OK, I've been wondering about this for years. Sometimes when I have a glass of one of my favorite Champagnes, Veuve Cliquot (yellow label), it's heavenly to me. Other times, it just doesn't taste right...I don't know, maybe even slightly skunky. I thought this was supposed to be a fairly consistent Champage. Does the taste really vary like that, or is it my tastebuds. I don't seem to have this problem with another of my favorites, Louis Roederer Brut...
Just wondering,
-Cherie
The yellow label is the base cuvee I believe. You may be smelling the lees (yeast). I have found these kinds of Champagne sometimes have a peculiar acidity that makes them taste metallic. An older bottle might develop oxidation (in many Champagnes, this is no defect, in fact it can give the wine incredibly complex bouquet (I am thinking of a 90 Jacques Beaufort, deep golden colour, very evolved, wonderful).
SInce I discovered that there are dozens of small winemakers producing Champagne, I no longer buy Veuve Cliquot, and evne higher end Krug and Bollinger, though spectacular, does not appeal to me as much as these non-industrial wines, they seem to have ... soul?
Mike
I don't know if you can call Krug or Salon "industrial wines" but what do you think about Agrapart or Dampierre?
Dimitri
Industrial is not synonymous with bad. I was referring to the size of the producer, and the fact that necessarily it must employ industrial techniques to p[roduce its wine, now matter how good it is... as opposed to small producers.
Agrapart, top chard in the same Avize terroir as Selosse and De Sousa.
Dampierre, never tasted, how is it?
Bye
Mike
I am not sure this is necessarily true, though. How many cases of "Clos du Mesnil" does Krug actually produce? I am sure it can't be many if overall production for the entire house is just 40,000 cases.
It is a more toasty, nutty champagne - especially compared to the Agrapart. I like it a great deal. The cuvee prestige is the Brut Family Reserve (95 points WS).
Dimitri
In fact it is fairly consistent, but then there is one imponderability with champagne: It's the wine most vulnerable to bad storage conditions. A few weeks of warm storage or a few days in daylight can heavily impair its flavours. If you drink your favourite champagne at dieeferebnt places, this most likely is the reason.
M.
I do drink Veuve at many different places. Maybe it is a storage thing, then. I don't experience that variance with the Louis Roederer Brut, although I only have a couple of places where I drink that. By the way, I noticed a posting from another Cherie today regarding a Piedmont hosting. Since there are apparantly two Cherie's posting this week, I will begin signing with my full name. (I'm the American beginner Cherie who will be visiting Southern France this summer...)
-Cherie Morganroth
Perhaps what you were eating at the time might also have something to do with it. Spicy foods, for instance, can transform a favorite and familiar flavor to that, maybe, of over-ripe roadkill. N'est pas? jl
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