Wine of the Week - Selosse Champagne
I'm sorry to do this, to ask you to read about a wine that it so awfully difficult to find, and if you can find it, so terribly expensive. But this is a special wine, one that I may well never have the chance to drink again, one that has inspired much debate, a rare wine from an iconic producer. The other night Peter Liem came over for dinner, and so I had my first Selosse experience. It was pretty amazing, and I want to share a bit about it.
NV Jacques Selosse Champagne Substance, about $250, Imported by the Rare Wine Company. This is a Blanc de Blancs from the Grand Cru village of Avize. Substance is a solera wine, meaning that it is composed of wines from all vintages since the creation of the solera, which in this case was 1986. Wine is removed and new wine is added each year. Because they contain so much old wine, solera wines tend to offer a mature richness of aroma and flavor. And as Peter explained, Selosse's idea when he created the solera (and Selosse was the one to begin this practice in Champagne) was to eliminate the effect of vintage and to amplify the effect of the terroir. When the barrel contains wines dating back to 1986, the impact of the individual year is lost. Peter discusses Selosse and terroir a bit more in this post.
The bottle we drank was disgorged in October of 2008, and I think the most recent vintage in this bottle should therefore be 2004. The wine is a strikingly deep amber color. The nose is expressive and intense, full of ginger and exotic fruit. Broad and rich but finely focused, and with incredible detail on the palate, this is a complete wine. And after about 90 minutes it was truly amazing - the things that stuck out previously, the intensity, the ginger, the richness - those things had blended so seamlessly with each other by this time that none of them on its own was evident. The wine had become a real thing of beauty, the kind of wine that can ruin you. Evocative of old libraries filled with leather-bound books and half-drunk glasses of sherry, and of attractive young couples riding motorcycles, rushing past you in a fleeting glimpse of what you wish you could be.
11 comments:
Don't let it ruin you, best to let Peter bring the wine and you cook. But what of your wife's reaction, did she enjoy it?
90mins later? 2 people the bottle be gone in under an hr with me. Unless you had other wine to go drink in between sips.
You should always right about rare and hard to find wines because Im pretty sure I'll never drink em
Definitely envious of you! I've only had the Initiale, and only once. :(
Excellent write-up!
Glad you got to try Selosse's Substance, Neil, and gladder that you seemed to like it as much as I enjoyed my one lucky experience with a shared bottle. Feel free to compare notes.
Great wine!
What glass did you use I wonder? At the risk of sounding like a wine-glass geek, I like to drink these style Champagnes out of ordinary wine glasses and depending on the specific Champagne, even a Burgundy glass!
-cheers
yum!
This was one of the greatest bottles of Substance that I've ever drunk. Brooklynguy captures it superbly in this post. Substance is always a striking wine, but this one had a purity, clarity and intensity of soil expression that was extraordinary even for Selosse. It was actually 1986-2002, so five years on the lees, and we drank it from white wine glasses, which suit this wine very well. Sitting out on the deck on a warm summer evening with Brooklynguy and Brooklynlady drinking Substance—it doesn't get better than that.
Sounds great Peter. I am looking forward to drinking the bottle I have at home. Purchased in Paris two years ago. It will be only the 3rd time I taste this wine and I am looking forward to it!
BrooklynGuy, you are making me experience mimetic desire.
Oh, how lucky are you! I have not had the luck to try this one, but one day I hope to (say for my wedding?).
sound is great,,,well Brooklynguy captures it superbly in this post. Substance is always a striking wine, but this one had a purity, clarity and intensity of soil expression that was extraordinary even for Selosse.
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