Notes:
(Taittinger Comtes de Champagnes Blanc de Blancs Brut (Reims)) The 2005 Comtes de Champagne is a great wine in the making, and this will be a year where it will not be infanticide to drink the wine on the relatively young side, as the ’05 vintage has provided a truly wide open and inviting profile that will make the wines exceedingly enjoyable at relatively early ages. I had a good week of tasting when I was shown the 2005 Comtes de Champagne Blanc de Blancs while Clovis Taittinger was in town for the Wine Experience, as I had already drunk a brilliant bottle of the 2002 Comtes at our ’02 vintage tasting at the start of the week, and he brought along another bottle of the ’02 to compare and contrast with the 2005! The bouquet on the ’05 Comtes is outstanding, offering up a deep and refined blend of apple, pear, brioche, complex, chalky minerality, orange zest and gentle smokiness in the upper register. With extended breathing, the wine gets very esthery in the glass and is really captivating. On the palate the wine is pure, full-bodied, crisp and rock solid at the core, with great complexity, very elegant mousse, and excellent length and grip on the vibrant and quite open finish. This is richer than the 2004 Comtes was out of the blocks, but also has excellent raciness and it will certainly age very gracefully, despite being more accessible at an early age. It is an absolutely beautiful wine, which will help keep hands away from the 2002 and 2004 Comtes de Champagne in the cellar! (Drink between 2013-2035) John Gilman 95
Taittinger fans will want to stock away at least a few bottles of the 2005 Comtes de Champagne, if nothing else to satisfy the urge while some of the more important recent vintages continue to age in the cellar. The 2005 is immediate, deep and nicely textured, with overt fruit and fewer of the intense floral, mineral-driven notes that are typical. The first signs of aromatic development appear to off on the horizon by a few years, but at the same time, I don't expect the 2005 to be one of the more long-lived vintages here. Comtes de Champagne remains the best value in grand marque Tête de Cuvée Champagne.
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