Pommery Cuvee Louise 1999
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Winemaker Notes
On the palate, the overall sensation is clear and without artifice. This champagne encompasses the freshness and finesse of silk enhanced by the reassuring warmth of velvet.
Professional Ratings
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Wine & Spirits
Austere up front, this wine's tight floral scents open to a splash of color in the finish, as vivid as a 1960s Marimekko print. The lasting impression is bold and creamy. Decant it for seared scallops and truffled mashed potatoes.
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Wine Spectator
This folds smoky nut and mineral notes with flavors of white peach, orange peel, verbena and spice. Shows good energy and focus, with zesty acidity driving through to the finish, which echoes a pretty floral note. Drink now through 2018.
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Wine Enthusiast
Louise is always a light wine, almost feathery, and this 1999, now mature, maintains this style. It is delicate, its acidity just touched with toast and hints of citrus zest underneath. It doesn’t have a long future, so enjoy now.
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Representing the topmost expression of a Champagne house, a vintage Champagne is one made from the produce of a single, superior harvest year. Vintage Champagnes account for a mere 5% of total Champagne production and are produced about three times in a decade. Champagne is typically made as a blend of multiple years in order to preserve the house style; these will have non-vintage, or simply, NV on the label. The term, "vintage," as it applies to all wine, simply means a single harvest year.
Associated with luxury, celebration, and romance, the region, Champagne, is home to the world’s most prized sparkling wine. In order to bear the label, ‘Champagne’, a sparkling wine must originate from this northeastern region of France—called Champagne—and adhere to strict quality standards. Made up of the three towns Reims, Épernay, and Aÿ, it was here that the traditional method of sparkling wine production was both invented and perfected, birthing a winemaking technique as well as a flavor profile that is now emulated worldwide.
Well-drained, limestone and chalky soil defines much of the region, which lend a mineral component to its wines. Champagne’s cold, continental climate promotes ample acidity in its grapes but weather differences from year to year can create significant variation between vintages. While vintage Champagnes are produced in exceptional years, non-vintage cuvées are produced annually from a blend of several years in order to produce Champagnes that maintain a consistent house style.
With nearly negligible exceptions, . These can be blended together or bottled as individual varietal Champagnes, depending on the final style of wine desired. Chardonnay, the only white variety, contributes freshness, elegance, lively acidity and notes of citrus, orchard fruit and white flowers. Pinot Noir and its relative Pinot Meunier, provide the backbone to many blends, adding structure, body and supple red fruit flavors. Wines with a large proportion of Pinot Meunier will be ready to drink earlier, while Pinot Noir contributes to longevity. Whether it is white or rosé, most Champagne is made from a blend of red and white grapes—and uniquely, rosé is often produce by blending together red and white wine. A Champagne made exclusively from Chardonnay will be labeled as ‘blanc de blancs,’ while ones comprised of only red grapes are called ‘blanc de noirs.’