Taittinger 2012 Comtes de Champagne Blanc de Blancs 2012

• Our favourite Blanc de Blancs
• Of the great trilogy of 2008, 2012 and 2013, drinking best today

Comtes is the creamiest, most attractive of all Blanc de Blancs. The flavours are so inviting and seductive: exotic fruit, lemon, vanilla brioche and a reductive nut and toast finish. It's user-friendly enough even if you haven't spent a lifetime studying champagne. But even for the discerning connoisseur who only allows the best to pass through, it offers moments of happiness with its harmony and mineral finesse. The Comtes de Champagne 2012 needs a little air, as it is very firm and mineral at first. It then develops wonderful flavours of apple, lemon, crème brulee, almonds, brioche and a very creamy palate. It has the classic pleasure-orientated set-up of Comtes de Champagne, while 2008 is more mineral and develops more slowly. The Comtes de Champagne Blanc de Blancs 2012 can already be drunk with pleasure. It is even better to leave it for five years.

Taittinger is known for a soft, seductive champagne style and even the house's vintage champagnes tend to mature early. The Comtes de Champagne is a solitaire in the house's portfolio. The house had already been offering a vintage Blanc de Blancs for some time when it decided to launch the prestige cuvée Comtes de Champagne with the 1952 vintage. Thibault IV, Comte de Champagne and King of Navarre from the House of Blois is the inspiration. His seal adorns the Comtes de Champagne bottle. Even though there were already very small quantities of Salon on the market, Comtes de Champagne was the first prestige Blanc de Blancs before Dom Ruinart (first vintage 1959).

Only the most prestigious Grands Crus of the Cote de Blancs provide grapes for Comtes de Champagne: Avize, Le Mesnil, Chouilly, Cramat and Oger. Taittinger owns the vineyards itself, as the house owns 288 hectares of vines. The vinification is mainstream. Since 1988, they have been experimenting with wooden barrels, one third of which are new. However, the proportion of new barrels in Comtes de Champagne is low.

Antonio Galloni vinous.com 96 The 2012 Comtes de Champagne is gorgeous. Warm and resonant in the glass, the 2012 shows all the allure that makes this vintage so alluring so alluring. The combination of bright citrus, mineral and floral notes typical of Comtes, enhanced by the soft contours of the vintage, makes for an inviting open-knit champagne, that is quite showy right out of the gate. Light tropical accents on the finish add an exotic flair. Unusually I recommend cellaring just released Comtes, but that won't be necessary here.

Richard Juhlin champagneclub.com 96(94) A big lift in quality from the slightly lean 2011. Simply a classic and deliciously original Comtes. Lots of beauty right from the start, but store for five years yourself in your own cellar and you will be greeted by an even greater wealth of mint chocolate, coconut, honey, butterscotch and lime essence.

750 mL

750.0

Champagne

Chardonnay

Sulphites

• Brut

France

Taittinger, 9, Place Saint-Nicaise, 51000 Reims, Frankreich