Newsletter July 2015
I have just returned from this year’s champagne tour and I was reminded that it is champagne indent time when I saw how little champagne I had in storage.
Whilst we are in the grip of a very cold winter here in Australia, the French in general and the Champenoise in particular are very excited by their very warm summer as they have had a wonderful flowering and fruit set in the vineyard and they have their fingers crossed for an excellent 2015 vintage.
I am pleased to say that with this year’s indent, Champagne Connection will be offering new vintage champagnes across all the houses imported. For the most part the vintage champagnes on offer are from the excellent 2006 vintage and we are starting to see a few releases from the outstanding 2008 vintage. The 2008 vintage is generally regarded as the vintage of the decade in Champagne and the 2008 wines I have seen so far have been blessed with an abundance of fruit / acid balance whilst retaining finesse.
When you look through the price list you may find a couple of champagnes missing as I have decided to rationalise the list slightly. However if I have deleted a wine that is a particular favourite of yours then please let me know if you would still like to order it. To order a wine that is not on the list you will need to order a minimum of six bottles of that particular wine. Naturally you can order as many or as few of all listed wines as long as your mixed order meets the minimum requirement of 6 bottles.
Champagne Jerome Blin
Jerome Blin is implementing organic viticultural practisces and he is building a new cellar in his village of Champs-sur-Yonne.
As mentioned earlier in the year, the Jerome Blin Brut Reserve was highly regarded in last year’s Gourmet Wine magazine review of Non Vintage champagnes. Below is part of the review.
Jerome Blin Reserve Brut NV 4 stars and 94
Points. Huon Hooke said of this wine, “It has appealing complexity from developed red fruits, toast and reserve wines”
The Brut Reserve is 40% Pinot Meunier,
40% Pinot Noir and 20% Chardonnay and 80% of the wine is from the excellent 2008 vintage with
20% reserve wines.
Newly released from Jerome is his 2006 vintage champagne which is 50% Pinot Meunier and 50% Chardonnay. The wine has fresh bready aromas and a lovely fine bead. The palate has delicious rounded fruit up front, thanks to the Pinot Meunier and wonderful freshness and acidity thanks to the Chardonnay.
Champagne Hugue Godmé
There has been a slight name change at Champagne Godmé as Hugue and his sister have chosen to pursue different philosophical paths regarding their viticultural and winemaking practices. Hugue is committed to a biodynamic approach and so he has retained half the vineyards and will continue down the path that has produced the wonderful champagnes we have imported and will continue to import.
The Godmé Blanc de Blancs also received an excellent review from Gourmet Wine magazine. Part of the review is below.
Godmé Brut Blanc de Blancs NV.
5 Stars / 95 Points Gourmet Wine magazine said that the Godmé Blanc de Blancs ...”combines fine, complex lemon and cashew aromas with a delightful freshness. It has a long, deep and fine palate with a lovely citrus drive. It’s great to see subtlety and great character in the same glass.”
Hugue has also releasing his 2006 vintage champagne and it is a blend of 60% Chardonnay and 40% Pinot Noir. The colour has a slight yellow hue due to the Pinot Noir influence and the Pinot Noir also has a role to play on the palate as the fruit is quite powerful yet the finesse of the Chardonnay comes sailing through on the finish.
Godmé Brut Blanc de Blancs NV.
5 Stars / 95 Points Gourmet Wine magazine said that the Godmé Blanc de Blancs ...”combines fine, complex lemon and cashew aromas with a delightful freshness. It has a long, deep and fine palate with a lovely citrus drive. It’s great to see subtlety and great character in the same glass.”
Hugue has also releasing his 2006 vintage champagne and it is a blend of 60% Chardonnay and 40% Pinot Noir. The colour has a slight yellow hue due to the Pinot Noir influence and the Pinot Noir also has a role to play on the palate as the fruit is quite powerful yet the finesse of the Chardonnay comes sailing through on the finish.
Champagne H. Goutorbe
Gourmet Wine magazine had the following tasting notes on the H. Goutorbe Brut Tradition.
Goutorbe Brut Tradition NV 4
Stars. Andrew Caillard said the wine had “Lovely toasty, lemon squash, warm flinty aromas. Well concentrated with rich fruit, complexity and toasty, marzipan notes”
Goutorbe’s have also released their 2006 Vintage champagne which is more of an aperitif style of champagne rather than the fuller more traditional style that we have come to expect from H. Goutorbe. The result is a fine champagne that drinks beautifully now but will continue to cellar well thanks to the large percentage of Pinot Noir. The wine is a blend of 75% Pinot Noir and 25% Chardonnay which reflects the predominance of Pinot Noir grown around AŸ where the Goutorbes are located.
