Interesting article on disgorgement dates

From the NY Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/11/dining/reviews/champagnes-disgorgement-dates-provoke-debate.html?_r=1&ref=dining

Thanks for the link. As a consumer, I know I always appreciate it when more info, as opposed to less, is provided on the label.

Jeff

Thanks Howie for the link. I also like more info. on a wine label, be it disgorgement date, months on lees, bottling date, residual sugar for non-dry wines (including Sauternes), total acidity (especially for Gewurztraminer and Riesling) etc. and more exact %abv instead if the +or- 1.5% now allowed. A wine with 14% abv will probably come across very different than one of 12.5 or 15.5

For what its worth, I find that for the NV Bruts that I regularly buy (Pol Roger far and away my #1 choice) that 6-18 months in the cellar is a very good thing.

For what its worth, I find that for the NV Bruts that I regularly buy (Pol Roger far and away my #1 choice) that 6-18 months in the cellar is a very good thing.

I age them for a decade or more and they benefit in terms of complexity.

I'd rather dribk an NV bubbly where they had the opportunity to balance out and improve the wine through blending, than a lesser vintage wine where what you grew is what you get and no way to improve on nature.

Thanks for the article, Howie!

[David M. Bueker]

A basic but informative article. Laura and I drink mostly grower Champagne, so the disgorgement dates are often on the bottles. It has allowed us to align tasting pours with retail opportunities. A little research has led to information on base vintages, thus we had both pieces of information discussed in the article. A little more research can yield blends (in many cases, though not nearly all), and that's pretty much the sum of the keys to getting a total handle on a given Champagne.

Over the last decade we've made it a habit of buying one or two cases of different wines that then act as our "house" Champagnes for several years. We've followed the "basic" NV wines from Chartogne-Taillet, Gaston-Chicquet, Billiot and now Aubry this way. So far all of the wines have had multiple delicious phases, with the Billiot standing out for its intensely high quality - easily the best NV, surpassing the big house wines, sometimes even the Krug NV.

Howie -

Thank you for the link to the article. I agree with most of its points.

Additionally, I'll concur with David about the Billiot NV being a great "entry-level" Champagne, especially when you compare the price with Krug. As impressive as the MV Krug can be, it doesn't conjure up terroir to me in the same way that the best growers can.

Howie, this article got me thinking about how to determine more info. about the NV Champagnes I have and so I e-mailed Duval-Leroy, Pierre Peters, and Vilmart about how to interpert the designations(tiny letters and numbers) on their labels. The first two mentioned replied quickly with good information but it would be so much easier if they just stated this info on the labels. I'll keep checking out the other producers I have and see what info is available.