Veuve Clicquot La Grande Dame 1998

Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin, Champagne, La Grande Dame, Brut 1998 The nose features an evolving medley of dried fruits and nuttiness. In the mouth it is quite acidic, tasting of oranges and brown spices. The unfortunate thing about this particular bottle is the cork taint blurring the full enjoyment of what I would expect is a very delicious and complex wine.

Previous bottles of La Grande Dame have been most delightful but this one is quite disappointing and reminiscent of last semester’s purchase of Perrier Jouet’s Fleur from the ’99 vintage.Testing at the lab showed 1.4 parts per trillion TCA. We are often told that wines produced at the high end receive the utmost in quality control but the proof of that is not always apparent.

Elabore a Reims 12.5% $103 at Bottle Barn Veuve Clicquot