Winery - Charles Heidsieck
* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
Has a rather large and agreesive bead, married to very umami notes to soy and yeast. It's medium-weight, with meaty flavors that finish long and citrusy. A unique style that may have its fans.
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* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
Showing surprising age for such a young vintage, this is a wine that’s ready. It is of course, like all Charles Heidsieck Champagnes, beautifully crafted, with its toast and spice element integrated deftly into the crisp fruits. A top quality Champagne, needing food for its full appreciation.
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* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
Medium-full and frothy in the mouth, the wine offers mouthcoating butterscotch and Macintosh apple flavors, and dust and light citrus aromas. Has richness and character, particularly for a nonvintage offering. Mis en cave in 1997 and disgorged in 2002, it is composed of 40% reserve wine and 60% wine from the 1996 harvest.
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* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
Spent nine years on lees; starts off with a pastry-crust aroma. The wine’s mouthfeel is beautifully textured, neither too coarse nor too foamy. The flavor that manifests itself as butterscotch in the nonvintage brut is, here, like honey and toffee, adding richness to a pear-fruit core. A creamy, full and sexy wine, finishing medium-long. To toast with this wine is reason in and of itself to get married.
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* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
Unusual, in that not many houses declared 1981 a vintage year. This is a supple, beautiful wine, virtually orange in color, a fact that hints at its earthy, autumnal palate impression. Shows hints of mushroom, clarified butter and demi-glace notes on the nose, with baked apple and earth flavors in the mouth. Mature and sexy; drink now.
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* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
This is a fine, mature wine, layering strawberry flavors with good rich toast and ripe acidity. It is powerful and rich, very much a food wine. There are flavors of crisp red apples as well as redcurrants giving complexity on top of the toast.
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* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
A floral, fragrant wine, full of ripe fruit, layered with some toast and a delicate mousse. There are flavors of quince, of cinammon and toast, with a touch of butteriness. This is by no means mature, and the acidity and freshness suggest a good aging potential.
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* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
This is an intensely floral wine, ripe, with structure and fragrant, creamy fruit. At first it seems soft, but that's because the richness of the fruit covers the firmness and comparatve youth of this fine wine. Great for aperitifs, it should age well over the next decade or so.
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* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
A big boy with almost fleshy fruit. The flavors push into exotic, tropical richness yet retain spicy citrus-rind highlights. There is nothing clumsy, despite the ripeness; the finish seems to extend almost infinitely and keeps zinging you with surprises—marshmallow, marzipan, cookie dough, etc. An added bonus: the back label clearly indicates when it was bottled and cellared (2001).
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* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
Toasty aromas are the first hints that this is now a mature wine. Its layers of acidity mingle with toast, walnuts and rich, mature fruit. Definitely a wine for those who prefer their bubblies with some age.
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