A prestige cuvée: Taittinger Comtes de Champagne 2012

As 'Gamechangers in Wine', VINVIN Wines imports more than 350 premium and exclusive wines. Authentic, honest and sustainably produced by family-owned wineries where quality comes first. This also applies to Champagne Taittinger. Recently, the Taittinger Comtes 2012 received a score of 99/100 from James Suckling, a renowned wine journalist.

Champagne Taittinger is one of the Grandes Marques of the champagne region. The Taittinger family has managed the champagne house for almost a century. Pierre Emmanuel Taittinger embodied the commitment for forty years, now the leadership is continued by his son Clovis and daughter Vitalie, both of whom work in the company with passion and dedication every day. However, the goal has been the same all along: the pursuit of excellence: “Having our family name on a bottle sets high standards and brings with it responsibilities.” 

Rare circumstances

In 1952 Taittinger created the Comtes de Champagne Blanc de Blancs – her most exclusive and premium cuvée. Made exclusively from Chardonnay grapes from the Grand Crus of the Côte des Blancs region, including Avize, Cramant, Chouilly, Mesnil-sur-Oger and Oger. The Côte des Blancs is a ridge of chalk and limestonetoe, that rises about 250 meters above the surrounding land. The strip is 20 kilometers long and covers 3,313 hectares of wine growing. The oasis of water and warmth ensures that the white grapes thrive in this specific soil, which is why they derive their minerality, strength and aromatic refinement from this. To give the specific Comtes de Champagne some extra refinement, only the cuvée is used for making.  

The year 2012 has proven to be an excellent champagne year. A mild period in February, followed by periods of frost in March and again in May, followed by strong periods of sunshine – without excessive heat – provided a rare level of ripening. It led to a harmonious and balanced Comtes de Champagne. 

Wonderful 

The Taittinger Comtes 2012 turns out to be an absolute winner. The American wine connoisseur and journalist James Suckling gave the champagne 99 out of 100 points: “This is a fantastic and refined Blanc de Blancs. Layered and complex, with lemon curt, chalk, hazelnut, pastry, apple and almond croissants. Structured with almost imperceptible bubbles and salty notes on the finish. Wonderful. "

The champagne also received an important score from the influential wine journalist Robert Parker. He rated the Taittinger with 95 out of 100 points: “The 2012 Brut Blanc de Blancs Comtes de Champagne presents itself very well and offers challenging aromas of sweet fruit, buttery croissants, peach and hazelnut. Medium to full, soft and enveloping, it is a winey Comtes, rich in structure somewhat reminiscent of the brilliant 2002. As it gains tension and sharpness (as the 2002 did and as I suspect the 2012 will do) with more time on cork, this initial assessment will appear conservative.”

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