Moët & Chandon Grand Vintage 2008 Launch

Last week, I was delighted to accept an invitation to attend the launch of Moët & Chandon's Grand Vintage 2008 Champagne. I travelled down to London with a number of my colleagues to the Moët Hennessy UK headquarters in Belgravia, full of optimism and great expectation. I've previously written about my love of two of Moët's other Grand Vintage incarnations, the beautifully poised 2006 and the warming, generous 2002, so I was very much looking forward to tasting and assessing the House's 2008.

On arrival, we were greeted with a generous measure of Moët Brut Impérial NV, accompanied by a selection of mouthwatering hors d'oeuvres (who would turn down a delicious quail's egg and salmon blini at 10am?). We were introduced to the International Brand Ambassador for Moët & Chandon, Justine Proy, and invited into the tasting room for the main event. As well as tasting the Grand Vintage 2008 Brut and Rosé, we were fortunate enough to sample two back vintages in Moët's 'Grand Vintage Collection': their 1998 and 1988. Below are my tasting notes for the four wines sampled, as well as some interesting tit-bits as regards production and aging.

My colleague Natalie and I enjoying a breakfast tipple!

Moët & Chandon Grand Vintage Brut 2008

Whereas most non-vintage Champagne cuvées are the embodiment of a fairly rigid house style, vintage offerings allow the Chef de Cave a little more room for manoeuvre. This certainly holds true for Moët, whose vintage Champagnes are based on three essentials: "freedom of interpretation; selection of the year's most remarkable wines and individuality of the vintage". For 2008, this means creating a wine which reflects the high acidities of a cooler vintage, yet also allowing the relatively good levels of ripeness to shine through. On the nose, the 2008 displays delicate aromas of lemon and flower, supported by a dainty yet present note of bready yeast. On initial tasting, the palate is fresh and vivacious, which subsequently mellows on the mid-palate to warmer citrus, greengage and almond. The finish is zingy and lingering, revealing a Champagne which - while still currently tight and coiled - will age effortlessly.

Moët & Chandon Grand Vintage Rosé 2008

It still surprises many people to hear that the only wine region in Europe where red and white wines can legally be blended and sold as rosé is in Champagne. In fact, this is crucial for a house like Moët, whose 2008 Rosé is comprised of almost half Pinot Noir, of which 20% starts life as red wine. The reasoning behind this is to impart enough tannins into the finished wine so as to balance out the high acidity (2.98 pH) and the dosage (5g/litre), to culminate in an harmonious Champagne. On evidence, Moët has achieved this with its 2008 Rosé. A deep, rose petal pink in glass, the 2008 displays a nose with nuances of red berry fruit and spice. The mouthfeel is fuller than its Brut sibling, with the acidity being masked by the wine's levels of tannin. Delicate, mature fruits of strawberries and blackcurrants are displayed on the palate, in what is a precise and linear rosé cuvée.

Brand Ambassador Justine Proy in full flow

Moët & Chandon Grand Vintage Collection Brut 1998

Like all good Champagne producers, Moët keeps a considerable amount of wines back in its cellars, either to use as future blending wines or, as is the case with its 'Grand Vintage Collection', to release as single vintage finished articles. We were invited to taste the 1998 as, according to Justine, the year was a very similar vintage in terms of climatic style to 2008, so tasting the '98 would allow us a potential glimpse into the future of the new release. On evidence, this bodes extremely well. Notably darker in glass yet without a trace of dullness, the '98 displays a developing, caramelised nose with notes of dessert apple, almond and toffee. The high acidity of the vintage translates into a Champagne that remains fresh and precise, yet with a comforting, generous nature, thanks to the extended 15 year period of lees aging.

Moët & Chandon Grand Vintage Collection Brut 1988

Personally, I'd never had the opportunity to try such a mature Champagne as the 1988 Moët, and I'm sure this held true for many of my colleagues. Like the '98, the 1988 vintage was again marked by high acidities with just enough fruit ripeness to satisfy the winemaking team. This didn't stop them, however, upping the dosage to 7.5g sugar/litre (compared with 5g/litre in the Brut 2008) in order to achieve balance. For me, the 1988 Brut proved my favourite of the four offerings: I can't recall ever trying a Champagne which caused such intrigue and delight. A deep, golden hue in glass, the nose is full of developed, tertiary characteristics: namely honey, salinity and iodine. The palate offers an appealing plushness whilst remaining light in the Moët style, and displays dried apricot and richer fruits alongside the tertiary notes of nuts and umami savouriness. Here, the acidity is fully integrated into the wine's structure; the supporting cast to the crescendo of flavours rather than the conductor. Overall, it truly was a wine that bowled me over. The only problem? Being such an esoteric and complex Champagne, I struggle to think of an occasion when the Moët 1988 wouldn't entirely overshadow the main event! Although, perhaps therein lies the answer...