Champagne Joseph Loriot-Pagel.
The Loriot-Pagel NV was not submitted to the Gourmet Wine tasting as I had run out of stock at the time of submissions however as those of you who have bought this wine before know only too well that it is a fabulous aperitif style champagne.
The two new vintage champagnes from Loriot- Pagel are both from the 2008 vintage. The 2008 Blanc de Blancs won a Gold Medal at the International Wine Show in Brussels earlier this year. So, already the quality of 2008 is shining through.
The Loriot’s like to pick their Chardonnay at full maturity and so this wine has a beautiful yellow hue with a touch of brioche on the nose. The palate has all the finesse you would expect from a 100% Chardonnay grown on the Cotes des Blancs but it also has fruit concentration and persistence of flavour.
The Loriot’s second vintage wine from 2008 is their Cuvée de Reserve 2008 which won a silver medal at the Brussels wine show so the Loriot’s are showing a consistently high standard of champagne production here.
The Cuvée de Reserve is a blend of Pinot Meunier, Pinot Noir and Chardonnay in equal measure and the colour is a little lighter than the Blanc de Blancs which is surprising considering the large component of Pinot wines. The nose displays more of a freshly cooked biscuit aroma which is very attractive and the palate once again is in the fresh aperitif style and it displays a lovely harmonious blend of fruit and acidity.
Charles Heidsieck
Once again I am pleased to offer a selection of Charles Heidsieck champagnes which are the Non Vintage and the ageless 2000 and Blanc de Millenaire 1995. This maybe your last chance to buy the 2000 as the 2005 has been released and I expect it will arrive in Australia towards the end of the year.
Tour De Champagne 2015.
The 2015 Tour de Champagne was once again a wonderful experience which was made possible by the delightful people on the tour and the excellent hospitality we received from the wineries we visited. We had one new visit this year and that was to Taittinger. Unfortunately we didn’t have an opportunity in our schedule to visit their winery in Reims so they very kindly offered us dinner at their mansion in Pierry, a suburb of Epernay where we were treated to a wonderful meal with the excellent Taittinger champagnes. Most impressive was the 2005 Comte de Champagne, Blanc de Blancs.
This was in addition to equally impressive winery lunches with Deutz, Joseph Loriot-Pagel and Veuve Clicquot. 
The Taittinger Mansion, La Marquetterie.
Champagne Indent Offer 2015
This year’s champagne indent will, as per usual, offer the wines from Jerome Blin, Goutorbe, Godmé and Joseph Loriot-Pagel as well as three wines from Charles Heidsieck.
Don’t forget that this is your opportunity to purchase magnums or half bottles of some of the wines.
Tour Dozen
Once again we are offering the Champagne Connection Tour Dozen as a souvenir of this year’s Tour de Champagne. The tour dozen includes one bottle of each of the following wines.
1. Billecart NV
2. Charles Heidsieck NV
3. Deutz NV
4. Godmé Blanc de Noir NV
5. Goutorbe 2006
6. Goutorbe Brut Tradition NV
7. Jerome Blin Brut Reserve NV
8. Joseph Loriot-Pagel NV
9. Godmé Rosé NV
10. Taittinger NV
11. Ruinart Blanc de Blancs NV
12. Veuve Clicquot NV
The 2014 tour dozen costs $796.00
Ordering Your Champagne.
The minimum order is 6 bottles or equivalent in half bottles or magnums. To keep our costs to a minimum, the wines listed on the order form are being offered on an indent basis, i.e. payment will be required at the time you place your order. Orders must be lodged before the cut off date of Friday 14 August 2015.
To e-mail your order, simply download the excel attachment to your computer, fill it in, save it again and return it as an attachment to champagneconnection@gmail.com .
Or you can fill in the order form, print it and fax it to 03 5441 4841 or post it to PO Box 487 Bendigo Victoria 3552
“I
wish I’d drunk more champagne” – Last words of John Maynard Keynes, Economist.
PO Box 487 Bendigo, Victoria Australia 3552
Phone
+61 (0)419 89 66 22 Fax +61 (0)3 54 41 48 41
