Champagne 2008: A ‘miracle year’?

<p>Dom Pérignon is named after 17th-century Benedictine monk Dom Pierre Pérignon (1638-1715), who is said to have invented sparkling wine while cellarmaster at the Abbey of Hautvillers. In truth, his task was to find a way to prevent a second fermentation in the bottle as the bottles were exploding. Dom Pérignon is a vintage Champagne made using an approximate blend of 50/50 Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. It is one of the highest-rated and most desirable Champagnes on the market. Michelle Cherutti-Kowal MW: Brioche, almonds and red apples on the nose and palate. Great balance with dosage and acidity. Excellent combination of fruit and bottle age. Stefan Neumann MS: Top-notch salty, mineral, iodine-like aromas. Showing a wonderful sourdough-like character with delicate roasted nuts. Depth and drive, elegance and power. Matt Walls: Deep, intense, full-bodied style of Champagne, voluminous, generous, very powerful and thunderous. Very long – this is a great wine. So harmonious. Nominated by Jane Anson.</p>

A sublime Champagne from Cristal from the famous and much praised 2008 vintage, which Jean-Baptiste Lécaillon calls a ‘dry and cool year that was a replay of 1996’. ‘The 2008s are so good because all the cellar masters learnt from 1996 - we adapted,’ he said during the masterclass in New York. Sharp, tangy, seriously mouthwatering, direct and compelling with tension at the very beginning that slowly expands and widens as the flavours relax in the mouth. Brioche, toasty notes on the nose with just-ripe green and yellow fruit aromas. Great energy and confidence on show, with hints of white chocolate that offset the low pH and high acidity. Pure and expressive, this is a wine that really gives the emotion with flavour that just lasts and lasts in the mouth full of red berries and chalkiness. Simply divine.

Amour was created by Deutz’s long-standing managing director, Fabrice Rosset. It's a prestige blanc de blancs which is only made in the best years, so there was little surprise when Deutz produced an Amour from the highly acclaimed 2008 vintage. This really has it all: freshness, extract, power, balance and concentration. Already, the primary nose shows chamomile and iris, while the palate is crammed with white fruits, nougat, chamomile, candied fruit and minerals. Deutz’s signature spine-tingling acidity balances out the weight and creamy texture of this generous, well structured fizz. It's fabulous as an aperitif now but it will also develop well into old age as a gastronomic wine with delicate seafood dishes. 40,000 bottles produced.

In 2008, the remarkable maturity of the grapes combined with an amazing acidity has produced a vintage of great balance, concentration and depth. The wine was aged for nine years on its lees, then for another year following disgorgement. Bright straw in colour with pinprick bubbles, it blooms on the nose with a fresh lemon leaf aroma, a sniff of strawberry and white chocolate and a candied peanut toastiness in depth. On the palate it’s silky, broad and lingering, showing a kind of bittersweet fruit profile with grapefruit and peach kernel notes, and an amazing chalky, mineral finish. It will keep well. Wait to drink it if in magnum or bigger.

There is an inherent subjectivity in the pricing of wine that rarely sees a prestige cuvée of the utmost finesse and enduring stamina hit the ground at a jaw-droppingly affordable price. This is the epitome of the precision of Gimonnet: beach-fresh, youthful, introverted and tightly coiled. Pure, adroit 2008 acid propels an incredible finish that splashes long and strong with frothy, salty chalk minerality. A cuvée of effortless poise, unmitigated drive and breathtaking fidelity.

This 2008 is currently showing itself as a huge version of La Grande Dame, rushing forwards with verve and power. It's a generous wine and has great presence in the mouth, tasting like crushed seashells and pearls of confit citrus. Its tension and high acidity have brought it to a splendid place right now, but will also see it long into the future.

The 2008 season has delivered Bérêche’s finest work yet in this evocative and complex cuvée. It expresses the fruit cake and spice of barrel fermentation while projecting a wonderful fruit core of white peach, apple and lemon, even the ripeness of pineapple. All these are pulled into line by piercing 2008 malic acidity, awash with fine chalk mineral texture that froths long into the finish.

2008 is described as a ‘miracle’ year by Vincent Chaperon: everything looked set to go wrong and yet it all ended up flirting with perfection. It’s that tension thing again. He maintains that 2008 actually has more flesh than 1996 but doesn't completely dismiss the comparison. The 2008 is more athletic, he thinks, without revealing in which discipline. A suspicion of reduction blows off quickly to reveal notes of flowers, citric fruit and a fine filigree of self-belief. It's long, chalky and linear. A magnificently confident introvert, if such a thing is possible. The Legacy Edition was released to celebrate Geoffroy's time at Dom Pérignon, to be followed by a regular bottling this year which will have had a few extra months on lees.

Pol Roger remains Spurrier’s favourite champagne ‘by far’, he said, and you can see why in this sublime, benchmark Blanc de Blancs. 2008 was an outstanding vintage in Champagne, and this draws it fruit from grand cru vineyards. Pol Roger prefer a more reductive style of winemaking than some houses, and this has produced a dry, fine and deliciously complex fizz, packed with elegant yellow and white fruits, nougat and brioche. It's still young, with great acidity, poise and length, but it has just started to drink well and will age superbly.

Erick De Sousa described 2008 as a perfect season, prompting him to bottle more than double the usual volume of this cuvée. It resonates with the stature of his old vines in Avize and Oger, juxtaposing the tension and focus of pure 2008 acidity with ripe fruit power, oak fermentation complexity and an all-consuming shower of epic, cascading, salty chalk minerality as embracing as a dousing in an icy waterfall.

Well integrated toasty, buttery, yeasty expressions are complemented by an overall youthful floral palate, lively citric acidity and a cool expression of fruit with great potential.