Vintage 2002 is legendary in Champagne and has often been named the vintage of the century. But did the hype and unanimity of its success result in the unfair neglect of another, perhaps equally, great vintage? We conducted a blind tasting to find out.
During a visit to the house of Bollinger in Aÿ last year, we explored champagnes from some of the region’s hottest ever vintages, dating as far back as 1947. We also held a mini-vertical of Special Cuvée base vintages, tasted a trio of R.D.s and had a look at the new Coteaux Champenois.
This week, Jancis Robinson MW named Charles Heidsieck Blanc des Millénaires 2004 her wine of the week. During a recent tasting, Jancis was impressed by the sheer confidence, appeal and completeness of this latest prestige cuvée from Charles Heidsieck.
Essi Avellan MW recently hosted our latest Krug Experience tasting, in which guests sipped no less than twelve Krug champagnes (both Grande Cuvée and Vintage), including four examples from magnum. Check out the review and photos of the event here.
With a red wine content of more than 20% and having spent 10+ years ageing on the lees, it is perhaps unsurprising Chef de Cave Vincent Chaperon describes new Dom Pérignon Rosé 2006 as one of his favourite ever vintages.
Our once-in-a-lifetime champagne tasting celebrating Richard Geoffroy’s magnificent achievements over his 28-year career was a roaring success, with guests sampling 23 champagnes from 1990-2009. Read the review from Simon Field MW and browse photos from the event here.
At our most recent tasting at 67 Pall Mall, guests blind tasted Krug Grande Cuvée Editions 162-166 NV (2006-2010), and Krug Vintages 2000-2004, including Krug 2000 from magnum. Find out which champagnes were the highest rated on the evening here.
Last week’s Louis Roederer Cristal Vertical Tasting compared every vintage of Cristal produced this century, from 2000-2009. Guests also tasted the two latest vintages of Cristal Rosé, and Cristal 2006 from both bottle and magnum. Read the full write-up here.
Last week, we held the most comprehensive Krug Grande Cuvée vertical tasting to date. At 67 Pall Mall, guests blind tasted Grande Cuvée Editions 158-166 NV (2002-2010). We also tasted two Krug Vintages: 2002 and 2004.
When in Reims last month, we visited Charles Heidsieck to taste their exciting brand new cuvée Blanc de Blancs NV and sampled a magnum of Champagne Charlie 1982 from their Collection Crayères range.
Yesterday we attended the launch of Bollinger R.D. 2004. A champagne that has aged on the lees for 12+ years is now tasting delightfully fresh and forward, with all the complexity of a recent disgorgment. We also experimented with the effects of different dosages and disgorgements on R.D.
We kicked off 2018 with the launch event of the long-awaited Blanc des Millénaires 2004. Director of Charles Heidsieck, Stephen Leroux, presented this stunning champagne and we also had a taste of the new rosé vintage: Rosé Millésime 2005.
Last year, we blind tasted every vintage of Krug produced since 1988 with Olivier Krug and Jancis Robinson MW. With over ten vintages, a Grande Cuvée and a magnum thrown in for good measure, it was a truly special occasion.
Read Jancis Robinson’s report of our outstanding Krug vintage vertical tasting last November. “This would have been a dream tasting anyway, but I particularly love tasting a group of wines blind.”
The latest iteration of Bollinger R.D. (Recently Disgorged) will hit the market in late-March 2018. Here we share our thoughts on the bottle of Bollinger R.D. 2004 that we tasted with cellar master Gilles Descôtes last year.
After twelve years of waiting, we finally have a new vintage: Blanc des Millénaires 2004. Not yet officially launched, but available to purchase in February 2018, here we share our tasting notes from a bottle sampled with cellar master Cyril Brun.
We were recently offered the opportunity to taste some older vintages of Laurent-Perrier Grand Siècle: 1) A blend of 1999, 1997 and 1996, and 2) A blend of 1997, 1996 and 1995. Sampled alongside the current release, the results were very interesting.
Our trip to Reims in August included a smorgasbord of Taittinger: over twenty champagne tasted with head winemaker Loïc Dupont, including an interesting look into the future with Comtes de Champagne 2008 and 2012.
We met with Cellar Master Michel Fauconnet to visit Laurent-Perrier’s renovated cellars and conduct a vertical tasting of Brut Vintage and Grand Siècle (all from magnum) alongside Jancis Robinson MW.
A comparison of eight vintages of Moët & Chandon and Dom Pérignon, from newly released 2009 to very old 1995 with their respective winemakers, Benoît Gouez and Richard Geoffroy.
During August bank holiday weekend we stopped in Épernay with Jancis Robinson MW for a comprehensive comparison of Pol Roger Brut Vintage and Sir Winston Churchill, dating back to 1993. All in the name of research!
Yesterday, Krug launched their new Vintage 2004 in London. This latest release completes a special trilogy of Krug Vintages – 2002, 2003 & 2004 – not seen since the late 80s. We tasted it with Olivier Krug today.
Following on from our ‘Definitive Champagne Data’ report last month, here we extend the list and highlight the critics’ Top 25 champagnes from the incredible 1996, 1998, 2002 and 2004 vintages.
We’ve analysed data from over 1,000 ratings of the best champagnes from the top wine journalists, authors and critics to find out which vintage (1996, 1998, 2002 or 2004) and which cuvées are rated the highest.
Champagne Lanson have just released the new Extra Age range! An exciting blend of the 2004, 2005 & 2006 vintages, we tasted them with Lanson UK Managing Director, Paul Beavis at 67 Pall Mall and were seriously impressed with their affordable quality.
In 2009, Champagne Henri Giraud invested in 10 terracotta egg-shaped tanks to assess their effect on the maturation of wine. The house now has more than 50 clay containers and are producing more. Have they gone crazy or are they one step ahead of the field?
Read Tim Hall’s review of the first ever complete vertical tasting of Pol Roger Sir Winston Churchill. Every vintage made from 1975 to 2004, all in magnum (but for the 1988 jeroboam)… where was our invite…
To celebrate the release of Pol Roger Brut Vintage 2008, we put it to the test in a blind vertical tasting of the last four vintages of Pol: 2002, 2004, 2006 and 2008. We also threw in the non-vintage for good measure.
A blind tasting of thirteen Rosé Champagnes and one English Sparkling with FT’s Alice Lascelles, Richard Bampfield MW, Simon Stockton and Frederick’s restaurant manager Matt. Just another Wednesday.
Read Victoria Moore’s Telegraph article on the new release and launch of Salon 2004
We tasted Pol Roger’s newest release Sir Winston Churchill 2004. This marks the 15th release of Pol Roger’s prestige cuvée, an incredibly full-bodied champagne. Read our preview to the official launch.
We tasted the new Dom Pérignon 2005 alongside the previous vintage, 2004. Richard Geoffroy and his team have produced something spectacular, and from a tough vintage.
Read what we think of Dom Pérignon’s latest release, the Rosé 2004. “All the richness of fruit that is so typical of the 2004 Blanc and the Rosé offers even more…”
Our boxes are 100% recyclable cardboard and "paper bubble wrap" is efficient to both transport and dispose of. Additionally we seal the boxes with paper tape.
All same day deliveries are made in TFB "Jute Bags" a 100% recyclable material highly durable, made with tightly woven and sewn jute material that give their free-standing ability, and as a result, many customers use it for shopping bags. They are 100% bio-degradable.
