Bubbling under
Prices are per case of 12 excluding VAT, unless otherwise stated
H Recommended
HH Very good
HHH Best quality around
HHH
Gardet 1990
£240, Contact Michael Peace MW for national stockists
0171-937 9345
"Note of gooseberry, freshly baked bread, bright, fresh green-apple acidity." MB
"Lovely layers of cream, light toast, lemon and pineapple." SA
"Mellow, yeasty, very rich and full." DH
HHH
Mumm Cordon Rouge 1990
£258.32, Seagram UK
0181-250 1801
"Big mousse, peachy finish, lots of hazelnut hints." FS
"Honeyed nose, very elegant, drinking well." JG
"Rich brioche and peach, hops." HY
HHH
Charles Heidsieck 1990
£300, L'Assemblage in Sheen, west London
0181-876 0300
"Lovely and rich, creamy and full. Chocolate and yogurt hints." SA
"Very ripe, mature nose, yeasty with lots of biscuit, drinking very well now." JG
"Rich and creamy, really very good." DH
HH
Henri Abelé ‘Les Soirées Parisiennes' 1990
£150 per six, Freixenet
01344-758500
"Floral nose, light and elegant." HY
"Melon nose with vanilla streak, ripe, honeyed fruit palate." MB
HH
Canard-Duchàne 1991
£89.15 per six, Paragon Vintners
0171-887 1807
"Appealing lemon and pears fruit and crisp, small beads." SA
"Rounded fruit, biscuity, good weight and easy mousse." FS
HH
Delbeck 1990
£235, Grands Vins et Spiriteux
01273 729179
"Lemon and lime, butter, good length." HY
"Good green notes, firm palate with excellent bread notes on finish." MB
HH
Duval-Leroy Fleur De Champagne, Fin De Siäcle Cuvée 1990
£132 per six, Champagne Duval-Leroy UK
0181-956 2333
"Good depth of flavour majoring on yellow fruit, drinking well now." SA
"Mirabelle plum fruit, very yeasty with good balancing acidity." JG
HH
Bollinger 1990
£190 per six, Mentzendorff
0171-415 3200
"Aromatic nose, superb mouth with vibrant acidity, slight honey twist." MB
"Powerful nose, big Pinot roundness." HY
HH
Nicolas Feuillatte 1990
£240, Champagne Nicolas Feuillatte UK
01794 507115
"Elegant and quite light but good depth of fruit." HY
"Good green fruit dryness, not quite ready to drink." JG
HH
Gosset Grand Millesime 1989
£158.31 per six, McKinley Vintners
0171-928 7300
"This is big and powerful, quite tight yet, with a long life ahead." SA
"Interesting nutty undertones, very distinctive." DH
H
Perrier-Jouât Grand Brut 1992
£247.94, Seagram UK
0181-250 1801
"Good appley fruit, good aggression, very youthful." JG
"Green fruit, crisp acidity, good length." HY
H
Laurent-Perrier 1990
£297.60, Laurent-Perrier UK
01628 475404
"Fat fruit, good acidity, delicious." FS
"Slight raspberry note, well-balanced, fruity finish." HY
H
Beaumont Des Crayäres Nostalgie 1988
£180, John Armit Wines
0171-727 6846
"Mouthful of smoke nuts, rounded, yet lifted by great acidity." MB
"Very developed, a bit cabbagey, but good length." HY
H
Joseph Perrier 1990
£205, Francis Stickney Fine Wines
0181-201 9096
"Fat, biscuity, doughy fruit with rounded finish." FS
"Rounded and fresh, good but lacks complexity." JG
H
Billecart-Salmon 1990
£270, Billecart-Salmon UK
0181-405 6345
"Clean and elegant, crisp and fresh." HY
"Fresh and clean, lemon sherbet. But very young - save for later." SA
H
De Castellane 1990
£82.50 per six, Winegrowers Agencies
Johnathan Kins 01603 410958/0378 525425
"A touch zesty, very rounded, smooth, excellent, matured ready to drink." JG
"Vanilla, apple purée, still a little raw." FS
H
Jacquesson Signature 1989
£408, Mayfair Cellars0171-329 8899
"Very good, coffee bean aroma, good persistent mousse." SA
"Fairly light, delicate appley fruit." HY
We also tasted and gave above-average or average marks to:
Louis Roederer 1990
A Thienot 1989
G Fluteau Cuvée Prestige 1994, Blanc de Blancs
Moât & Chandon Cuvée Prestige 1993
Brugnon 1992
Gimmonet Fleuron 1990
Deutz 1993
Lanson Gold Label 1993
We also tasted and gave below-average marks to:
Taittinger 1992
Veuve Clicquot 1991
Dom Pérignon 1992
Pommery 1991
It may feel like light years away, but the mother of all parties takes place just eight months from now. And although much has been said about Champagne for the millennium over the past few years - it will run out, it won't run out, prices will soar, prices will drop - things have gone strangely quiet of late. One thing's for sure, though; everyone wants their millennium event to sparkle, not fall totally flat.
