have spoken of this in a disparaging light. Although acknowledging that it is cheaper than Chardonnay or Pinot Noir, it adds a floral character and matures quicker hence is well suited to NV blends.

For me Taittinger is defined by its style – this is a Chardonnay dominated house (never less than 40%), although this evening revealed a number of newer wines with a much stronger Pinot Noir character. This may come as a surprise to some who are familiar with the lighter Taittinger style – I have always thought of this as more elegant and feminine compared to the brawn of its classic competitor Bollinger. That is not to say one style is preferable to the other – it just depends what you’re having for breakfast with it!

Taittinger Brut Reserve NV
15.5+/20
45% Chardonnay, 35% Pinot Meunier, 20% Pinot Noir
Pale lemon colour. Open nose, clean, crisp and cool. Lemon grass character. Fine mousse, light and delicate. Crisp apple acidity. A little nutty on the finish and notable long. This is a really significant step up from your average NV blend.

Taittinger Prelude Grand Cru NV15.5+/20
50% Chardonnay, 50% Pinot Noir. The style aims at half way between NV and vintage Champagne. Intended as an aperitif wine. All Grand Cru fruit.
Notably darker with obvious Pinot Noir – hints of blush. Perfumed nose, again with Pinot character noticeable. Feels like a touch of sweetness with a noticeably richer palate. Balanced and structured. Long.

Taittinger Les Folies de la Marquetterie NV
16/20
60% Pinot Noir, 40% Chardonnay
This is a single vineyard wine, unusual in Champagne. Coming from the vineyards immediately surround Chateau la Marquetterie, its name originates from the local villagers who maintained it was a folly to plant vines there! Small production of 10,000 bottles. Half of the Chardonnay was vinified in oak barrels.
Lighter pale lemon colour. Nose quite subdued. Needs time? Palate is really very fine however. Structured, weighty, complex. Finely wrought. More like a fine Burgundy. Definitely sufficient structure to accompany food. Will doubtless improve further in the short term. Very enjoyable. Impressive.

Taittinger Brut Vintage 200216+/20
Pale lemon colour with an open, very floral nose. Classic Taittinger. Steely character, very expansive with a lot of extract. Mousse a little too full for me. Whilst enjoyable now, this clearly needs some more time in the bottle to develop and evolve – many years ahead for it. Very good length. Impressive wine.

Taittinger Brut Prestige Rosé NV
15.5/20
Made by the addition method, simply mixing in red wine to the base white.
Very pale rose colour. Nose is closed currently but some strawberry character is discernible. The palate is a little austere to my mind, and the Pinot almost seems to have given it some tannin. This is a more serious rosé, not an apéritif quaffer.

Taittinger Nocturne Sec NV
??/20 – probably I would give this 15-16/20
Tricky – I found this very difficult to place, particularly after the previous wines we’d tasted this evening. A rich ‘sec’ style with considerable sweetness. Intended for dessert or the end of an evening.
Pale lemon colour. Open, sweet floral nose. Palate is moderately sweet – it tastes like something ~30-50 g/L of residual sugar, though I suspect this may be higher as the acidity doubtless offsets this. Pinot Noir overtones. I suspect when drunk as intended this is a splendid glass of wine, but after all we have tasted so far this evening I found this a little difficult to adjust to.

Viña Errazuriz Tasting Notes

Viña Errazuriz Tasting
Patrick McGrath MW returned to Oxford this evening to present the wines of Viña Errazuriz from Chile. I’ve always enjoyed these wines, although much of the range has struck me as competent rather than excellent. This is by no means meant as a criticism as the wines still offer very good value for money at their price points. It is several years since I last had the opportunity to taste their range, at which point the Wild Ferment Chardonnay and Don Maximiano clearly stood out from the others in terms of quality.

As a country, I don’t need persuading that Chile is already producing some of the best quality and best value wines in the New World. Their appeal to me is the traditional style in which they are made, much less showy than Australia for example (ooh – broad generalisation!) I’ve head Chile described as the most “English” county of South America, and the wines I have tasted thus far do have a subtle, refined elegance so often missing outside of Europe. They suit my palate; for others they may not. Patrick described them as “New world wines with old world elegance”, resulting from longer ripening periods and greater balance.

We were introduced to Chile and specifically the Aconcagua Valley region. With a thin strip of country sandwiched between the Pacific and the Andes, no other country has such a range of climates coupled with such ideal climatic conditions. This contributes to a great diversity in the types of wines they [Chile] are able to produce. The cold Humbolt current of the Pacific ensures coastal regions are kept cool, with the temperature rising further inland, though moderated by cool air from the Andes.

In most of the viticultural areas the coastal range of hills shelters the inland vineyards, such as in Central Valley. Aconcagua Valley, however, is open ended onto the coast, giving a spectrum of climatic regions as one moves inland. On the western coastal side the maritime influence suits cooler climate grape varieties, whilst further inland to the east even the climate suits shiraz. This range of conditions is nearly unique, perhaps only comparable to Sonoma or similar Californian coastal areas.

Vintages are very consistent, never experiencing rain at vintage time. Odd years including 2007 and 2005 (outstanding) have been particularly good of late.

Errazuriz is family run, currently by Eduardo Chadwick who visited OUWS some years previously. Don Maximiano Errazuriz founded Viña Errazuriz in 1870 in the Aconcagua Valley, 100 kms north of Santiago. Eduardo Chadwick is the sixth generation of his family to be involved in the wine business. In 1995 they were the first to plant vines on the valley slopes rather than the valley floor in order to naturally reduce yields.

