(L to R) Bollinger VVF Blanc de Noirs 98; Dom Perignon Rose 92; Duval-Leroy Blanc de Chardonnay 98  

Duval-Leroy Blanc de Chardonnay 1998

Green gold. Fine bubbles with persistent effervescence.

Immediately appealing with the nose evolving from sweet white fruit, toasted brioche towards butter, orange peel and walnut.

The palate is lush and full, starting racy and tight with mineral and spicy finish and then evolving towards mild juicy sweetness. But this bubbly does not last long enough – she lost herself after some 20 minutes in the glass.

Overall, she makes a decent aperitif with the only true regret being the cheap looking arrow-through-the-heart label.

Dom Perignon Rose 1992

(Base wine make-up: 42% Chardonnay, 58% Pinot Noir including blend of 8% still red wine)

Superstar of the evening!

 Copper turning orange – gorgeous sign of serious and mature rose! Watching the tiny bubbles dancing on such beautiful stage is really a feast to the eyes.

The nose is so generous that you can’t help smiling – wild raspberry mingled with dried rose petals, orange peel, caramel, leather and mineral smokiness. I felt quite addicted to the complex aromas and indeed hesitant to move onto tasting!

The palate turned out to be equally rewarding, if not better – seriously dry style rose of depth and complexity: at the age of 16, I felt she is now at her glorious peak – ‘elegance’ is simply not the correct descriptor – she is WILD! Quite similar to well aged Burgundy red, she is versatile but best food matching would be roasted game birds.

Bollinger VVF 1998

 Bollinger Vieilles Vignes Francaises Blanc de Noirs 1998 (Bottle No.001225 of total produced 2,695 bottles)

The biggest surprise - she is so sharply different from our original expectations!

Surely it took great courage for me to open a bottle of VVF - to me, this is nothing less than Miles opening his 1961 Chateau Cheval Blanc (not to mention the fact that 'Sideways' is just a movie, one of my favorites though)

Medium straw. Very tiny bubbles and fine mousse.

She is very restrained and keeping an elegant distance away from us despite our patience of almost 2 hours' trying and waiting.

At the moment, the discreet but complex nose is much more rewarding than the young palate. Together we tried about 5 different types of champagne glasses plus Riedel Sommelier Chablis glass, and the aromas detected include green apple, asparagus, oak, raisin, butter, walnut and then noble rot sweetness. Overall, the nose evolves from Burgundy white subtle complexity towards D'Yquem-like richness.

The palate is surprisingly light-hearted - so elegantly pure and light that you won't believe she is a Blanc de Noirs at all. She evovles from young tight acidity towards sour-sweet juiciness, but always packed in a creamy, silky texture. The contained strength hints the power of pre-phylloxera old vines but the obvious youth suggests decanting won't help much, while extended cellaring is the only way to let her potential shine.    

Hi, Jessica! Thank you so much for such special cake!

Your drawing talent is truly admirable!

This is the first-ever all-Champagne dinner that I've organised. Hope for more to come to share with my buddies.