A few nights ago I went with my wife to an event organized by Mendez & Co., one of the larger distributors of wines and spirits in Puerto Rico, where LVMH (Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE) showcased some of its Veuve Clicquot products. It wasn’t something extravagant, just 3 particular wines, two of them premium with some well thought out tapas pairings.
The night started with the yellow label when we walked in. I’m familiar with it since before my time as a full time wine aficionado. For the longest time it was the only type of bubbly I would drink. The great thing about that particular champagne is that year after year it’s consistent. It’s normally a 90-91 point wine across the board and you know what to expect from it with such a large yearly production. Although with time its price has kept going up taking it off the list as the priciest second tier to one of the more accessible third tier. (The tier system I mention is my own and it’s a four tier system solely based on price).
Photo courtesy of La Bodega de Méndez
There was a full house at La Bodega de Méndez that night and although I’m not the most social diner I did make an effort to talk to the brand ambassador Nathan Benfrench. Quite an interesting young man who grew into wines since he was, well…growing up. I’m always impressed when I see someone in their twenties that speak three languages but is humble enough to accept criticism when he says something wrong. He was very knowledgeable about his brand, was very friendly and kept everybody interested in his presentation.
There was a ‘could have been better’ moment for me because like I mentioned, when we walked in you are received with the yellow label, then when we sat at the table the first wine to try was…the yellow label. Here’s where I disagreed a bit with the setup because that first champagne has a lot of persistence in the palate, it’s a bit dry, it is not low on acidity and to be served quite a few glasses of the same to then go into the premiums, I just think they could have served a rosé instead to at least give it some variety. After all the point was to showcase the Veuve brand.
Now of course any presentation brings with it a little bit of history and some bullets of ‘did you know’ about the brands. Most interesting to share, are that it was founded by Phillippe Clicquot-Muiron in 1772 but the Veuve Clicquot (which translates to widow Clicquot) was Barbe-Nicole Ponsardin, who widowed at 27 years old when her husband and heir to the company François Clicquot died. You want to talk about empowered women and doing things ahead of their time, you need not look elsewhere. She was a Doña Barbara of the vineyards. Madame Clicquot was known for being strong-willed and innovative through her years at the house’s helm. 1810 was the release of the first ever vintage champagne, 55% of their vineyards are considered Grand Cru and 40% Premier Cru which is quite impressive. All Veuve wines are pinot noir dominant. The Grand Dame, the hostess of the night so to speak, was introduced in 1972 at the 200 year mark of the brand. And I think that’s enough. This isn’t exactly a history lesson.
When we were served the second wine I knew it was something special. The Vintage 2008 is a spectacular champagne. A 93 point wine that has a very distinguishable aroma. It was evolving in the glass as the minutes passed it by going from more typical citrus scents punching my nose blending into some creamy baked goods. There were some fine lines of bubbles, as to be expected with an older wine. Kind of like humans and our blood circulation. As we get older we are more eccentric, interesting but with an ever decreasing line of blood bubbles. At least we have Pentoxifylline. But I digress. The great thing about this wine is that is not all that expensive compared to non vintage wines in the third tier (I promise I’ll explain my tiers in another post) and with its capacity for aging it makes it a must buy for anybody that enjoys a good champagne and the art of cellaring.
Photo courtesy of La Bodega de Méndez
Finally the dame joined our table. To be fair, it wasn’t the most fair introduction as I guess the cold front hitting the island gave her some chills because she was cold. Benfrench did give us a headsup about it so we let it breathe for a while. We had to. There was no nose and to fully appreciate what she could offer we had to be patient. So we heard a bit more of history (don’t worry, I concentrated everything two paragraphs up) until it was time to give her another shot. There were hardly any bubbles in this Grande Dame 2006 and for any untrained drinker they could have easily mistaken it for a non bubbly white wine. But this is a 94 pointer across the board. A Cuvée of 8 of the brands Grand Crus. There is no problem calling this wine a blend because it happens to be a 53% Pinot Noir and 47% Chardonnay. Just like the 20008 vintage, it can be aged for a while.
The wine was elegant, it had a nice toasty theme going on and I found it very well compiled (my tech word for well rounded). This was a full body wine in mouth and it wasn’t so much as fruit presence but of like more austere memories of such fruits from a time when they were hanging from their respective trees, if that makes any sense. Reading that sentence again…probably not. This is a more high end product so is not your average ‘it’s friday time for some bubbly’ kind of champagne. Instead its what I call, a memory maker.
Because any wine can give you the gift of a great memory, but a great wine will make a great memory even greater. But only if you are into wines, otherwise these are just the ramblings of a wine colt.
