Taittinger is about tradition, elegance and finesse. It's classic and unique at the same time - not many champagnes are so.
As one of Champagne’s oldest houses– and still family owned - Taittinger brings tradition amd glass after glass of champagne’s hopeful, exuberant youth and fine froth.
Both the Taittinger Brut Réserve NV and Rosé NV are fantastic entry point ambassadors to the more opulent and rich Prélude Grand Cru NV and Compte de Champagne Blance de Blancs vintage wines.
The common thread in all these wines is Chardonnay – and the Taittinger house style guarantees the wines aren’t released until they are “ready” so to speak
This really means that Taittinger is not swayed by consumer demand or P&L marketing pressures and only releases wines when they are ready for the world to drink them. This qualitative difference ensures the wines are cellared 4 years minimum before release. Slowing the release of the wines allows the Chardonnay-based champagnes to mature a bit – maturing to ensure the bubbles (mousse) are tiny and refined. The extra time also gives the wine ample time to reap the benefits of “integrating” flavours that come from contact with the lees, like the toasty brioche flavours and aromas.
Producers who place stock in extended contact with the lees indicate the date of disgorgement with an RD (recently disgorged ) on the bottle label to convey this information to the end consumer. This RD mark indicate the time the champagne ends contact with the lees and begins bottle aging.
Since Taittinger wines are cellared longer before release as a house policy, Pierre Emmanuel Taittinger refuses to follow the RD marketing trend. “If you keep a bottle for some years after release it's no more recently disgorged” he says, referring to the the fact that Taittinger doesn't immediatly release bottles after disgorgement. “Selling wine as recently disgorged isn’t something we want to do” he says. “We will never put RD on the bottle because it's in fashion” says Pierre Emmanuel. “Publishing the date of disgorgement is not an indication of wine quality in any case.”
Still, believing in the longer ageing, Taittinger vintage champagnes stay in cellar about 6 years. This is longer than most of the large house hold on to the wines.
“Our style leans more to chardonnay” says Pierre Emmanuel. “We use more chardonnay and less oak influence on the still wines.” One difference is that Taittinger ferments in oak vats, a process that adds texture and weight to the base wine that will later be re-fermented to make champagne.
There were two stand out wines from the press tasting TLN attended: The Prélude Grand Cru NV and the Nocturne.
The Prélude drank like satin – the fine bead (bubbles) and soft, focused honey/brioche notes in the mouth were seriously enchanting. Graceful is the word that comes to mind. It hit the high notes from start to finish, for sure.
Prelude is made with only grand cru grapes- 50% each Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. Because the Taittinger ages so long the wine has super tiny bubbles – the sign of champagne finesse and elegance. In the mouth these champagnes give a very silky mouse - tiny tiny bubbles with creamy lemon curd and yogurt aromas, faint toastiness over a ripe peaches and lemon palate.
The Nocture was a different kind of stand out- mainly that it was off dry but the residual sweetness was perfectly balanced with acidity and it had impressive length. Put it with dessert and you'll be thrilled!
How about Taittinger with Food?
Most champagne producers encourage consumption of their celebrated beverage beyond it’s usual aperitif role. As a “main course” wine there’s merit to this suggestion if the menu is something other than a big hunk of meat.
Champagne’s convivial neutrality compliments most lighter dishes, particularly more acidic or salty seafood fare. As a “universal wine” for an entire meal champagne has to be one of the few wines that can fit in well with the wide variety of dishes served during the course of a Chinese meal. This flexible pairing option is easiest with a classic champagne style – one with a little toasty brioche character blended with the fresh acidity we all expect.
Taittinger is exactly this style. With overall low residual sugar, lots of acid freshness thanks to the higher proportion of chardonnay in the blend, plus wonderfully attractive aromatics from the first whiff -Taittinger offers a classic champagne tasting experience.
To sum up the Taittinger house style in three words it would be: delicate, finesse, and elegant.
Even though this article is being read on the internet, TLN has to admire how “old fashioned” Pierre Emmanuel is towards spreading the word about his wine. Rather than being gung-ho to market Taittinger via Facebook or Twitter he remains a bit of a Luddite.
“We’re pushed by the Americans to do Facebook and Twitter” he says. He goes along with it but in Pierre Emmanuel’s view you can’t drink a glass of champagne with a computer - and you can’t experience champagne on Facebook.
“I don't encourage people to know everything but I think people shoulds know a small thing and know it well.” Pierre Emmanuel believes that the experience of knowing Taittinger wines is the reality of knowing quality and tradition.
I would have to agree. Get offline and go experience Taittinger. It's worth it.
Taittinger is distributed by Culina - visit the Dempsey outlet to buy in retail.
Contributed by Sarah Mayo, TLN Editor
