I don’t normally get a lot of time to relax, but for an hour on the morning of day three in Champagne, I did. Eating breakfast in my room, with the windows open, fresh air circulating around my room and views to die for, I started my day in the most wonderful surroundings. After saying our farewells to the wonderful hosts at Chateau Saran, we decided to head for Mesnil. Unfortunately, satellite navigation systems don’t factor in closed roads so we ended up getting lost. Our three car convoy soon became two, when the third car, an Audi R8, went AWOL. Realising that we had to stop and wait for the Audi to catch up to a 1 series BMW and a VW Polo (do the words hare and tortoise mean anything here?), we did so only to nearly get nicked by ‘le rozzers’. Fortunately, the police were understanding, or couldn’t be bothered with the paperwork of arresting a bunch of Brits, and led us to a lay-by and not the local police station.After regrouping, we reached Mesnil. This town is what I wanted from France. Lots of small roads with ramshackle buildings next to perfectly restored houses with dust being thrown up as you drive down the street. We’d arranged it so we had a morning free so decided to visit Le Mesnil, a cooperative based in the town it takes it’s name from, and attempted to try their wines.
The people at Le Mesnil were exceptionally accommodating, and started opening bottles for us, at ten in the morning. The Le Mesnil Blanc de Blancs, costing €16.70 at the cellar door and therefore about £25 on the shelf in Britain, was outstanding. Light and fresh with a simple lemon juice and lemon pith flavour. A wine with lovely balance, a delightful mousse and a long, minerally finish that shows, inexpensively, how good Blanc de Blancs can be. 8.5/10
Their top wines are called ‘Sublime’, and the 2001 Sublime Blanc de Blancs was also excellent. A little more lemon than the basic wine, quite spritzy too and with lots of pencil lead on the finish. A hint of fruit sweetness, I actually got pancakes with lemon juice and sugar on the nose. The palate has a gentle bubble, again, great balance and with a zingy flavour mixed with a creamy texture. A really lovely wine but I actually preferred the basic wine! 8/10
When in Mesnil, we had to visit the famous walled vineyard of Krug. The Clos du Mesnil is not easy to find, it doesn’t have the large branded signs that, for example, Salon has. A simple iron gate with the name above symbolises Krug’s greatest Chardonnay vineyard, and they do not want visitors! The gate is permanently locked, and whilst you can take photos outside the gate, you have a better chance of getting into Keira Knightley than you have the Clos du Mesnil. We stuck our hands through the railings to take a few photos of the vines that produce this outstanding wine, and then got back into the cars to go to visit Krug in Reims.
PLEASE don’t think badly of me, but Krug was a bit of a disappointment. We were welcomed, tasted the Grande Cuvee, which, as always, is outstanding, whilst being told about the history of Krug. We were informed that it doesn’t matter where the base wines in Krug Grande Cuvee come from, nor which of the three grape varieties they are, as Krug is made to a specific taste. Some years there will be more of one grape than another, other times older reserve wines will be used more or less depening on how the main body of the wine tastes. Everything in Krug is about how things taste, not what they are or who grew the grapes.
A tour of the cellars came next, which is always fun and entertaining, and the fact that Krug were bottling when we were there was very interesting. You think of a producer like Krug having a very traditional method of producing their wines, and they do, but when it comes to bottling it they hire in a bottling plant and get it all done in a month! What I would imagine is usually an oasis of quiet in the bustling city of Reims becomes a noisy industrial plant!
We then went back into the tasting room for a tasting with Olivier Krug where we got to try the 1989 vintage with him. I’ve had this wine before and it has been lovely, but the most recent bottle I have had seemed a little bit old. This bottle however was anything but. Gorgeous honey and melon aromas, lots of brioche, and a touch of spice and goats cheese. The palate has a rich, up front flavour of honey and mature fruit, but then cleans up, becomes very lively and youthful, with fine bubbles. It was lovely. And that was the end of our Krug experience. Obviously, Moet & Chandon raised the bar in hospitality, and Ruinart and Veuve Clicquot would be just as hospitable, but it felt as though Krug didn’t want us there. We were a group of people who work in the wine trade, knew all about the history of Krug anyway, but were almost fed from a company script. There was no attempt to show us, through use of maybe base wines or a blending class, how they get the flavour of Krug Grande Cuvee, which is, by their own admission, the only thing that matters. I realise that I’m incredibly fortunate to have been permitted to visit Krug, but I just felt a little under whelmed. Moral of the story: Don’t meet your heroes.
I’ve always had a bit of a soft spot for Ruinart and I never knew why. Their wines were always excellent, when I tried Dom Ruinart for the first time, their 1988 vintage in magnum, I was amazed that it smelled like a distillery washback and that stuck in my head, but I’d never had a major event cause this effection.Having visited Ruinart, I now have a reason for my liking of this house, and it is because I like their stories! I’ll give you a potted history. Making use of the change in law in 1728 that allowed wine to be transported in bottles as well as barrels, Ruinart was founded in the following year. Their house was built on top of massive chalk pits that were then used to store the wines in perfect conditions. During the First World War, Andre Ruinart used his cellars to smuggle food to the troops, by constructing an underground railroad. He stayed underground for four years during the war, but his health and his house suffered. Above ground, Ruinart was destroyed, and below ground, Andre became ill. He saw the end of the war, but didn’t see his Champagne house rebuilt, dying in 1919. But like other famous widows, Andre Ruinart’s wife, Charlotte, rebuilt the buildings exactly as they were before the war, and she is the person to be credited for raising this company from the ashes.
We then tried four wines, two Blanc de Blancs and two pinks. The Ruinart Blanc de Blancs is a favourite of mine. Light, fresh and clean, it has a spice emerging through the citrus fruit on the nose. Great minerality on the palate, a super long, tingling finish, with a lot of citrus on the palate makes this wine a perfect choice for rejuvenating yourself after a long day! We then compared it to 1998 Dom Ruinart. This had a longer, richer aroma. Lots of honey toast, chevre and some honey comb wax. The palate had a gentle elegance to it, evolving fruit and a creamy mouthfeel and a little coconut on the finish. A really, really good wine!
The Ruinart rose was all about strawberry jam! Very simple, clean and with a touch of rosewater, this is not a wine you think about. Cold, on a lovely day and you really wouldn’t go wrong with this wine. I know of a few people who might say this is boring, but I don’t think that is fair. The fact that it is not a challenging wine can only be a good thing as it will appeal to many people, not just wine nerds!
Finally the 1996 Dom Ruinart Rose. It is not often that you taste a wine and are reminded of sweet cured sausage, but the Dom Ruinart Rose certainly tasted like that! There was also a warm leather, tobacco an hints of oranges on this wine, with a lovely spicy element on the finish. This is definitely a Champagne to go with food, on it’s own it is not exactly an easy wine to drink, but with something to balance out the gutsy flavours, this wine would sing.
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