So, as we enter the summer before the big event, is the widely predicted shortage of Champagne already upon us? The answer is no. If you plan to give your customers bubbles in the form of most non-vintage Champagne (or, for that matter, sparkling wine) then it looks as if you will have no problem sourcing plenty of fizz, at least for the foreseeable future. That said, the finest names in Champagne - Bollinger, Dom Pérignon, Veuve Clicquot and so on - may run short of their non-vintage cuvées later this year.
More of a problem is vintage Champagne. Many will want to trade up from non-vintage to vintage for their millennium bash, and supplies of vintage wine from the big names is already looking decidedly short. So if you want to ensure your cellar is full of vintage bubbly from your favourite Champagne house, it's time to secure your allocation.
There are several vintages on the market this summer. Wines from 1990 are in greatest demand. It was, quite simply, the best vintage in Champagne for several decades, and the top vintage wines combine power with grace, and ripeness with crisp acidity. Champagnes from 1990 should have a long life ahead of them, but they are drinking well now and will be a popular choice on 31 December.
There are still some 1989s around - another very good year, though not quite as splendid as 1990 - and a few 1988s (rich, long-lived wines). But what about younger wines? Several houses have released very youthful vintage or prestige cuvée Champagnes this year to take advantage of the unusually high demand. But do they taste any good, and do they measure up to wines from 1988 to 1990? Caterer decided to find out.
The tasting
We tasted vintage Champagnes at the chic London restaurant, Avenue, in St James's Street. There were 29 Champagnes in the line-up, all current releases, and the vintages ranged from 1994 back to 1988. We received several prestige cuvée (the top wine from any Champagne house) wines as well and, as these are vintage wines, we included them in the tasting.
The panel
Caterer's expert panel comprised Hamish Young, head sommelier at the Oxo Tower restaurant; John Gilchrist, head sommelier of 1837 restaurant, Brown's hotel; Matthew Bradford, general manager of Circus bar and restaurant; Caterer wine editor Fiona Sims; Caterer news editor David Harris; and Which? Wine Guide editor Susy Atkins. The wines were tasted blind.
The verdict
What a triumph for the 1990 vintage! Eight out of the top 10 Champagnes, and all the three-star wines, were from this year. Young spoke for the panel when he said: "My marks shot up when I reached one section of the tasting, which I now realise was where the 1990s were placed. Not only is it apparent tasting 1990 that it was a very good vintage, but the level of maturity is excellent. These wines are in a class of their own."
On the other hand, the first set of wines (we started with the youngest) was "very disappointing", according to Gilchrist. The rest of the panel agreed. It is interesting to note that the wines we awarded below-average marks were all younger than 1990.
Tasters felt that, even when one of these wines had the potential to be great in the future (and several cited the Dom Pérignon 1992 as an example), they were nowhere near ready to drink this year. What a shame that people will be cracking open these wines in December when some of them simply need cellaring for several more years. The panel expressed deep concern that they were on the market already.
Back to our 1990s - top of the tasting was a deeply delicious wine from Champagne Gardet, a family-owned company established in 1895. Jean-Philippe Gardet remembers 1990 as a year that brought unusual balance and richness to Champagne. "After the exceptionally fine summer, we harvested fruit that was of bonne maturité but also good acidity. The two do not often go well together." He likened the vintage to 1975, another hot year that nonetheless provided good acidity.
The other two top wines in our tasting were from larger, more famous grandes marques. The success of Charles Heidsieck in particular will not come as a surprise to Champagne aficionados, as Heidsieck winemaker Daniel Thibault is now recognised as one of the most talented working in Champagne, winning the title of Sparkling Winemaker of the Year in the 1998/89 Wine Magazine International Wine Challenge.
Other top names from Champagne fared very poorly in this tasting. Sims pointed out that high levels of acidity and sulphurous aromas had put the panel off certain wines. Others have the right components but are too young to drink. They will become much, much better with maturity when their components are better knit together, and their flavours have softened and become richer. Just don't drink them when Big Ben chimes at the end of 1999. n
