WTN: A 1982 Champagne

Ayala & Co. Château d'Ay Champagne Blanc de Blancs Brut 1982

Opened for a good friend of the same vintage as I who turned 25 today. It looks, smells and tastes more like a BdN than a BdB - age, I suppose...

Deep gold/orange colour. The nose is full of figs and flowers and just the right degree of maderisation. With air a pronounced earthiness appears, but it develops only some mushroom character. I would have expected more mushrooms from a Champ this age.

The bubbles are still going strong, though they do decrease in intensity in the glass.

The fruit is very ripe and is surprisingly vibrant. The acidity is perhaps a touch lower than hoped but is perfectly sufficent to keep it fresh. Moderate aftertaste - not long, but not annoyingly short either.

This isn't a complex wine and it isn't a great wine, but it is nice to be drinking it.

Otto,

I realize that the '82 isn't sitting around on store shelves, but what does current Vintage and NV Ayala priced at in Finland? It isn't available here anymore (not that I've seen), but it used to be a pretty good deal.



Prost!
Bill

Otto,

I realize that the '82 isn't sitting around on store shelves, but what does current Vintage and NV Ayala priced at in Finland? It isn't available here anymore (not that I've seen), but it used to be a pretty good deal.

The vintage isn't available here. The NV is about 30€. I rather like the NV also. I hear their quality has improved recently - but in the 80's it wasn't supposed to have been as good as my bottle was!