Includes 1 bottle each of

Bereche Brut Reserve

Dhondt-Grellet Les Terres Fines

Eric Rodez Blanc de Noirs

Three bottles of Champagne where I’ve never had anything less than a great experience.

***

Bereche Brut Reserve - from my Instagram post on this wine:

As close to perfect NV Brut as you can get.

It’s wines like this that occasionally make me wonder why I drink anything other than champagne. The best of these wines plumb crazy depths- straight to the earths core- and it can be a fucking trip when you compare them to still wines. But most champagnes don’t get to that potential the way Bereche does.

Available well under $100 pretty much anywhere, it’s hard to argue for a better use of your champagne dollar. In fact, I’d say this tastes like fancy-ass bubbles and pleases both newbie and serious tasting navel-gazers pretty equally.

With a large proportion of reserve (previous vintages) in the blend, this covers a huge spectrum of Champagne characters together in the same wine.

It smells brothy, autolytic (yeasty), candied walnuts and follows with an opulent tarte tatin, barrel-fermented flavor. This is very fresh, but also expansive, with a mousse-y mouthfeel that needs a big bowl stem to let it blow off some steam.

This has an old-school, luscious white burg with bubbles feel. Lots of little flashes of specific flavors - lemon meringue, mineral water, turkish delight, candied citrus. A dry, lengthy finish which shows some of the Pinot fruit in a delicate way.

A pretty remarkable wine for combining the elements of both linear and expansive champagnes in the same wine in great harmony.

*****

Dhondt Grellet:

AG93

"Dhondt-Grellet's NV Extra Brut Blanc de Blancs Les Terres Fines 1er Cru is powerful, intense and richly flavored, with plenty of old-vine Chardonnay character. There is a real vinosity in the glass that is hugely appealing. Over time, the wine fills out its broad frame nicely. Although the Les Terres Fines is at times a bit burly, it is certainly not lacking in personality. This is a decidedly masculine expression of Cuis Chardonnay. Lemon confit, wild flowers, almonds and brioche infuse the deeply satisfying finish. The low dosage style works nicely here. The Terres Fines is 70% 2013 and 30% reserve wines from a perpetual reserve that goes back to 1986."

Robert Parker

RP93

"The NV Extra Brut Blanc de Blancs Premier Cru Les Terres Fines (2015) is based on the 2015 vintage, complemented by some 30% of reserve wines from a solera dating back to 1986, and it was disgorged in April 2018 with two grams per liter dosage. The wine demands some time in the glass to open up, revealing aromas of crisp green pear, fresh brioche, white peach and toasted walnuts. This is followed by a full-bodied, vinous palate that's precise and promisingly tight-knit, with lovely purity and a nicely defined finish, and the ripe fruit of the vintage is manifested more in chewy dry extract than any overt heaviness." -Robert Parker

*****

Eric Rodez:

• 92Jeb Dunnuck

  The nose of the NV Champagne Blanc de Noirs Brut is generous with ripe black cherry, dried rosemary, shitake mushroom, and chalk. The plate is concentrated without weight and has a rounded and balanced mousse, with ripe berries, raspberry liqueur, and a chalky mineral texture with fine grained structure. It has an elegance within its structure that is quite compelling. A fantastic gastronomic wine, to carry through an entire meal or have on its own. Best after 2022.

• 91Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

  Disgorged in April 2020 with four grams per liter dosage, the latest release of Rodez' NV Brut Blanc de Noirs is already quite expressive, offering up aromas of mirabelle plum, raspberries, toasted almonds, honeycomb and white flowers. Medium to full-bodied, fleshy and gourmand, with ripe but racy acids and an enveloping core of fruit that's complemented by a pillowy mousse, it's extroverted but precise. What's more, it will be even better with a year or two on cork.