Blind Champagne Tasting

A successful inaugural event for Bacchus Vintage. However, we came to the conclusion that 14 wines is too many when people are drinking rather than spitting. Tasting notes for the final few wines were rather brief and incoherent. The atmosphere in the tasting changed from:

to this:

as the evening wore on!

The format for tonight's event was blind tasting. It was organised totally blind in that not even I knew which order we were tasting the wines in. Once the wines were wrapped in foil, several people mixed the order up.


As well as 11 champagnes, there were 3 ringers: a moscato d'asti, a saumur and an English sparkling wine. The asti clearly had no chance of masquerading as a Champagne - the colour, the flavour profile and the sweetness were completely different. However, the Saumur and the English Sparkling were much more successful ringers. Several people could not identify the Saumur and not a single person correctly identified which wine was the English.

In a win for those who believe in efficient markets, the most expensive wine of the night (around £65) was also the runaway favourite. So, clearly, there is a bit of 'you get what you pay for'. However, the second favourite of the night was only £25, and significantly cheaper than other wines which it was much better than.

The least favourite Champagne of the night was definitely the Jacquesson Cuvee 732, which lost only to the Asti. Definitely a case of not getting what you've paid for! I was surprised by this since all the champagnes I've had from Jacquesson have always been excellent. However, this is a low-dosage Champagne. I've had a low-dosage Champagne in a previous blind tasting and it also performed very poorly. I'm rapidly coming to the conclusion that these low-dosage wines are the Diet Coke of the Champagne world!


Wines Tasted
1. Veuve Clicquot Yellow Label NV
Available just about everywhere.

2. Taittinger Brut Reserve, NV
Oddbins sell for £45 (ripoff). Cheapest found on internet is £25.

3. Waitrose Blanc de Blanc
£21 from Waitrose.

4. Ridgeview Merret Bloomsbury 2006
Ringer #1 - the English Sparkling wine. £19 from Waitrose.

5. Charles Heidsieck Brut Reserve "mis en caves" 2004
2nd favourite of the evening
around £25 - £30. Ocado has it for £30. I bought from Waitrose at around £25.

6. Moscato d'Asti. Producer not recorded.
Tamsin/Alasdair should have details...
Ringer #2

7. Champagne Bredon Brut NV
£18 from Waitrose.

8. Waitrose Blanc de Noir
£17 from Waitrose.

9. Veuve Clicquot Rare 1988 Vintage Brut
Clear winner on the night.
£67 from Majestic or BBR.

10. Deutz NV
£35 from Nicolas.

11 Chapin & Landais Le Grand Saumur 2005
Ringer #3
£9.75 Stone, Vine and Sun

12. Jacquesson Cuvee 732
Low dosage. Showed badly. The least favourite champers for most people. For almost all people this even lost to the Saumur. Cost is £32 from BBR.

13. Alfred Gratien Brut NV
£25 from BBR.
Good, solid showing.

14. Champagne Bonnet 1999
Source and cost unknown.