2008 Taittinger Comtes de Champagne Blanc de Blancs [JS99][WA98][V98+][WE97][D94]

Producer: Champagne Taittinger 
Region: Champagne, France 
Varietal: Chardonnay  
Year: 2008 

James Suckling, 99 Points 

"A slightly more luxurious nature to the 2008 than the great 2007. Full-bodied with a lovely framework of acidity and dry fruit, such as apples, pears and peaches. Opulent. Dense and muscular. Yet, it’s balanced and harmonious. Line of acidity at the end. One for the cellar. Release in 2020." 

Wine Advocate, 98 Points 

"Taittinger's 2008 Brut Blanc de Blancs Comtes de Champagne is being released this year, and it will be worth a special effort to track down. I wrote in August 2019 that this is the finest Comtes de Champagne since the brilliant 2002, and this tasting confirmed that. Offering up a deep and complex bouquet of citrus oil, crisp orchard fruit, warm brioche, crushed chalk, blanched almonds and smoke, it's full-bodied and incisive, with excellent concentration, racy acids and a long, searingly chalky finish. While this is already immensely impressive out of the gates, this 2008 is clearly built for the long haul, and three decades' longevity won't be a challenge." 

Vinous, 98+ Points 

"Taittinger’s 2008 Blanc de Blancs Comtes de Champagne is simply breathtaking. I have tasted it many times over the years in various trial disgorgements and it has never been anything less than compelling. The final, finished wine captures all of that potential. Bright, focused and wonderfully deep, Comtes is a fabulous example of a vintage that expresses so much energy but with real fruit intensity, the signatures that distinguish it from other vintages (1996 comes to mind) that were similarly taut, but more austere in the early going. Although the 2008 impresses right out of the gate, it only really starts to open up with several hours of air. The 2008 Comtes represents the purest essence of the Côtes des Blancs in a great, historic vintage. Readers who can find the 2008 should not hesitate, as it is a truly brilliant epic Champagne that no one who loves the very best in Champagne will want to be without." 

Wine Enthusiast, 97 Points 

"Coming entirely from Grand Cru vineyards in the Côte des Blancs, the new release of this famous Champagne is from a top vintage year. The wine is at perfect maturity, poised between crisp, taut minerality and wonderful toastiness. It is intense, beautifully clear and limpid, a great Champagne. It is ready to drink now and for many years to come. *Cellar Selection*" 

Decanter, 94 Points 

"Lemon to gold ingot, bright and welcoming, an impression enhanced by a fabulous nose of sherbet, brioche, lemon posset and Mirabelle plum. All things nice. The palate is gently luxurious, its sophistication rippling with nuance rather than sheer vulgar power, yellow fruits, the gentlest hints of honey, crushed chalk and then a silky citric grip. In these rather claustrophobic times, the wine carries us along the Corniche in an open-top car, vintage naturally enough, the azure backdrop at its purest on this, the finest of Spring mornings." 

Alcohol: 12.5% 

*Discounts do not apply to items like this one in the Fine & Rare category. Price and availability in store may vary.