Thanks to Alan for sharing these rarities!

Tasted on June 29, 2012

Billecart-Salmon

'Le Clos Saint Hillaire' Brut Blanc de Noirs 1996 Champagne (750ml) 

100% Pinot Noir, single vineyard 'Le Clos Saint Hillaire' in Mareuil-sur-Ay (99% 1er Cru)

First fermentation entirely in oak barriques

Dosage: 3g/l

Bottle No.32 out of total 5,600 bottles produced for vintage 1996

First poured at 20 minutes after uncorking.

The aromas are lush yet exquisitely detailed: apricot, fig, brown butter and crystalline chalk. Silky, sensual entry, fleshy mid palate and creamy, drawn-out finish. A bowl of deliciously ripe yellow fruits, dusted with praline and drowned in a dollop of icecream...

With more aeration, the bouquet picks up evolved charm of honey and praline.

Persuasively substantial yet aristocratically refined and harmonious. Give it 5 more years of bottle age for even more glorious complexity. 

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Bollinger

'Vieilles Vignes Francaises' Brut Blanc de Noirs 1992 Champagne (750ml)

100% Pinot Noir from three tiny parcels of ungrafted vines in Grands Crus Ay & Bouzy

First fermentation entirely in oak barriques

Served upon uncorking.

On the nose, densely packed bouquet of praline, brown butter, milk coffee and honey. 

In the mouth, a monster of weight and flavor concentration, saturated with substances of praline, exotic spice, milk coffee & honey and wrapped up by silky texture. Lingering aftertaste.

After some 10 minutes in the glass, the palate exudes juicy ripeness of peach, seasoned by penetrating flavor of saline minerality. Gradually, a plummy tone grows to pervade...

A truly memorable experience!

It's actually misleading to judge a mature vintage of 'Vieilles Vignes Francaises' in the context of Champagne...Effervescence is incidental...This is simply a great wine.