Champagne: New Releases and Collectibles

Champagne is one of life’s essentials. We take a look at the first of this&nbsp;year's crop of&nbsp;new releases plus collectibles as we kick off our spring Champagne&nbsp;coverage. 

My <a target="_blank" href="http://vinousmedia.com/multimedia/2013-champagne-a-first-look-mar-2014">annual
spring trip</a> to Champagne this past March was fabulous. I had a chance to
taste a wide range of 2013 vins clairs, along with a number of new releases and
older wines. Although 2013 was a challenging harvest, there are a number of places
where the young wines are highly promising. I take a look at some of the
highlights in <a target="_blank" href="http://vinousmedia.com/articles/2013-champagne-the-vins-clairs-apr-2014">Champagne:
The 2013 Vins Clairs</a>. Another topic of discussion at many houses was 2004.
I have always adored this vintage, especially for Blanc de Blancs. It was a
year with abnormally high yields, even by Champagne's standards, but the best
wines have always shown terrific focus and cut, qualities that are even more
apparent today than they were a few years ago. Readers will soon start to see NV Champagnes&nbsp;based on the 2011 vintage. While I have not tasted a large representative group of wines yet, I have seen a few examples with green, vegetal characteristics similar to those&nbsp;found in some red Burgundies. It will be interesting to see if those are isolated cases or not.&nbsp;

As always, I was struck by the
sheer diversity that Champagne offers the consumer. One afternoon I spent
several hours with Vincent Laval, tasting every wine in the cellar from barrel,
followed by a number of bottled wines. Laval’s tiny, cramped cellar looks like
something right out of Burgundy. It is the diametric opposite of the image of
luxury that is often associated with Champagne. From there, I went to the Hautvillers
abbey, where I tasted a large number of vintages of the most famous of all
Champagnes, Dom Pérignon. The two tastings could not have been more different.
And yet they were both great experiences I will treasure forever. This, in a
nutshell is what makes Champagne so fascinating; the constant push and pull of two
totally different cultures and philosophies. <img alt="" src="https://allgrapes.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads%2F1400797214914-ChampagneLaval.jpg"> 

Tasting
the 2013s from barrel at Laval

Champagne Embraces Transparency

Long-time readers know that as a
policy, I don’ t review NV Champagnes that aren’t labeled with a disgorgement
date. I made that decision some years ago because I wanted to ensure that the
wines readers were buying were the same wines I had reviewed. In a perfect
world, a NV Champagne would also list the base vintage, as that is even more
important in determining a wine’s personality and overall quality. Producers
were slow to recognize the need for more information on labels. That was
especially true of the grand marques, who did not want to clutter their back
labels with what they viewed as technical info of limited real interest. I am
not sure I agree with that position, but it is a fair and reasonable objection.
In recent years, though, the big Champagne houses have come to grips with the
public’s desire to know more about their wines.<img alt="" src="https://allgrapes.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads%2F1400797237852-ChampagneRoederer.jpg"> 

Exploring
past and present at Roederer

Krug was among the first, if not
the first, of the grand marques to give consumers an ID code that provides information on the wines through their website. Roederer
followed with a gorgeous smartphone app that does the same but with QR reader
technology. The Roederer approach is much smarter, as it is mobile friendly and
is free advertising for the brand, as it occupies valuable real
estate on phone screens. Not surprisingly, Krug followed shortly thereafter with
an app of their own. Taittinger offers a similar level of information, but with
any generic QR reader, which also works, although it is less visually appealing
and also less valuable to the house from a branding perspective because
consumers aren’t installing an app on their mobile devices. But the technology
works. Hopefully other houses will follow suit. I have to say, it has been
great to watch some of the big houses embrace transparency and technology.
Bravo!

A Word on Collectibles

This year for the first time I have
decided to include notes on the many older wines I have had a chance to taste
recently. Over the last few years, Champagne has become a scorching hot
category as a larger number of consumers have become more familiar with the
great older, iconic Champagnes. Of course, buying older wines is always fraught
with risk. I urge readers to be cautious when it comes to provenance.<img alt="" src="https://allgrapes.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads%2F1400797264203-ChampagneTarlant.jpg"> 

Benoit Tarlant's La Vigne d’Antan, own-rooted Chardonnay planted on sand

Vinous Coverage Going Forward

We drink a lot of Champagne, there
is no doubt about it. As a wine lover and consumer I have long been
dissatisfied with the general end of year round up of new releases that so many
other publications offer. What about the rest of the year? Champagne coverage
continues over the next few weeks with verticals of Salon/Delamotte, Veuve
Cliquot Grande Dame and Taittinger Comtes de Champagne Rosé,
followed by a comprehensive look at new releases in the fall.

Cover:
The cellars at Jacquesson, Dizy

-- Antonio Galloni

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