I firmly believe in reflecting on a great tasting before making a final call, so today I am posting my notes from my tasting on Friday night. One fact, however, was obvious from very early in the dinner: the ’59 Cristal was the wine of the night. I had three wines with top ratings: the ’59 Cristal, the ’90 Cristal, and the ’75 Bollinger out of jeroboam. The ’59 Cristal was yards ahead of everything else, and then I think the ’90 Cristal edges ahead of the Bollinger in absolute terms since it probably has a longer future ahead of it, but the ’75 Bollinger astonished us all with its quality and youthful character.
Next I had these three wines, in this order:
Brut Blanc de Blancs Millésime 1995, Selosse
Brut Vintage Vieilles Vignes Françaises 1998, Bollinger
Brut Rosé NV, Krug
In the next category down, I also had three wines, with results that surprised me: ’59 Salon out of magnum, and the 1979 and 1983 Cuvée des Princes from de Venoge. The Salon was a disappointing magnum (as explained below), and the de Venoge both showed well, although between these two the 1983 was definitely the better wine (another surprise).
In the next tier was the ’75 de Venoge and the ’71 Lanson. The ’64 Dom Ruinart and the Moët Imperial out of magnum got only one star for general interest but they were pretty well past it, and the ’61 Comtes received no stars as it was clearly faulty. Read on for full notes in the order consumed: