Thief Wine Blog

We had a Champagne Taste-Off this past Tuesday, spurred in part by my ordering in a case of Veuve Clicquot after several customer requests. I’ve always thought Veuve was overrated, driven more by omnipresent advertising and a sophisticated marketing machine than by the actual quality in the bottle. But, I hadn’t tasted it in a while and thought it would be fun to compare it to a few Champagnes that I like at about the same price point – hence the taste-off. We had a nice turnout of about 20 people; I gave people the choice of doing it blind or knowing what the wines were; most people did it blind, which was fun. After they tasted all the wines, they rated the wines 1 through 4 with 1 being the favorite.

The wines were: Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin, Bollinger Special Cuvee (long my favorite of the big houses), Pierre Gimmonet 1er Cru Blanc de Blancs (a small grower Champagne), and Philipponat Royale Reserve (my current favorite at this price.

And the winner? Drumroll please……Philipponnat! I did the scores two ways: Adding up the points for each wine from 18 respondents, Philipponat far outpaced the pack with only 38 points (lower is better, since 1 point for 1st, 2 for 2nd, etc.), Bollinger came in second with 44 points, Gimonnet was third with 48, and Veuve was last with 52. Going by more of an Olympic scoring system of 5 points for a first place vote, 3 for second, 1 for third, and none for fourth, the results were the same but even more dramatic: Philipponnat led with 57 points, Bollinger 2nd with 41, Gimonnet had 35, and Veuve had 29.

My personal ratings were in line with the overall results. I did it blind, and Philipponnat was by far my favorite. Rich brioche yeasty character, creamy mouthfeel, red berry, lemon, and apple fruit, integrated acidity, nice balance and a long finish. Also had a distinctive nutty character that added depth; in general, it just seemed to have more going on than the others. It’s also the cheapest of the bunch at $44.95. Bollinger ($54.95) and Gimmonet ($49.95) were neck and neck for #2 for me; Bollinger was more intense and powerful, with great brioche character; the Gimmonet, being pure Chardonnay, was lighter, more elegant, with a lovely creamy apple mouthfeel. Lots of character. The Bollinger won by a nose. Veuve ($49.95) was simpler than the other three, with zingy lemon-lime fruit. Thinner mouthfeel for Champagne, and a shorter finish. If someone poured me a glass of this, would I enjoy it? Of course – it’s Champagne. But in my mind, it clearly wasn’t in the class of the other three.

A word ( or many) about grower Champagnes. When you’re buying Champagne, look closely at the small print on the front of the label; you’ll see either RM or NM followed by numbers. NM (Negociant Manipulant) is what you’ll see most of the time; it’s a producer that buys most of the grapes. RM (Recoltant Manipulant) is grower Champagne; those producers can buy only 5% of grapes for their total production. RM is worth seeking out; these are smaller, artisanally made Champagnes with true character. Are they better than NM? Not necessarily, for a variety of reasons, but they’ve got soul. (Note: you will also occasionally see CM; this is from a Cooperative, and can provide excellent value.)

We’ve got a few grower Champagnes in stock, and will be getting more soon – I’m going to Terry Thiese’s grower Champagne tasting in Chicago next week and will be bringing in the best of what I taste. He’s a fantastic importer who’s passionate about small growers – for a truly interesting and eye-opening read about the state of Champagne, check out his latest catalog

This entry was posted on Sunday, October 12th, 2008 at 7:25 am and is filed under Wine Tasting Notes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.