I have been a big fan of Taittinger’s “Prélude” Grand Cru bottling since its inception, and have quite a few bottles happily aging in my cellar. As this is a cuvée that is built for a long and graceful life in the cellar...
I have been a big fan of Taittinger’s “Prélude” Grand Cru bottling since its inception, and have quite a few bottles happily aging in my cellar. As this is a cuvée that is built for a long and graceful life in the cellar, I do wish the team at Taittinger would start marking at least the date of disgorgement on the back label, as I try to give my bottles at least five years of bottle age before I start drinking them, and if I do not remember to mark when I bought them before they go down in the cellar, they become a bit of a mystery as to their relative age. In any case, the bottling is a fifty-fifty blend of chardonnay and pinot noir, all sourced from grand cru villages on the Montagne de Reims and the Côte des Blancs. The wine is aged sur latte at least five years prior to disgorgement, so I suspect the current release is from the base year of 2014. It is an exceptional young wine, offering up a precise and complex nose of apple, white peach, clementine, fresh-baked bread, a beautiful base of chalky minerality, gentle smokiness and a delicately floral topnote. On the palate the wine is full-bodied, focused and nicely structured, with an excellent girdle of acidity, a rock solid core, excellent mineral drive, refined mousse and a long, nascently complex and beautifully balanced finish. This is approachable now, but five years down the road is when the fireworks are really going to start!