Special Feature - Champagne

K&L's Monthly Newsletter featuring the wines of Champagne... Monday Jan 30th, 2017 [View in Browser] [Special Champagne Feature]Champagne is a wine that I think should be enjoyed all year long. True, it will never be cheap, because it is the wine with the highest minimum standards of any appellation in the world. That being said, the incredible strength of the dollar combined with the weakness of the wine market in Europe has made our Direct Import Champagnes some of the best values in the store. In order for their wine to be called Champagne, the growers can only plant on high-quality sites, and all the sites that qualify have been planted—there is no more land to plant, and plans to expand have been put on the back burner. Yield limits, long aging (at least 15 months on lees) and restrictions on how much one can press out of a kilo of grapes all ensure that Champagne is consistently good. We go beyond that with our Direct Imports—our most inexpensive bottling is aged for 36 months. As I write, we have ten selections under $30, the most we have had in a decade! Most of these are all-estate grown, long aged, serious wines that compete with our very best wines of any type at their price points. They also go perfectly with the lighter food that most of us are trying to eat in January. Sushi and Champagne has long been a favorite pairing for me, and a huge treat that doesn’t seem like dieting. Why not enjoy a little bit of the good stuff more often? -Gary Westby, K&L Champagne Buyer [View our electronic newsletter!] Highlights this month include... Vintage Item Name Score Retail Link Ariston Aspasie "Carte Blanche" Brut Champagne $27.99 [View] Jean-Jacques Lamoureux "Réserve" Brut Champagne $29.99 [View] 2009 Louise Brison Vintage Brut Champagne $29.99 [View] Laurent-Perrier Brut Champagne 90 $34.99 [View] A.D. Coutelas "Cuvée Eloge" Blanc de Blancs Brut Champagne $39.99 [View] Ruinart Brut Rosé Champagne 92 $64.99 [View] Billecart-Salmon Brut Rosé Champagne 94 $74.99 [View] Krug "Grande Cuvée" Brut Champagne 96 $149.99 [View] 2006 Dom Pérignon Brut Champagne 97 $169.99 [View] 2009 Louis Roederer "Cristal" Brut Champagne 97 $199.00 [View] [Ariston Aspasie "Carte Blanche" Brut Champagne] [Ariston Aspasie "Carte Blanche" Brut Champagne] ($27.99) Don't let the low price fool you; this is a great bottle of Champagne. The Ariston Aspasie "Carte Blanche" is made of 40% Chardonnay, 30% Pinot Noir and 30% Meunier. A balanced cuvée in every way, this Champagne is clean and powerful at once. It has a natural toasty quality from spending five full years on the lees, and plenty of refreshing zip from the far northern location of the vineyards. No bottle in our inventory transports me to Champagne like this one. It is as true to the terroir and as pure as anything I could wish for! You don't have to settle for sparkling wine when you can have great Champagne at this price! Our current selection has a 2010 Base wine. (Gary Westby, K&L Champagne Buyer) [Gary Westby] | K&L Staff Member | Review Date: December 06, 2013 I can't think of a single bottle of Champagne at K&L that has brought me such consistent pleasure as the Ariston Aspasie Carte Blanche. The Ariston family has worked very hard to deliver this great bottle to the Champagne lovers of the world. Most producers age their Champagne for less than three years in the bottle before shipping, but the Carte Blanche gets five years. It is entirely estate grown by one of the most careful growers in the business. On top of all that it is made in one of the most modern, temperature controlled wineries of any small producer that I have visited. The result is one of the best aperitif bottles that we sell; toasty and full, yet refreshing and crisp, a perfect balance between aged complexity and youthful vigor. And then there is the price--so fair that Cinnamon and I have had the opportunity to impact the world supply with our consumption! Don't miss it. [Jean-Jacques Lamoureux "Réserve" Brut Champagne] [Jean-Jacques Lamoureux "Réserve" Brut Champagne] ($29.99) This is one of the most exciting small-estate Champagnes that we have found recently. It is composed of 100% Pinot Noir with a 2011 base wine blended with 2009 and 2010 vintage, 50% of which is reserve stocks. This is a clean style of Pinot Noir with fine acidity and a small bead. Frothy and just plain lovely! Watch the bubbles go on and on and on when it is in the glass. Initially, there are baked apple flavors followed a mid-palate of grapefuit and nectarine leading to a creamy finish. A very small 15,000 bottle production. Winemaker Vivien Lamoureux is the third generation winemaker at the estate. This bottling has won gold and silver medals at the Concours General Agricole de Pairs for the last three years! (Scott Beckerley, K&L Wine Merchants, 3/13/2015) [Keith Mabry] | K&L Staff Member | Review Date: April 01, 2015 What a revelation! I'm a huge fan our DIs but this new arrival may be one of the best yet. Layers of fruit erupt