Chile currently has approximately 8% of the UK market.

For me the Wild Ferment wines both stand head and shoulders above the rest (particularly the Chardonnay) although the Max Reserva and Don Maximiano are clearly special wines. Errazuriz have no plans to make a Wild Ferment Shiraz, which I think is a real shame. They should reconsider!

Viña Errazuriz Single Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc 2007 (Casablanca Valley)
14-15/20
Pale yellow, almost colourless. Cool aromatic nose, no oak. Lacking NZ intensity, less pyrazine, and better for it although less distinctive.

Viña Errazuriz Chardonnay 2006 (Casablanca Valley)
15/20
Very pale straw. Open nose. Butter character dominates on nose, but not overdone. Quite full palate, fresh apple. Short finish. Typically retailing for £6-7/bottle.

Viña Errazuriz Wild Ferment Chardonnay 2007 (Casablanca Valley)
16/20
Pale straw. Open attractive nose, earthy and distinctive. Obvious complexity, very Burgundian in character. Integrated oak, apple and exotic fruit. Very full palate, with plenty of flesh. Elegant with a nice finish. Around 2-3 years aging potential ahead of it.

Viña Errazuriz Wild Ferment Pinot Noir 2006 (Casablanca Valley)
15+/20
Patrick notes the PN is getting better – through better clones in better places, made in open top fermenters. Production of 2000 cases/year. French oak casks with 1/3 new.
Pale ruby. Very reminiscent of a German Spatburgunder. Earthy character on the nose again as per Wild Ferment Chardonnay – presumably from the wild yeast. A little hot and thin to my mind. An earthy PN style. Good length.

Viña Errazuriz Merlot 2007 (Curico)
15+/20
Purple edge, dark core. Open nose – herbaceous, spicy. Medicinal quality to it. Full, very new world in style. Full of fruit with very dry tannins.

Viña Errazuriz Shiraz 2005 (Aconcagua)
15+/20
Note the excellent vintage. Was previously bottled as syrah!
Deep core, not quite opaque. Very Rhone style, black spice character. Ripe, fine tannins. Earthy again. Short term potential.

Viña Errazuriz Max Reserva Cabernet Sauvignon 200515-16/20
Note the excellent vintage. Max Reserva is made from five selected vineyards surrounding the winery. Stainless steel fermentation. 100% French barrique for approximately 18 months.
Pronounced blackcurrant nose. Dusky character. Balanced finish.

Viña Errazuriz Don Maximiano Founders Reserve 200516+/20
Predominantly cab sauvignon with a touch of petit verdot and also some cab franc and shiraz.
Notable deeper core compared to Max Reserva. Very pure, strong blackcurrant. Very fine, ripe tannins. Big, full bodied with a long finish. Very fine. Is this worth £30 though? Given comparable Clarets, I would say yes. This is clearly something special, although perhaps not to my personal style. Medium term aging potential, perhaps more – although I do not had the benefit of tasting older vintages of this.

Contrasting 1999s

Some wines from the weekend...

Domaine de la Chevalerie - Busardières 1995 (Bourgueil, Loire)
16.5/20
Bought directly from the well regarded domaine on our visit last summer (~8 Euros!). Busardières is the older vineyard, producing a more "vin de garde" style.

Remarkable at 14 years old. Still deeply coloured with a little brick tinge to the rim. Open nose (decanted a few hours beforehand) with fine tea notes. Plate is still tannic and structured around a light red fruit core with plenty of weight remaining. Very enjoyable; needs food to show at its best. Curiously this was a match made in heaven with Wensleydale cheese! Very pure, mature Cab Franc. Easily has another 5+ years ahead of it, but probably not going to improve much further.

Domaine le Clos des Cazeaux - Grenat Noble 1998 (Vacqueyras, Rhone)
16/20
A private wine not generally released by the Archimbaud Vache family, and only made in special years. This was part of a case bought en primeur from the Wine Society, though I don't belive they've offered it since. They don't appear to be offering it from the domaine when we've visted recently either. Made from pure Grenache that has been left on the vine and late harvested - even with a bit of rot (hence the 'Noble'). Decanted a few hours in advance.

The colour is now heading towards a pale tawny with hints of brown. The nose is powerful and heady, with game and dry earth. Mature, secondary characters but still distinctly Grenache. Palate is huge, high in alcohol, low in acid and tannin. Massive weight of fruit. Powerful and firey, this could easily be a mid-weight Chateauneuf-du-Pape if tasted blind. Now mature, need drinking.

Domaine le Sang des Cailloux - Cuvée de Lopy 2000 (Vacqueyras, Rhone)
16.5/20
Bought direct from the domaine in ~2002, and amazing to think 7 years have now passed. How I wish I'd bought more; the price has risen dramatically as this domaine has attracted Parker's attention - it has been flagged up as a potential 'wine of the vintage' for the appelation. The 'Cuvée de Lopy' is the estates vieilles vignes bottling - grenache dominant with a slug of syrah too. Decanted a few hours in advance.

Deep and dark, almost boardering on opaque core. Little hint of age showing at the edge. Big, open nose - very secondary, earthy, gamey characters. To me, that classic and distinct Vacqueyras character of dusty tannins dominates. This is a fierce wine, big and bold, with grippy, dry tannins and a very firm structure. Partnered with Aberdeen Angus fillet steaks, those tannins fade away to leave this beautiful red fruit core. Excellent stuff. Will doubtless keep 5 more years and may well develop further.