2011 Perrier Jouet Belle Epoche Brut Champagne

A GREAT vintage for Champagne the Fleur de Champagne is Perrier-Jouët's deluxe cuvée. Each Champagne house attempts to make a statement with its deluxe cuvée - a wine produced in very limited quantities in only the best years and intended to demonstrate the highest art form a firm is capable of attaining. In the past few years these deluxe cuvées have become very expensive - although Perrier-Jouët has thankfully not kept pace with the dizzying price spirals of brands like Roederer's "Cristal". The Fleur de Champagne is also known as "Belle Époque", for it was designed by the great Art Nouveau glassmaker of Nancy, Emile Gallé, to evoke the Belle Époque of the 1890's - a period that stretched from 1871 to 1914 in which the world was at peace and there were tremendous advances in technology, literature, and the arts. The rosé versions of the deluxe cuvées have been a recent phenomenon - Perrier-Jouët's first Fleur de Champagne rosé was produced in 1976. There have been critics of the Fleur de Champagne, who insinuate that more effort goes into producing the bottle than into effecting the cuvée. Tom Stevenson, author of the most authoritative current book on this subject, Champagne, says of this criticism: "...(it) should be ignored. This Champagne is consistently one of the best half-dozen deluxe Champagnes available...and it is precisely because the design attracts so much attention that Perrier-Jouët is so fastidious about the quality of the wine." Although we have not tasted every vintage rosé released, we have made a point of tasting every vintage made in the 1980's - all have been outstanding. The regular Perrier-Jouët Fleur de Champagne has also been consistently excellent. Perhaps the best vintage in our memory was the other-worldly 1985 - still extremely impressive when we last tasted it several years ago. The 1985 received many accolades - including being awarded the top honor in Hachette's Wine Guide 1991, the la Grappe d'Or. This award, given annually, was given in that year to just one wine out of more than 13,000 tasted!!