Wine & Spirits - December 2020 - 51

spontaneously in stainless steel, and lets the
wine go through malolactic conversion. Over
three years on the lees, it develops a fragrant
raspberry scent and toasty richness, with
light, buttery notes of brioche. The flavors
become beautifully integrated as they open
with air. It's a dinner wine for roast pork with
caramelized apples.
279489

92 | Francis Orban

$60

Champagne Extra Brut Rosé ^ This is all
pinot meunier, including the 50 percent of
reserve wines in the blend, and the red wine
that lends the pink-gold color. The wine bristles with acidity, filling the creamy texture
without a hint of sweetness. It's sleek and
savory, a Champagne of delicacy and finesse.
279488

91 | Francis Orban

$80

2015 Champagne Année Extra Brut ^
Orban's estate focuses on pinot meunier
but his limited production of vintage wine
highlights his chardonnay parcels (accounting for 80 percent of this 2015). The wine's
tart cider-apple acidity heightens its leesy
mineral buzz while the wine retains enough
substance to take that buzz in a rich, herbal
direction. Like Orban's Brut, this integrates
with air, suggesting it will benefit from a year
or more of rest in your cellar.

B R U N O PA I L L A R D
Négociant-Manipulant in Reims; founded
in 1981; owns 84 acres: 42% pinot noir,
34% chardonnay, 24% pinot meunier; average vine age: 35 to 40 years; oldest vines:
65 years. Cellarmaster: Laurent Guyot;
Vigneron: Mathieu Pingret; 29,167 cases produced. § Imported by Verity Wine Partners, NY
279336

94 | Bruno Paillard

$65

Champagne Première Cuvée Rosé ^ Focused
on pinot noir, this wine gains its fragrant rose
scents and delicate strawberry essence from a
portion of that pinot macerated with its grape
skins. Accelerated, perhaps, by 25 vintages of
reserve wines in the blend, this pale-pink rosé
paints the mouth red with deep tones of fruit,
then lasts on that more delicate red-berry and
anise flavor, precise and grand.
279335

92 | Bruno Paillard

$70

Champagne Dosage Zéro ^ Like Première
Cuvée, this is a blend from more than 30 crus,
here focused on meunier from the northern
Montagne de Reims and the right bank of
the Marne river, rounded out by chardonnay
and pinot noir. Half of the blend is reserve
wines, held in stainless steel, including some
that were barrel fermented. The wine is com-

pletely dry, its fleshy apple flavor firmed up
by mineral notes of clay and chalk. It's a tense
wine that still feels supple.
279334

90 | Bruno Paillard

$60

Champagne Premiere Cuvée ^ Rich maturity infuses this wine's floral scents of yellow roses with deeper aged character that
touches on lees and minerals. Bruno Paillard and his daughter, Alice, blend it from
35 crus, using the first press of pinot noir (45
percent), chardonnay (33 percent) and pinot
meunier. They ferment one-fifth of the lot in
oak barrels and include up to 50 percent of
reserve wines in the final blend, with vintages
going back to 1985. The wine sets the style for
the rest of the house, focused, clean and rich.

PIERRE PETERS
Récoltant-Manipulant in Le Mesnil-sur-Oger
(Côte des Blancs); founded in 1919; owns 49
acres of chardonnay. Vigneron: Rodolphe
Péters; 10,000 cases produced. § Imported by
Skurnik Wines & Spirits, NY
279432

95 | Pierre Péters

$63

Champagne Cuvée de Réserve Brut ^ Sunny
and brisk, this wine describes chalk-rich
Champagne from the Côte des Blancs. Based
on the 2017 harvest, the blend includes more
than 40 percent from a perpetual reserve,
with vintages going back to 1988, all chardonnay from the family's parcels in Le
Mesnil-sur-Oger, Cramant, Avize and Oger.
The wine's ornate intensity includes scents of
spring blossoms, oyster mushrooms, celery
leaf and the nuttiness of long-aged Comté.
It's a textural pleasure that will complement
any number of dishes, from brandade de
morue to halibut roasted with fresh fennel.

PHILIPPONNAT
Négociant-Manipulant in Mareuil-sur-Aÿ
(Vallée de la Marne); founded in 1910; Cellarmaster: Thierry Garnier; Vigneron: Charles
Philipponnat; 50,000 cases produced. §
Imported by Banville Wine Merchants, NY
279281

94 | Philipponnat

$386

2010 Champagne Clos des Goisses Extra
Brut ^ The chalk hillside of Mareuil-sur-Aÿ
reaches a slope of 45 percent at this walled
vineyard, an estate holding with just over 14
acres of vines divided into 14 plots. The fruit
of five of those plots went into this wine, a
blend of pinot noir (71 percent) and chardonnay. Half of the wine fermented in oak; none
of it went through malolactic conversion, so
there's still freshness against the power the

Wine&Spirits
Our Score
Definitions
W&S scores are based on
quality and distinctive regional
character, to help you find
delicious wines grown and
made with integrity.

100
Transcendent
A wine that speaks directly from
the earth, communicating the
flavors of its place with unequaled
complexity and intensity; it will
offer pleasure for decades.

96 to 99
Astonishing, Rare
A wine that saturates the senses
with flavors that feel unique
and thrilling; a rare
landmark for its region.

93 to 95
Exciting, Distinctive
A wine that transcends simple
typicity to its region or variety-a
vivid, singular expression of place.

90 to 92
Delicious, Compelling
A compelling wine of its region;
a delicious, finessed
expression of a place.

88 to 89
Delicious, Representative
Well-made, pleasurable and
true to its region or variety.

85 to 87
Balanced, Crowd Pleasing
Identifiable in style and regional
character, and qualitatively solid.

80 to 84
Useful
Simple wine that will either
quench thirst or play a
useful role at the table.

Wine & Spirits - December 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Wine & Spirits - December 2020