Friday Night Bubbles

I don't usually write about a wine for Friday Night Bubbles if I drink it at restaurants or at friends' houses. I can't be as attentive to the nuances of aroma or flavor that way, I can't track the wine's progress over the course of the evening the same way I can in my own house. And I like to be able to photograph the Champs myself - it's just something I've grown accustomed to.

This week is an exception, as I had a wine at a restaurant recently that really moved me. I have no photos to share, and I didn't make notes at the restaurant so my tasting notes will be of a general nature, but there is something worth sharing here.

My in-laws were in town for my daughter's 2nd birthday, and we went to dinner at one of my favorite local places, Rosewater. We celebrated with a very fine bottle of Champagne, the 1996 Pierre Gimonnet Blanc de Blancs Cuvée Gastronome. The 2002 vintage of this wine was featured just a few weeks ago in another Friday Night Bubbles post, by the way. And while we very much enjoyed the 2002, the 1996 is an entirely different animal. A more formidable animal. Maybe an animal that might hunt and eat the 2002, should it be hungry.

Cuvée Gastronome is a low pressure Champagne, at 4 bars instead of the typical 6. The idea here is for the wine to get along more easily with food - less mousse to interfere, or something like that. I don't think I agree, thusfar, that this makes the wines more food friendly. Quite the opposite, actually. Of the low pressure Champagne I've drank, including a couple of vintages of Cuvée Gastronome, Cedric Bouchard's wines, and a Doyard wine, all of them seem to me best consumed alone, as food would so easily overwhelm their delicacy. But that's just me, maybe you've experienced something entirely different, and do share.

1996 is one of those super-vintages, one that carries with it very high expectation. But there are questions as to whether or not the some of the wines will be balanced, as they are so high in acidity. This wine was, to me, a great example of what a 1996 should be - a perfect amalgam of delicacy and grace, with richness and power. The nose is immediately more mature, as would be expected, and it offers several layers. There are lower register rich notes of toffee that blend seamlessly with upper register notes of bright citrus fruit, the whole of the thing encased in a delicate mineral shell. Really a beautiful nose, and by the end of the 30-45 minutes I spent with this wine all of the parts were in perfect harmony. And I have no doubt that it wasn't finished unwinding at that point - this wine clearly has more to reveal. On the palate it was a delicate blend of roast nuts and ultra-clean fruit, with a strong vein of acidity to ground everything. This is a wine that defies the temptation to list flavors and aromas because ultimately it was in perfect harmony and nothing stood out. It was just simply beautiful wine. I would love to drink it again in 5 years to see how it evolves.

I need to put more Champagne in the cellar.