I promised myself a bottle of Champagne to celebrate surviving going under the knife. As I know my GP reads this site I should add I did not open this bottle until over 48 hours after my operation. I definitely did not have any alcohol in that 48 hours, oh no… No Pimms, no G&Ts, nothing like that…
Gratien is one of my favourite Champagne houses. Their non-vintage is a great drink and usually good value, whilst the vintage wines are often stunning. I have some 1996 vintage left and the last bottle I had was really exciting.
Vintage Champagne Blanc de Blancs 2007, Alfred Gratien
Wonderful, attractive, vinous nose that is an absolute joy. It is very fresh and fruity, and also very winey; it smells more like a slightly oaky Chablis than most Blanc de Blancs Champagnes. But that fruit on the nose is absolutely lovely, you cannot sniff this and fail to think you’ll be having a good time when you drink it. Brilliant mousse! Really fine and soft texture. The lively acidity is a thrill as well and harmonises wonderfully with the great apple fruit. Again, it is quite Chablis-like, but with bubbles. Very long, very stylish, extremely good. It won’t age, needs drinking pretty soon, but there is nothing wrong with that. A wonderful bottle of wine that was a great celebration of still being alive – at £35 from the Wine Society you should be snapping this up with glee.
Just as an aside, I had some Bollinger 2002 recently. It cost double the amount, also wouldn’t age more than a year or two, and was inordinately more ordinary. That was just a really dull bottle of fizz that I found a real chore to drink and, given the price, it was hard to feel anything other than robbed when drinking it. The Gratien B de B caused no such feelings and I would recommend it ahead of Bolly 2002 without a second’s hesitation.
We drank the Gratien with duck gizzard salad with Montbeliard sausage added. I’ve given the recipe for duck gizzard salad here, and we just sliced up the smoky, porky, yummy sausage and fried it up with the gizzards. A richly tasty, hilariously pleasurable salad (that would scare most neurotic salad eaters) which was great with lively, delightful, vibrant Champagne. The fruit and vivacity of the fizz was a great foil for the rich complexity of the salad. Lunch at its best!
This is much more like it! Like mr Parker you are much more reliable on subjects you know well.
David, I’m no champagne maniac though I enjoy it, particularly the stuff I can’t afford with food rather than en aperitif, but I like it old, being a confirmed necrophile. I’d be interested to know the exact symptoms which lead you to diagnose an early demise in the champagnes you mention above.
I’m glad you haven’t been indulging in post-surgical mixed drinks!
You’ve got me on this one, Tom, I much prefer Champagne old given a choice. Winston, Bille, Vilmart, Gratien vintage are all glorious with plenty of age. I’m really only starting on my 96s, they have long to go.
But the Gratien BdeB and Bolly I will firstly say it is deep experience of the wines that leads me to my judgement on lack of ageing potential. Bolly 99 was awful within two years of release, same for 96, 95, 90, 88 and, to a lesser extent, 85. Many bottles of Gratien Chardonnay I’ve forgotten in the cellar have also just fallen apart.
In terms of tasting characters that indicate this it’s easier to state with the Bollinger. They are now made in a really oxidative style. The 02 was already tired with obvious baked apple and Sherried tones to it. These become really flat and lifeless with a little bit of age and older Bollinger is now rubbish.
Gratien BdeB’s lack of cellar worthiness is more to do with its fresh vivacity. All those fruity, attractive characters just decay into dirtiness quite quickly. I hasten to add, the vintage Gratien is one of the most cellar-capable fizzes you can buy.
Will that do?
Very interesting, thank you, David. I often taste good old champagnes thanks to the lovely people who open them for me but I’m not sure I’ve had old Bollinger vintage. I have had a lot of old Bollinger NV though which I usually find wonderful.
There is surely no indicator of longevity as certain as deep previous experience with the wines in question, as you imply!
Tom, you’ve got me thinking. I do prefer mature fizz but very few of the wines I’d want to age I can now afford. Gratien vintage is ok, and a few growers I have less experience with are within the realms of affordability, but most I simply cannot afford. Curses! I suppose this is made more acute as I’ll always buy red Burgundy in preference to almost anything then see what I can afford with any money I have left. I will be buying more Huet Petillant 07 – at £16 I can get a couple to age as long as I like.
Does anyone have any experience ageing Gimmonet?
David, I read with interest what you say about 2002 Bollinger – my experience of their wines is more limited than yours, but I certainly agree it is disappointing if Bollinger fail to hit the heights they should with their vintage cuvee. Perhaps this is my gout anglais (I certainly prefer mature fizz- although when young and vigorous it can be irresistible also (e.g. the Krug 96 (reviewed somewhere on the site) you kindly shared) but my most recent experiences of aged Bolli have, in contrast to yours, been pretty positive- a 96 (16 months or so ago) and a 90 (4 months ago) both showed well. And the vintage 85 (especially), 88 and (to a lesser degree) 89 gave pleasure when I drank them (mostly in your company) in 96-98. Do I recall you liked the 90 very much on release and then felt it declined very quickly?
James,
All but three bottles of the Bolly 85 had gone by finals day in 1996, so they were generally drank earlier than you recall. The 1990 was indeed lovely on release and then fell apart very quickly – I recall a conversation of vigorous agreement between Porker Simpson and myself about how badly and quickly it had aged not so long after its release. You are fortunate to have had good older bottles recently; my last taste of 96 about 6 months ago was a severe disappointment. Well, it wasn’t, I was expecting it to be shagged out and it was.