from the glass including notes of apple, pear, peach and blood orange. A hint of the exotic as well including some starfruit, kiwi and a bit of ginger. On the palate the mousse is creamy with flavors that are generous and keep unfolding. Bravo! (A side note - don't miss the STILL rose that they also make. Truly special!) [2009 Louise Brison Vintage Brut Champagne] [2009 Louise Brison Vintage Brut Champagne] ($29.99) If you liked the 2008, you are going to love the 2009 from Brison! This Champagne is composed of half Chardonnay, entirely barrel fermented, and one-half Pinot Noir that was fermented in two-thirds stainless and one-third barrel. This Champagne has perfect texture, medium body and a spectacular bead of compact streamers. It has aromas and flavors of cream, nuts and white fruit, and a very detailed, mineral-driven finish. It finishes quite dry, but I would never guess how little sugar has been added—only three grams per liter! The warm, ripe 2009 vintage had all of the sugar that the wine needed, naturally! (Gary Westby, K&L Champagne buyer) [Gary Westby] | K&L Staff Member | Review Date: February 11, 2016 Nothing in the store comes close to this spectacular bottle of vintage Champagne. If you like clean, refreshing, bright Champagne with tons of detail and length, this is not to be missed. If this wine was 50% more expensive, I would still be very excited about recommending it. At the price it is simply untouchable... Everything has been done the hard way: all organic, all estate fruit, mostly barrel fermented and aged for over four years on the lees! The Brison wines also age very well, over the past months I have enjoyed the 1999, 1996 and 1995- so make sure to get a few extras for the future. [Laurent-Perrier Brut Champagne] [Laurent-Perrier Brut Champagne] ($34.99) 90 points Robert Parker's Wine Advocate: "The Laurent-Perrier NV Brut is a blend of 50% Chardonnay, 35% Pinot Noir and 15% Meunier, and is based on 2009 plus 15-30% reserve wines from two or three vintages. Citrus colored, this signature LP has a refined, fresh and elegant nose with brioche and delicate citrus flavors. Lean, refined and elegant on the palate, this is a dry and silky textured, vivacious, and perfectly fresh and balanced aperitif Champagne. It does not have the opinion-dividing thrill and tension of the Ultra Brut, but will probably find more friends. (SR)" (03/2016) [Gary Westby] | K&L Staff Member | Review Date: February 18, 2015 A great value in Grand Marque Brut Champagne! This is a blend of 45% Chardonnay, 40% Pinot Noir and 15% Meunier that has a nice nose of fresh baguette and a clean, racy impression in the mouth. A very good aperitif! [Scott Beckerley] | K&L Staff Member | Review Date: March 17, 2015 This is classic Laurent-Perrier style. Nutty notes on nose with chalky notes. On the palate,anjou pear and yellow apple fruit, lemon notes and clean, fresh minerality on the finish. A clean, classic stlye! A blend of 50% chardonnay, 15% pinot meunier and 35% pinot noir. A pleasing 10.7 grams per litre of dosage, though it tastes more like 7 or 8 grams. [A.D. Coutelas "Cuvée Eloge" Blanc de Blancs Brut Champagne] ($39.99) Angelique and Damien (The "A" and "D" of A.D. Coutelas) have 17 and 1/2 acres, mostly in Villers sous Chatillon, but also in Ambonny, Bouzy, Vitry la Francois, and Troissy. Their family has been growing since 1809 and started making their own Champagnes in the '20s. The majority of their vines are over 60 years in age, and all the work in the vineyards and cellar is done by hand. This great blanc de blanc comes from one old vineyard in the Premier Cru of Trepail on the east face of the Mountain of Reims. It offers great white fruit expression as well as chalky minerality. Perfect for an aperitif! [Ruinart Brut Rosé Champagne] [Ruinart Brut Rosé Champagne] ($64.99) 92 points Vinous: "Light orange. Sharply focused red berry and tangerine scents are complicated by suggestions of allspice and cinnamon, with a hint of smokiness in the background. Sappy and minerally on the palate, offering fresh strawberry and blood orange flavors lifted by juicy acidity. Packs a serious punch but carries no excess weight and finishes stony and very long, with echoing red berry character. (JR)" (01/2015) 92 points Wine Spectator: "A pretty rosé, harmonious and lithe, with flavors of dried strawberry and smoke carrying on a fine bead and intermingling with the accents of toasted almond, ground anise, pastry and dried apricot. Fresh and focused, presenting a lasting finish of smoke, ripe fruit and rich pastry. Drink now through 2021." (11/2014) K&L Notes: From the oldest shipper of bubbly Champagne, this is a blend of 55% Pinot Noir and 45% Chardonnay entirely from Grand and Premier Cru vineyards. About 18% of the Pinot is vinified red and blended in for the color and rosé flavor. It has a dark color-almost like blood orange juice, and a soft, full bodied texture. It is rich and satisfying, despite the deceptively high proportion of Chardonnay. (Gary