PETER LEIM 3 STARS CHAMPAGNEGUIDE.NET-"This is essentially a one-of cuvée, blending two wines in equal proportions. The first is a Jouy-lès-Reims chardonnay from 1998, which was vinified without malolactic and aged in new oak for two years, while the second is a Villedommange pinot noir from 1999 that saw full malo, aged in secondhand oak for one year. The two were blended and bottled in 2000, in Aubry’s low-pressure “sablé” style of four atmospheres, and the subsequent cuvée was aged on its lees for 151 months before disgorgement in early 2013. A year later, it’s even more complex and complete than it was when it was first released, showing a resonant, expansive fragrance and a silky finesse. It expresses the nobility of both wood and lees aging, and its dense aromas are strikingly umami in tone, persisting with exceptional length and detail. This is a stunning wine, and while it’s not easy to find, it’s worth making a special search. Last tasted: 3/14."
2 1/2 STARS TERRY THEISE CATALOG-"THE MOST PROFOUND AND REMARKABLE CHAMPAGNE IN THIS OFFERING...
The wine is explosively salty, with mind-warping minerality. It’s a first for them, a new cuvée. It consists of 1998 Chard, aged in new wood for “two seasons,” no malo, and a “sablé,” i.e. 4 atmospheres rather than 6. There’s also 1999 PN that did malo, in 4-year wood for “one season.” It went en tirage in 2000 with “agrafé” (a cork, not a crown cap), and was disgorged in February 2013. Barely any dosage. Total production: 1000 bottles. I’d had a disappointing bottle of praised-to-the-skies (and criminally expensive) Cuvée Winston Churchill a couple nights earlier, and as soon as I sniffed this baby I felt the gravelly darkness the Pol Roger seemed to have been striving for. My image-vision was of an old, stoic man who’s spent his life working outside, and when he comes in for lunch the smells of earth and smoke follow him. The wine is adamantly long, with a keen forest-y finish. The empty glass smells like pigeon and summer truffle. This is the very opposite of frivolous. It speaks to a depth the Aubrys don’t let you see otherwise. It is extraordinary, meaningful wine."
2 1/2 STARS TERRY THEISE CATALOG-"THE MOST PROFOUND AND REMARKABLE CHAMPAGNE IN THIS OFFERING...
The wine is explosively salty, with mind-warping minerality. It’s a first for them, a new cuvée. It consists of 1998 Chard, aged in new wood for “two seasons,” no malo, and a “sablé,” i.e. 4 atmospheres rather than 6. There’s also 1999 PN that did malo, in 4-year wood for “one season.” It went en tirage in 2000 with “agrafé” (a cork, not a crown cap), and was disgorged in February 2013. Barely any dosage. Total production: 1000 bottles. I’d had a disappointing bottle of praised-to-the-skies (and criminally expensive) Cuvée Winston Churchill a couple nights earlier, and as soon as I sniffed this baby I felt the gravelly darkness the Pol Roger seemed to have been striving for. My image-vision was of an old, stoic man who’s spent his life working outside, and when he comes in for lunch the smells of earth and smoke follow him. The wine is adamantly long, with a keen forest-y finish. The empty glass smells like pigeon and summer truffle. This is the very opposite of frivolous. It speaks to a depth the Aubrys don’t let you see otherwise. It is extraordinary, meaningful wine."
