Ultimate Champagne & Dessert Wine Tasting at Wine Watch

Cedric Bouchard Roses De Jeanne Blanc de Noir Les Ursules Brut Champagne Price: $108.00 All fruit used in this cuvée came from the 2009 harvest. This 100% Pinot Noir cuvée came from the lieu-dit "Les Ursules", a small parcel of 0.9 hectares where the vines are an average age of 34 years. His extraordinary champagnes are produced a quintessentially classic manner: Cedric hand-harvests, vinifies the first press juice only, and crushes the grapes by foot. Élévage occurs entirely in stainless steel with indigenous yeasts. The wine is unfined, unfiltered, and aged for 28 months. It is non-dosé. Wine Advocate Points 90-93 Points The 2009 Roses de Jeanne Coteaux Champenois Les Ursules (Pinot Noir) (Blanc) is one of the most fascinating wines I have ever tasted from Champagne. The hot vintage seems to have favored Pinot over Chardonnay. Mineral-laced red berries, mint and flowers come together in this beautiful, mid-weight wine. Jerome Prevost Extra Brut Champagne Les Beguines Price: $106.50 Jerome Prevost Extra Brut Champagne Les Beguines Rose Price: $136.50 1998 Krug Vintage Brut Champagne Price: $300.00 (94 points) The 1998 Brut Vintage is a gorgeous wine for near-term drinking, Warm, toasty notes lead to an expansive core of fruit that covers the palate. This isn’t the most complex Krug Vintage, but it also won’t take years or decades to offer its finest drinking. 2010-2020. My visit to Krug earlier this year was fascinating, as I had a chance to taste a number of 2009s and reserve wines. A tank sample of the 2009 Clos du Mesnil was one of the most exciting, viscerally thrilling wines of the trip, and remained etched on my mind for several weeks. I also had a chance to glance over newly found, hand-written original records that document the exact village breakdown of all the grapes Krug purchased in each vintage going back to 1928. This year I tasted a number of fabulous wines from bottle. Unfortunately I can’t include my impressions on Krug’s NV Champagnes because of the house’s insistence on not providing disgorgement dates for those wines. I was reminded of the importance of this information when I tasted a fabulous, utterly spellbinding bottle of the NV Rose. It was a truly beautiful Champagne, but owing to its recent disgorgement it needed at least a few years on the cork. Of course Krug gives a general indication of the disgorgement dates for their wines on the corks, but by that time, readers may have opened a bottle that needs more bottle age. Without this information it is impossible to give readers any reliable indication of when the house’s NV wines might start drinking well. With a retail price over $300 a bottle, opening a bottle of Krug’s Rose can be a very expensive learning experience. Krug fans will want to keep an eye out for my upcoming article on Clos du Mesnil, featuring complete notes back to the inaugural 1979. Wine Advocate #192 Dec 2010 2002 Oremus Tokaji Aszú 5 Puttonyos (500ml) Price: $80.25 According to legend, in 1650 the manager of the Oremus estate, fearing an attack by the Turks, delayed the harvest for two months. The resulting wine, made from shriveled (aszu) grapes, was recognized as exceptional and Tokaji became known for its sweet wines, two centuries before botrytised wines were made at Chateau d'Yquem in Sauternes. Vega Sicilia, indisputably Spain's greatest estate, saw the exceptional potential of this area, and bought the Oremus estate located in the heart of Tokaji, in 1993. The grapes are grown on hillside vineyards, which rise steeply above the village of Tolscva and have excellent South and South-West exposures. The nearby River Bodrog provides optimal noble rot climatic conditions, and all of the Oremus vineyards are classified as 'First Growths.' Oremus features the traditonal grape varieties, primarily the spicy Furmint, Harslevelu and Muskat Lunel and Zeta; these flavors roughly correspond to the Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon and Muscadelle of Sauternes. Aszu (meaning Botrytis in Hungarian) wines are the specialty here. The Oremus winery is proud to have an ancient tunnel/cellar system extending for multiple kilometers. This system dates back to the 13th century, and in 2002, it became a World Heritage Site These tunnels house Oremus' gonci (136-liter oak) barrels during the aging process. 1988 Chateau Climens Sauternes Price: $210.00 It is a great wine. Anticipated maturity: 1998-2015. Wine Advocate #98, Apr 1995 1997 Quintarelli Recioto Price: $425.00 (94 Points) The 1997 Recioto della Valpolicella Classico is a gorgeous, refined wine with layers of sweet, perfumed fruit that flow gracefully from its medium-bodied frame. The 1997 Recioto isn’t quite as extroverted as the profound 1995, but it does offer impeccable balance in a relatively understated, slender style for this house. Sweet spices, licorice, leather and incense linger on the long and immensely satisfying finish. I tasted the 1997 Recioto from both 375ml and 750ml bottles and found the wine consistently superb. Anticipated maturity: 2009-2019. It’s always a bit of a challenge to keep up with Giuseppe Quintarelli as he doesn’t follow a predictable schedule; the wines are simply released when he feels they are ready. Originally the 2000 Alzero was scheduled to be released this fall, but work in the vineyards pushed back the timetable a few months and I wasn’t able to taste the wine in time for this article. I have had the pleasure and privilege of drinking a number of Quintarelli’s older, benchmark wines over the last few months, and at their best, they have no peers. eRobertParker.com # 185 Oct 2009 1985 Toro Albala Pedro Ximenez Gran Reserva Price: $49.50 Toro Albala in Montilla Moriles is famous for their aged Pedro Ximenez. Traditionally the grapes are allowed to raisin for several weeks before pressing. Figs, dates and prune aromas, with notes of caramel, toffee and baking spice. Dense and palate coating, the cutting acidity provides the perfect foil to the sweetness in this wine. A perfect pairing is either arroz con leche or simply a little vanilla ice cream. It's a new taste experience that you'll be sure to like.