Taittinger, Comtes de Champagne Blanc de Blancs 2012

This is a fantastic and refined Blanc de Blancs. So layered and complex, with lemon curd, chalk, hazelnuts, pastries, baked apples and almond croissants. Structured and tightly wound, with almost imperceptible bubbles. Delicious salty notes at the end. Beautiful. Drink or hold.

The 2012 Comtes de Champagne is gorgeous. Warm and resonant in the glass, the 2012 Comtes shows all the allure that makes this vintage so appealing. 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. Usually I recommend cellaring just-released Comtes, but that won’t be necessary here.

From a high-maturity vintage shaped by a mid-September harvest and reduced yields owing to significant frost and mildew pressure, the 2012 Blanc de Blancs Comtes de Champagne—disgorged in 2022 with a dosage of nine grams per liter—is showing nicely, offering aromas of mocha, pear, peach and dried flowers mingled with notes of browned, buttered toast. Full-bodied, deep and muscular, with a sweet, enveloping core of fruit, it is an ample and textural Comtes, though without the tension of the 2013 or 2014 editions, and it will age on its concentration rather than its acidity.