2011 Taittinger Comtes de Champagne
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Tasting notes
Champagne Taittinger’s prestige cuvée Comtes de Champagne is a Blanc de Blancs only made in the best vintages. The grapes are sourced from all five Grand Cru villages in the Côte des Blancs – Avize, Chouilly, Cramant, Mesnil-sur-Oger and Oger, with the main base of the cuvée coming from Taittinger’s house vineyard surrounding the Château de la Marquetterie just south of Epernay. The Comtes 2011 has a very pure Chardonnay nose – with white flower and citrus fruit notes alongside lime jelly, mint, smoke and a touch of oyster shell. The wine already feels very open on the palate, with honeyed, yellow orchard fruit beautifully integrated with a fine bead of acidity – it’s almost seamless. As the wine develops on the palate, the tension builds. It is subtle but there is a lovely mineral persistence, and the flavours develop further on the long finish – the riper fruit tones intertwining with more lime sourness and a lovely, saline bitterness – but it is the textural elegance that is textbook Comtes Blanc de Blancs.
Critic scores
Average Score
James Suckling
William Kelley, Wine Advocate
More reviews and scores
The 2011 Brut Blanc de Blancs Comtes de Champagne has generated a certain amount of controversy in critical circles, with appraisals ranging from the condemnatory to the ecstatic, so I was curious to revisit a bottle with some more time on cork. Since I tasted it last year, the wine has tightened up a little, integrating its dosage and showing more of a structural backbone. Exhibiting aromas of crisp stone fruit, buttery pastry, freshly baked bread and hints of fresh hazelnut, it's medium-bodied, pillowy and racy, with an impressively seamless palate and delicate but penetrating finish. It isn't a powerhouse, but I continue to think that it's a genuine success in a challenging year.
A firm, fresh Comtes with a tight and composed palate. It’s full-bodied with a racy mid-palate. Long and persistent. Very structured with phenolics and acidity. Minerally. Floral, too. Refreshing and energetic. September 2021 release. Drink or hold.
About the producer
Champagne Taittinger is one of the region’s leading Grande Marque Champagne houses and also one of the largest, when it comes to vineyard ownership. It is also the producer behind one of the region’s best loved vintage Blanc de Blancs: Comtes de Champagne.