Your favorite blanc de blancs

[mengathon]

A well-versed wine friend and I were perhaps making plans for a best-of blanc de blancs tasting, without a budget. Going for up to possibly 7 or 8 bottles. Both vintage and NV are eligible. Our list so far:

Salon
Krug Clos du Mesnil
Dom Ruinart
Jacques Selosse Version Originale
Charles Heisieck Blanc de Millenaires

And then we ran out of ideas? Taittinger Comtes and PJ Fleur are both nice, but I don't believe to be in the same league as the others. What else should make this list?

My best blanc de blancs experience:
Ruinart 96, following a magnum of Dhondt 2002 blanc de blancs, at Balthazar, following a long night of work, with a jumbo platter of fruits de mer. The manager was also smart enough to bring us white wine glasses instead of the flutes. Not sure what we were celebrating other than, well, life!

[whiner]

Krug Clos du Mesnil
Salon
Taittinger Comtes (esp. the '95 -- ABSOLUTELY deserves to be there)
Selosse (the best you can find)
Billecart-Salmon BdB vintage

are my top choices

[zin1953]

Presuming -- given the names you've thrown out already -- that price is not of concern . . . are you seriously looking solely at tête de cuvée Champagnes? Let's presume NOT.

In alphabetical order:
Champagne Charles Heidsieck Brut Blanc de Blancs vintage
Champagne Delamotte Brut Blanc de Blancs vintage
Champagne Diebolt-Vallois "Cuvée Fleur de Passion" Brut Blanc de Blancs
Champagne Guy Larmandier Cramant Grand Cru Brut Blanc de Blancs vintage
Champagne Krug "Clos du Mesnil" Brut Blanc de Blancs vintage
Champagne Lancelot-Royer "Les Oublies de Crayere" Brut Blanc de Blancs vintage
Champagne Larmandier-Bernier "Terre de Vertus" Brut Blanc de Blancs non-dosé vintage
Champagne Pierre Péters Cuvée de Réserve Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs non-vintage
Champagne Ruinart "Cuvée Dom Ruinart" Blanc de Blancs vintage
Champagne Taittinger "Comtes De Champagne" Brut Blanc de Blancs vintage
Champagne Ulysse Collin Blanc de Blancs vintage

. . . among others.

[jock]

excellent list

[mengathon]

Thank you Jason. Exactly what i was looking for! Lots more producers that I had not known about to try.

I'm not only looking for tête de cuvées. I think The Billecart-Salmon vintage BdB belongs as well.

[Hughlipton]

Don Perignon Rose. Went with a wealthy friend out of my league who instructed me t buy in his neame at our purveyor two bottles of the Dom. we drank the first and it was mopre than enough. My friend then said open the second bottle and I opposed but he insisted. We poured it over our vanilla ice cream. Talk about decadence. And a good economy.

[zin1953]

And how does a DP Rosé qualify as a Blanc de Blancs?

[Hughlipton]

It doesn't. Lost sight of the OP. Especially when I commented on the Schramsberg Blanc De Noir which just simply put me in a different mind set. whoops and sorry.

[vickib]

Agrapart les 7 cru
Agrapart Minerale (if you can find it)
Pierre Peters NV
Jean Milan
Robert Moncuit

I like the smaller houses.

[carswell]

Am not a high roller and don't hang with any, so my experiences with luxury cuvées are few and far between. That said, my two encounters with Sélosse wines simply stunned me.

Anyway, ditto on the Agrapart Minéral, even in the current vintage (2003); I'd love to taste some of their other cuvées like the L'Avizoise. I'm also a fan of Jacques Lassaigne's pure and elegant blancs de blancs and Pierre Gimonnet's "Special Club" and "Collection" bottlings.

[mengathon]

Thank you. I had forgotten about Lassaigne. Never had an Agrapart, but will seek it out.

[Midlife]

Sheesh! Awash in Francophiles!! ..............Or would that be 'mon Dieu' !!!

How 'bout Schramsberg!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[waitress]

I'll give it up for some Schramsberg, woot woot!!!

[Brad Ballinger]

If I want almost all fruit with little to no minerality, then Schramsburg is fine. But for more dimension and complexity, it's very hard to beat AC Champagne wines.

[jock]

and schramsburg doesn't even come close to most of the second tier french and none of the top tier.

[Hughlipton]

Love to do a blind tasting with you some day. You might be very surprised.

[Hughlipton]

Now here is someone who knows what they are talking about. First drank Schramsberg in 1969 and still one of my top choices today. Their Blanc De Noir is also magnificent.

[craig_g]

Dhondt is indeed great, and the list you have there is pretty strong. I would certainly put Comtes in my top tier, and agree that PJ is nice but not up to that level. This year I've had incredible '66 and '82 Billecart BdB, and considering how good theCuvee Elizabeth and Clos St Hilaire '96 are, would expect the BdB '96 to be outstanding too if you can't find those.

I haven't had the BdB, but the Pol Roger '99 brut is excellent, so I'd be hopeful about that too, and some very good things seem to be happening at Henriot, so that might be worth throwing in if you have a flight of more modestly priced wines.

[Brad Ballinger]

NV Franck Bonville
2002 Louis Roederer
2002 Diebolt-Vallois
NV Larmandier-Bernier

[mengathon]

I am definitely considering tHe Larmandier-Berniers. My favorite is probably the Vertus. Not sure if they have a vintage Extra Brut version?

[Brad Ballinger]

I've not seen a vintage Extra Brut bottling; only NV.

[jock]

cedric bouchard!

also, in my experience tait's comtes in a great vintage belongs in your tasting.

i have also had some extraordinary ones from some of terry thiese's portfolio but cannot recall specifics. you can find his annual report on the skurnik website and terry's descriptions tend to be pretty reliable.

[mengathon]

have only read good things of cedric, but am unable to find too many of his wines to try. thank you. will actively look for them.

i, too have had great champagnes out of the theise portfolio, egly-ouriet, aubry, chiquet, chartogne taillet, but truthfully have never found any of the blanc de blancs to be as good as something like the Taittinger Comtes.

[drumwine]

Roederer 1990 Cristal
Dom Perignon 1996

[invinotheresverde]

1990 Cristal is 62% Pinot Noir.

[zin1953]

Not to mention the Dom Pérignon in not a BdB, either . . .

[invinotheresverde]

I didn't think so, but I wasn't sure on the actual blend in the '96.