Those names conjured up two vastly opposing images, one of a wholesome family car and the other of naked ladies. Similarly, Chardonnay - according to Google - is about naked ladies too, but when talking about Champagne, it is about elegance, balance and sophistication, a point made perfectly by a selection of Blanc de Blancs that I tried on Saturday night.
Gathered together were five wines, 1959 Pol Roger Blanc de Blancs, 1979 Krug Clos du Mesnil, 1990 Salon le Mesnil, 1996 Pol Roger Chardonnay and 1996 Taittinger Comte de Champagne. We started off comparing the two Pol Roger wines.
At 51 years old, the 1959 Pol Roger Blanc de Blancs was an old gold colour, with a nose of rich, oxidised fruit. Lots of salty, baked lemon, salted and slightly smoked toffee (reminded me of the bone marrow caramels at Noma) with a little bit of peach sponge cake. The palate was rich and ripe with lots of citrus, honey, rye bread and then with semi dried and candied lemons, limes and grapefruit. Unfortunately this wine was flat, so we added just a drop of the 1996 vintage to give it a bit of pep!Adding this younger wine was like giving a little blue pill to an old man. All the gorgeous flavours of the wine were just delivered so much better, bringing life into the old man. The candied fruit were now brighter rather than older and dustier, the peach sponge was made with fresh peaches rather than tinned and the salty, smoky toffee flavour had an injection of vanilla as well. This was a fantastic bottle of wine. 9.5/10
It's younger counterpart, the 1996 Pol Roger Chardonnay (a venture into attempting to capitalise on the popularity of the Chardonnay/stripper name perchance?) was another stunner. Sunburst yellow, with gentle lemon, bright pineapple and fresh Galia melon coming of the nose with a chalky element and lemon juice soaked bread. A super clean palate, tipping over into the mature style of champagne - but only just. Pencil lead comes to the front of the palate, with a little burnt toast too, but lemon rules the roost with this wine. Fantastic. 9/10
The next wine was the 1979 Krug Clos du Mesnil. This single vineyard wine is, possibly, the pinnacle of Blanc de Blancs from Champagne. It showed roquefort and brussel sprouts on the nose, with a sweetness of caramelised onions! Then, what I can only describe as Candy Floss that someone like Heston Blumenthal would make! A beautifully elegant palate, some sweetness all the way through with some citrus fruit, burnt lemon rind and a touch of mango skin. An outstandingly complex wine, and very youthful, despite its three decades of ageing. It just lacked a little in comparison to the '59 Pol and the wine that came next. 8.5/10
Salon 1990 is perfect. I scored it 10/10 and felt that that wasn't enough. The baked citrus fruit with sweet herbs, white peach, some honeydew melon and darker, fleshier aromas started off this experience, and then a rich, darker palate, more concentrated, with layers evolving in your mouth. Tropical fruit, graphite and some dry, bitter notes with some burnt wholemeal toast leading to citrus infused honey and baked potato skin. What was amazing though was that this wine carried all of these powerful flavours and introduced them to you with such delicacy, nothing ever being too dominant. A mind blowing wine.
Finally, the 1996 Taittinger Comte de Champagne. Initially it was quite closed, with acidic cheesy notes, bundled up with fresh citrus. Very simple and very light. The palate delivered apples, citrus and that was pretty much it. Having said that, with time in the glass it opened up, showing richer, honeyed notes and an element of the older Krug. I think that this wine just needs a lot of time - simple as that really. 6/10 but with so much more potential.
The wine for the evening for me was the '59 Pol Roger, because it nearly beat a wine 30 years its junior. Having said that, and this might be relevant consumer advice to people called Chardonnay when they come back from a night clubbing in their micro skirts and heels with their bleach blond hair ruffled after a tryst in a public lavatory, the Krug goes best with a chicken and spinach pizza.
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