Sometimes there are perks to being a wine maniac. My step-dad mentioned to me that he had a vintage champagne in his closet, and I didn't believe him because he doesn't drink wine. Then he pulled out this, and my eyes nearly popped out of my head.
This is twenty seven years old, which is normally way too old for champagne. Even vintage champagne -- which is specifically made to be aged for a bit longer -- should only be aged for fifteen years max. However, this was also a Grand Cru, which means that the producer harvested exclusively from a site that is known to produce better grapes. Such designations are protected by law in France.
Still, I was worried that this had spoiled. He kept it in a closet where the temperature fluctuates. Also, it was just so damned old. If this was a Barolo or Bordeaux, it might be a different story. I told him to drink this right away. Within the year. Within the next six months. Or now.
He ended up giving it to me. He said he never really appreciated wine. I offered the token rebuttals, but eventually I caved. I kept it in my apartment for a couple months until I won a writing contest here on Steemit. My girlfriend, Sun, who is also a wine maniac, chose to put the bottle in a bath of ice water. We decided to drink it now before it spoiled -- if it hadn't already.
Our expectations were bleak going in. We even bought a back-up bottle of Cremant du Loire, just in case. But we ended up drinking the whole bottle, and this what we had to report.
Appearance:
Look at the colour. It's gold, approaching amber. This wine would have been a pale lemon colour when it was young. I could see very few bubbles but the ones I saw were still fine and trailed evenly up the glass. Good sign.
Nose:
Caramel. Butterscotch. Roasted Apple. The aromas were pronounced. Not super complex, it was those three flavours and perhaps a slight almond-like sherry note.
Palate:
I'd say that at least half of the bubbles were still there, which was really impressive. Everything was still in decent balance, and those caramel butterscotch flavours were right there. Big and bold. Those flavours come from slow, gentle oxidation over time.
Conclusion:
Since most of the primary fruit flavours had almost faded, I would say this would have tasted it's best maybe five, six years ago. Maybe it would have been more complex. But still this was phenomenal, which was a big step up from possibly being something I'd have to dump.
Sometimes it's great to be wrong.
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Up next: How to pick a wine that tastes like Champagne, without the Champagne price-tag.