A stellar line-up

Brothers in arms

Fresh from my gin-drinking escapades in the North of England, I figured it was best to return to my comfort zone and re-acquaint myself with tasting and reviewing some top wines. My experience at The Lakes Distillery did focus my attentions, however, on the concept of terroir and the natural environment, which is just as important to grape growers and winemakers as it is for the dedicated distilling folk up in Cumbria. For me, one of the best things about any drink is its loyalty to its provenance; whether that be capturing the river water from the Derwent to use for Cumbrian spirit distillation, or winemakers in the South of England making use of their Champagne-esque soils and grape varieties to produce some world class sparklers. To misquote the motto of a famous Catalan football club, wine is more than a drink: it's an enchanting, beguiling liquid which, at its best, speaks of its environment, its origins and the roots and heritage of its makers. In short, any great wine should speak of its terroir, or the fundamental geographical and viticultural aspects that mean the liquid can only have been produced in that specific place.

Yet it's not just the land and environment that count: great wine can only be made with the input of great winemakers. Wine is a substance that brings friends and families closer together, and no-one is able to understand this more than winemaking families themselves. This is exactly the set-up at Giesen, where three winemaking brothers ply their trade. Born and raised in Germany, Theo, Alex and Marcel founded their winery in 1981 in the Dillon's Point area of Marlborough, with their first vintage produced three years later. Today, Giesen wines are exported to over 30 countries around the world, and their wines are some of the best to hail from New Zealand. Around six months ago, I purchased a couple of bottles from Giesen's 'The Brothers' selection, which is a range of wines blended from the best parcels in each vintage to showcase the pinnacle of the grape and the region. The label is also an homage to the Giesen brothers and their original pioneering spirit. Below are the tasting notes for both wines sampled from the range, the 2012 Pinot Noir and the 2013 Sauvignon Blanc.


Giesen 'The Brothers' Sauvignon Blanc 2013, Marlborough

From a vintage called "outstanding [...] with near-perfect conditions for growing grapes" (according to New Zealand Winegrowers CEO Philip Gregan), the 2013 Giesen Brothers Sauvignon is certainly a blockbuster of a wine. A small proportion of the Sauvignon grapes for this cuvée are fermented in old French oak, which imparts complexity and ageability to the time-honoured Marlborough style. A pale, lemony-green colour in glass, the wine is intensely aromatic with a core of green pepper, nettle, gooseberry and tomato leaf. More citrus notes like grapefruit and lemon juice emanate from the glass with persistence. On the palate, the wine is light-bodied, although with a decent mid-palate weight. Despite its relatively seniority (for Sauvignons age much quicker than the rest of us) the Brothers Sauvignon remains searingly fresh and zippy. The flavours in the mouth are dominated by more underripe, citrus notes (gooseberry, grapefruit, lemon) which truly are monstrous in intensity. The finish is heroic, and lasts for well over a minute, underpinned by a bassline of sparkling minerality.

A fabulous wine, the Giesen Brothers Sauvignon Blanc certainly ranks right up there with the best of its kind from Marlborough that I've sampled. It finds favour among the critics too: Bob 'Mr New Zealand Wine' Campbell MW scored it an excellent 93 points. Although it would be fascinating to cellar it for a year or two to see how it develops, the Brothers Sauvignon is highly enjoyable to drink now, especially when paired with creamy goats cheese dishes.

Goat's cheese and red pesto tartlet

Giesen 'The Brothers' Pinot Noir 2012, Marlborough

As with its successor, 2012 was also a vintage of note in New Zealand, with Decanter magazine deeming it to be "consistently very good everywhere". Marlborough fared very well, and this comes across in Giesen's delicious, ageworthy Pinot Noir. To look at, the wine appears much older than its years: much of the ruby colour now having faded to a pale garnet hue. On the nose, The Brothers Pinot is initially mild-mannered, yet gradually yields its aromas of dusky cherry and blackcurrant, fresh cranberry, black pepper and earth. Like all good Pinot Noir, the aromas of The Brothers wine have a slightly reticent, other-worldly quality, which requires patience on the drinker's part before the full array of flavours are revealed. In the mouth, the wine has a good weight of palate, with stalky tannins and mellowing acidity. Again, the flavours present aren't shouty, but beautiful notes of cranberry, redcurrant and savoury spice do gradually caress the tongue. The wine finishes well, leaving an overall impression of smoothness. This is a 14% New World red, but certainly doesn't feel overly-alcoholic or cumbersome.

Like its counterpart Sauvignon reviewed above, The Brothers Pinot also scored well with a number of critics, most notably receiving points 93 from the former Wine Spectator critic James Suckling. I'm not sure I would have been quite as generous in Suckling's position, although I readily admit I'm still a relative novice when it comes to exploring the many mysteries of Pinot Noir. Certainly, it is a very well-crafted wine, with a specific character that doesn't feature in Burgundy yet appears in many Pinots from across New Zealand. I have no doubt that it would age comfortably and develop a spectrum of tertiary flavours, although I very much enjoyed drinking it presently with a hearty pork and onion casserole.

Rustic pork and onion casserole

In summary, both the Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir from Giesen's 'The Brothers' range were excellent wines, both of which were made with respect for the grape and terroir at the forefront. Despite New Zealand's relative infancy as a force in the wine world, wines like the two reviewed show the suitability of the country for growing classic cool climate varieties, arguably - in the case of Sauvignon Blanc - more successfully so than its Old World counterpart (I still think that, despite the ridiculously high inflation of prices, nowhere does Pinot Noir quite like Burgundy). Nevertheless, the successes of the Giesen brothers certainly show the value of respect for the natural environment coupled with winemaking prowess. As a partnership, these two aspects truly are the driving force in producing great wine.