Westby, K&L Champagne buyer) [Gary Westby] | K&L Staff Member | Review Date: February 12, 2016 No Champagne is more famous within France than Ruinart, but it is only now that connoisseurs in the USA are starting to discover these great wines from Champagne. This rich, well balanced rose will delight fans of great pink Champagne with a great contrast between pure Pinot fruit and pure Champagne chalk. It is a blend of 55% Pinot Noir and 45% Chardonnay, with 18% of the Pinot vinified red and blended in for color and flavor. It has a little more color than most rose Champagne and a soft, full bodied texture. It is rich and satisfying, despite the deceptively high proportion of Chardonnay. [Billecart-Salmon Brut Rosé Champagne] [Billecart-Salmon Brut Rosé Champagne] ($74.99) 94 points James Suckling: "An subtle nose with plenty of fine autolysis aromas of fresh bread and sweetly fragrant yeasty notes, plus some gentle spice and chalky notes. The palate unleashes beautiful wild strawberry fruit flavors, super fresh, fleshy and pure. Great balance and depth." (07/2015) 93 points Wine Spectator: "A lovely rosé in an almost vinous style, with mouthwatering acidity and a fine, lacy mousse carrying appealing flavors of ripe raspberry, white cherry fruit, star anise, mandarin orange peel and honeysuckle. Lightly chalky on the lasting finish. Enjoy with food. Drink now through 2020. (AN)" (11/2016) [Gary Westby] | K&L Staff Member | Review Date: March 03, 2015 This is the benchmark in rose Champagne, and it deserves every bit of its fame. I find it elegant and balanced every time that I have it, and the blushing pink color is always perfect. If you are looking for a famous producer that delivers the goods, the Billecart Salmon Brut Rose Champagne is a great choice. I like the wine best as an aperitif, the only thing it need to pair with is a good glass. [Diana Turk] | K&L Staff Member | Review Date: January 17, 2017 This sets the bar for spectacular brut rosé! Its hard to gush about Billecart-Salmon without feeling like youre piggybacking on critical accolades or following popular opinion, but this best-selling Champagne is worth the hype. Gorgeous rose petal and delicate white peach on the nose, followed by pure strawberry fruit gleaming through the palate, this showcases Billecart-Salmons bright style while adding the sophistication of mousse texture and a minerally finish. Theres freshness throughout, plus substance this would be a great wine to pair with heartier meals like fried chicken, although its elegance makes a glass equally at home with caviar. Tiny creamy bubbles and lovely color only enhance the drinking experience, and cooler, longer fermentation in stainless steel (3-5 weeks!) keeps everything crisp. Billecart-Salmon uses all three big Champagne varietals: Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and curiously, more Pinot Meunier than most houses. They have traditionally championed Meunier and the result is a delicate, nuanced wine with depth. Perfect for any occasion, even if that occasion is a weeknight spent on an apartment balcony, Billecart-Salmon Brut Rosé Champagne is reliably special. [Krug "Grande Cuvée" Brut Champagne] [Krug "Grande Cuvée" Brut Champagne] ($149.99) 96 points James Suckling: "A very complex nose here with ripe, deep lemon and grapefruit aromas on offer plus some restrained chalky elements, biscuit, some roasting herbs, hints of pepper, then a little tobacco too. Very complex and full of fresh characters. The palate has a wealth of different fruit flavors like lemon, peach, nectarine, and plums. The finesse in terms of structure, detail and precision is staggering; sherbet-like elegance with immense concentration and power. A great Grande Cuvée. Incredibly satisfying. Based on 2006. Krug ID 14024." (07/2015) 95 points Robert Parker's Wine Advocate: "Krugs NV Brut Grande Cuvee ID 112001 -- disgorged already over the winter of 2011-2012 but then further aged before release -- reinforces the belief that, thankfully, even wine lovers of modest means who occasionally splurge on Krug Grande Cuvee will be rewarded with a wine that need not fear comparison with this houses more limited and far more expensive bottlings, nor for that matter with any other wines of Champagne. The harmonious juxtaposition of creaminess and lees enrichment with bright, juicy citricity and of expansive richness with levity is stunning....Citrus zest notes segue seamlessly into the fine stream of CO2 without bitterness, while succulent white peach garlanded in lily-of-the-valley is laced with rich, subtly piquant nut oils and saliva-liberating salinity. Emerging suggestions of shitake and shrimp shell reduction compound the sense of capital-'U' umami in a vibrantly interactive and refreshing finish. A day after opening, this is even more vividly complex than it had been initially, with hints of fresh red raspberry lending an invigorating tang and sensation of berry seed-crunching that delivers strikingly harmonious counterpoint to