270 Years of Moët & Chandon

Moët and Chandon and Sotheby's pre-auction tasting at the Grand Hyatt Hotel.

2004 Moët and Chandon Grand Vintage - made with 1/3 each of the 3 cépages.  Acidity slightly high  Pretty toasty nose, a little heavy but in a good way.  Easy to drink with a long finish.

1990 Moët and Chandon Grand Vintage Collection, disgorged October 2003 - released in two batches - in 1995 and 2008.  The bottles tonight were from the 2008 batch.  How beautiful this was!  Yeasty, bready like a fresh baguette.  Toasty and big nose, with coffee, a little dried apricot, caramelized, starting to turn into Chinese salty plum (話梅).  Soooo lovely.  Wonderful acidity balance, soft and voluptuous.  It's hard to imagine a more gorgeous wine.

1985 Moët and Chandon Grand Vintage Collection en magnum, disgorged November 2002 - nose was bigger, heavier and toastier compared to the 1990.  Toasty corn, with higher acidity in the nose, and some coffee.  Powerful and ripe on the front palate, but there's acidity on the back palate.

1975 Moët and Chandon Grand Vintage Collection en magnum, disgorged June 2002 - an interesting vintage in that it was 70% Pinot Noir, 30% Chardonnay with no Pinot Meunier.  Very heavy toast in the nose, with what I thought was a hint of cumin.  Turning nutty with some coffee notes.  Smooth on the palate and pretty nice.

1962 Moët and Chandon Grand Vintage Collection en magnum, disgorged February 2013 - surprisingly vibrant, thanks to the very recent disgorgement.  Very nutty, with heavy toast, coffee and perhaps a hint of coconut.  Really lovely nose, and very smooth on the palate.

1990 Moët and Chandon Grand Vintage Rosé Collection - more red fruits, and fuller on the palate.  I was getting pretty buzzed by this point…

It was interesting to learn the philosophical and stylistic differences between Moët and Chandon Grand Vintage and Cuvée Dom Pérignon.  The former is made in the style which is representative of the Champagne region and also of the vintage, while the latter is only produced in years where it is possible to follow the specific Dom Pérignon style.

Full post on the tasting is here.