Essi Avellan

“This vintage Krug 2008 is painfully slow to age. Its sumptuous nose comes with layers of baked apple, bitter almonds, smoke, dried flowers, acacia honey and buttery biscuits. The palate is viscous with oily qualities, yet tightly knit and stylishly refreshed by the wine’s accentuated, steely acidity. The nose is developing, but the palate has hardly moved since release. It comes with the structure for ageing, deserving further time. 

Dom Pérignon Oenothèque 1990 / Big, ripe expression with gingerbread, roasted hazelnuts, straw, green apple and sea notes, complemented by gunpowdery complexity. Broad, almost oily textured yet fresh palate, with the softest mousse. Mature but healthy and fruity. Disgorged 2007.

Salon 2012 / “A rollercoaster year in the vineyards with hopes for a quality crop only rising at harvest time. Salon initially wasn't promising a vintage, but changed its mind having come up with something instantly rewarding. Bright, sweetly fruity nose on the sweet green fruit side: lime, pear drops, licorice, jasmine and fragrant orange blossom tones. A flick of vanilla complements the whole. The palate has a silky flow of volume yet a firm backbone of brisk acidity enhancing the notion of explosive fruitiness. The chalky mineral bite comes forward on the long, intense and dry finish. This wine hasn’t moved a lot in the past year, promising longevity. Disgorged 3/21; dosage 5g/l”

Bollinger La Grande Année 2014 / “An intriguing combination of a sunny year’s forward fruitiness and late September harvest’s freshness. These characters get further amplified by the high percentage of Chardonnay and important share of cooler profile Verzenay Pinot Noir in the blend. On the nose ripe peach, candied apple and vanilla blend in beautifully with delicate floral and lemony notes as well as mineral iodine whiffs. The gentle oaky note stylishly stays in the background. There is supple volume on the lacey-textured palate, but this wine plays much less on concentration and weight than what we are used to with La Grande Année. Instead its finest feature is the salivating acidity and sensation of minerality that carries the wine until the long, palate-cleansing finish. Already open and pleasurable on the nose, but the palate stands firm with mineral restraint promising longevity. Perfectly dosed at 8g/l. Note for a bottle disgorged in April 2021.”

Lanson Vintage Collection 1979/ Glorious, remarkably fruity nose with Coteaux du Layon reminicent botrytised tones of dried apricots, honey, orange marmalade and wool. Really sweetly fruity on both nosr and palate. Superb viscosity and generosity on the concentrated palate, stylishly lined with perky acidity. Seems ageless 93p

Bollinger R.D. 1976 /“Every one of my encounters with this wine has been a slight disappointment, but then again expectations fly really high for the vintage. The earlier disgorgements have had a really sweet appearing nose with candied fruit and patisserie notes. Mouth-filling, super ripe, chunky palate short of energy. It feels like its best days are already gone. From a very recent 2012 disgorged bottle if was still fully vibrant, with a peculiar combination of aged and youthful characters. Probably still recovering from the shock of such late disgorgement.”

The Champagne Magazine's "The 100-Best Champagnes 2022" tasting - Day 2.

Every Dom Pérignon vintage is built to eventually become a Plénitude 2 and Plénitude 3 and so is the P2 2003! It was such a challenging and unprecedentedly hot year. Yet there is nothing heavy in Dom Pérignon of the year. The nose is stunningly toasty with sweet, vanilla laden fruit, hay, juniper, cookie dough and cream. On the palate it is exuberant, round and textured with a notion of firming phenolics of a hot year on the back palate. The time on lees seems to have created some extra roundness and delicious sweetness to the fruit. Finely bubbling energetic palate finishing on a pure mineral freshness.”

Roederer Cristal Rosé 2012 / “Already upon launch this rosé shows rare harmony and seamlessness. It is opulently fruity and exuberantly Pinot-packed yet at the same time seductively silky-textured. The voluminous palate is perfectly integrated to the wine’s superb freshness that carries it to a great length. Structured whilst soft and comes with Cristal Rosé’s hallmark elegance and radiance. Highly enjoyable already but with great long-term ageing capacity. A perfect reflection of the vintage’s best qualities.”

Champagne Magazine's 100 Best Champagnes 2021 -tasting day II.

Taittinger Comtes de Champagne 2008 / 97 points / Remarkable purity and finesse on this racey and mineral Comtes packed with energy and tension. Elegant restraint on the smoky-toasty, coolly fruity nose with lemon and flower potpourri. Linear and long, beautifully mouthwatering. Still young but enormously enjoyable.