As usual all wines were tasted blind and served in the order listed, and after about an hour all participants voted for their most preferred, two next preferred and their least preferred drops. We also voted as to which wines we thought were the 5 French and 4 Australians – no one got these all right. Due to the hot weather and no real time to assess the visuals of the individual wines, my usual scoring methods went out the window and I ranked purely on nose and palate with rather minimal notes.
1996 Pol Roger Vintage $85: Bread, brandy and honey characters on the nose. The mid-weight palate opens with crisp stonefruit, some yeasty/bread characters and a touch of orange peel, finishing quite yeasty. While I initially picked this as French, those dominant stonefruit characters had me suspecting this may have been the Impostor and switched my selection at the last second – bad move.
My ranking: 5th place
BTs: 0 most, 3 second, 2 least – 9 Panelists thought it was French
Bollinger Special Cuvee NV $80: A slender bead and beautiful floral aromas of rose-petal, grass and yeast leap from the wine. The palate is soft and creamy with magnificent balance and sustain. I fell in love with this from the very beginning; one of the most distinctive wines, and the most beautiful of the flight – it had to be French.
My ranking: 1st place
BTs: 1 most, 4 second, 0 least – 11 Panelists thought it was French
1999 Yarrabank Cuvee $30: A very closed nose at first, with hints of citrus and mineral with some air. Again those stonefruit characters power the palate, with some brandied orange on the finish. This seemed to be easy to pick as an Australian, and most Panelists got it right.
My ranking: 8th place
BTs: 0 most, 1 second, 4 least – 3 Panelists thought it was French
Billecart Salmon Brut Reserve NV $60+: Slight citrus and brandied fruit on the nose at first, and then some exotic nutty and grassy characters that had me convinced it was French. The palate again had a creamy texture and good weight to match the stonefruit characters, and great length. I was very impressed, although many thought this wasn’t a good bottle.
My ranking: 3rd place
BTs: 0 most, 3 second, 2 least – 8 Panelists thought it was French
Louis Rederrer NV $70: A wonderfully savoury and exotic nose with grass, cashew and flint characters, and just the slightest bit cheesey. The palate was just as grassy and creamy; similar to the Arras but with a lot more depth and class, and second on my list.
My ranking: 2nd place
BTs: 0 most, 6 second, 1 least – 10 Panelists thought it was French
Pol Roger White Label NV $70: A slightly stinky/cheesy nose at first, developing some grass and brandy characters with air. The palate was everything you could expect of a fine French Champagne, with brandied yeasty fruit, finishing long, creamy and bready. Almost everyone picked it to be French, and it was voted clear WOTN.
My ranking: 4th place
BTs: 7 most, 5 second, 0 least – 15 Panelists thought it was French
1998 Brown Bros Patricia $30: Quite a bready/yeasty nose with a hint of brandy, and a whiff of sea spray that made me immediately suspect this was a French Impostor. The yeasty palate was not as creamy as the best wines, and finished a tad short in comparison. Without trying to sound too cocky, I was really chuffed to be the only Panelist to guess this was an Aussie – maybe trying it a few weeks before in a Brown Bros instore may have been an advantage.
My ranking: 7th place
BTs: 5 most, 8 second, 0 least – 15 Panelists thought it was French
1999 Jantz NV $37: Closed at first, then hints of lemon, grass and stonefruit. The palate is crisp, fruity, absolutely bone-dry, and relatively simple in this field, with no yeasty/bready characters. This was the obvious Australian standout, and polarized opinions when it came to the votes.
My ranking: 9th place
BTs: 3 most, 1 second, 6 least – 2 Panelists thought it was French
1999 Hardys Arras $59 (discounted to $40 now): The nose was fairly closed, with hints of slightly stinky cheese and grass like the Louis Rederrer. While a tad simple compared to the top wines, the palate had a yeasty creaminess that had me convinced it was French leaving me with a dilemma at the end of the tasting – I’d noted only 3 Australian wines, and leading me to wrongly switch my vote on the 1996 Pol Roger. In all honesty it was a difficult task, and I think I was quite lucky to get just the one wrong.
My ranking: 6th place
BTs: 0 most, 1 second, 1 least – 6 Panelists thought it was French
It was interesting to see when I got home the French wines occupied my top 5 slots and the Australians the bottom four. I think all the panel would agree it was far less clear-cut than that, with a lot of similarities between all the wines. If this was an indicator, the gap between French and Australian sparkling whites is definitely closing.
Cheers
Ian
TN: Blacktongues 17/11/04 Champagne
TN: Blacktongues 17/11/04 Champagne
Last edited by n4sir on Mon Oct 23, 2006 11:02 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Forget about goodness and mercy, they're gone.
Interestingly you rated the Brown Bros so low when the vast majority all had it in their top three.
It's also interesting that it didn't go down well last Friday night at the API supper; nothing wrong with the wines, just not to the mob's taste.
At the Blacktongues, with the exception of the Jantz the wines were relatively close, and I think it was just coincidence my top five happened to be the French, and bottom four the Aussies. For some reason I was convinced the Arras was French, and it ended up being the top Aussie. Strange how things pan out.
Cheers
Ian
Forget about goodness and mercy, they're gone.