both the luscious brightness of fruit and the nutty low-tones....The team at Krug has long taken pains to emphasize that the task of assembling their Grande Cuvee from a hundred or more lots reflecting reserves of widely varying ages is mind-bogglingly complex. So is the result. (DS)" (11/2013) [Gary Westby] | K&L Staff Member | Review Date: September 14, 2016 I was lucky enough to drink this with Krug's CEO, Margareth Henriquez. Margareth explained the new codes on the backs of the bottles, that allow the Champagne lover to learn the disgorgement date, year of the base harvest of the wine as well as the number of vintages blended in and the oldest of them. She was far too modest about this new feature, as it reverses the secretiveness for which Krug has long been known. Now, thanks to her influence, Krug is one of the most transparent houses. Our bottle was Krug at its toasty, extroverted best, with plenty of buttery brioche and mid-palate weight. It also had zing and acidity, and showed attractive aspects of both youth and maturity. [2006 Dom Pérignon Brut Champagne] [2006 Dom Pérignon Brut Champagne] ($169.99) 97 points James Suckling: "This is very lively and vibrant with a dense and rich center palate. Lots of complexity and balance with pastry, sliced lemon and light dried mango. Full yet racy and intense. A beautiful center palate. Linear. Shows potential for aging but so good right now." (12/2016) 97 points Vinous: "The 2006 Dom Pérignon is a beautifully balanced, harmonious Dom Pérignon that strikes an incredibly appealing stylistic middle ground. Rich, voluptuous and creamy, the 2006 shows off fabulous intensity in a style that brings together the ripeness of 2002 with the greater sense of verve and overall freshness that is such a signature of the 2004. Bass notes and a feeling of phenolic grip on the finish recall the 2003, as the Pinot Noir is particularly expressive today. After an irregular summer that saw elevated temperatures in July followed by cooler, damp conditions in August, more favorable weather returned in September, pushing maturation ahead and leading to a long, protracted harvest. The 2006 falls into the family of riper, more voluptuous Dom Pérignons, but without veering into the level of opulence seen in vintages such as 2002. (AG)" (10/2015) [2009 Louis Roederer "Cristal" Brut Champagne] [2009 Louis Roederer "Cristal" Brut Champagne] ($199.00) 97 points Decanter: "Long lingering finish. A great and supremely elegant Champagne. (ME)" (10/2016) 97 points James Suckling: "A very rich and full-bodied Cristal that harks back to 2006 or 1989 in style. It's round and rich, which underlies the ripeness of the vintage. Lots of dried-apple and pineapple character with bread dough and flan flavors. The bubbles are so fine you almost don't notice them. Very vinous style. Drink now." (10/2016) 97 points Wine Enthusiast: "***Cellar Selection***The latest incarnation of this famous Champagne now comes from Roderer's own vineyards, a good portion of which are run on biodynamic lines. This still-young wine has great depth and richness, a beautiful balance between ripe fruit and crisp texture that make it alive, crisp and bright. As it matures, it will deepen and become even more intense. Drink now if you must, but preferably wait until 2019. (RV)" (12/2016) [Gary Westby] | K&L Staff Member | Review Date: September 15, 2016 For many years now, Champagne Louis Roederer has been leading the way in progressive practices in the vineyard in the region. This approach showed in the wines at this years staff summit, and in a quite spectacular way. The wines of Roederer really have a shine to them, and the soon to be released 2009 Louis Roederer "Cristal" Brut Champagne exemplifies this luminescent style. Roederer has been the largest organic vineyard owner in Champagne for many years, and this is the first year that Critstal has been made exclusively from these organic, mid slope, pure chalk sites. The ripe vintage of 2009 has made for a precocious wine that is already showing much more aroma and giving much more pleasure than Cristal normally does when first released. That being said, this is a chalky, complex, detailed Champagne that has decades and decades of time to shine! --------------------------------------------------------------- [K&L] Phone: (877) KL-WINES (Toll Free 877.559.4637) Email: [wine@klwines.com] K&L Wine Merchants 3005 El Camino Real Redwood City, CA 94061 USA San Francisco, Redwood City, Hollywood CA Missed an offer? Check out recent opportunities at our [Email Archive] page. Follow us on [Twitter][Facebook] [Instagram] and read more [On the Trail (K&L Blog)] "Best wine Web site in the US" - Wall Street Journal "Great for rare and hard-to-find wines." - Time "The cellar to search first." - Smart Money "Best Wine Web Site" - Publishers of The Wine Spectator This email was sent to {EMAIL} [Click here to manage your e-mail settings] with K&L Wine Merchants or alternatively, [click here to unsubscribe from all mailings]