Twelve Memorable Champagnes of 2022

I can’t believe that next month will mark my 23rd year of curating Champagne here at K&L. It seems like the year 2000 was only yesterday! Twenty twenty-two was a blessed year for me for great bottles, and I had the opportunity to taste incredible stuff in Champagne, in Scotland, but also at home. I could not be more grateful for the loyalty of our Champagne-loving customers here at K&L that have given me the opportunity to do this dream job. I hope that you enjoy a look at 12 of my memorable bottles from 2022, which are presented in the chronological order of when I drank them.

Laurent-Perrier "Grand Siècle" Iteration #25 Brut Champagne $224.99 99JS 97WA On March 24th, Naomi Smith from Laurent-Perrier invited Cinnamon and me to Quattro at the Four Seasons for an incredible meal, topped off with LP’s incomparable tête de cuvée, the Grand Siècle. This batch, the #25, is composed of 2008, 2007 and 2006 and went like a great Chevalier-Montrachet in its prime with the delicious chicken that we had for our main course. This Champagne had hazelnut depth, fresh bread richness, and lime-like cut, all married to the silkiest texture. The finish went on forever-—I can almost still taste it 10 months later. No one does elegance like LP, and the Grand Siècle is without a doubt the best-kept secret in high-end Champagne. The reserves from 2007 and 2006 make this a delicious drink now, but this wine will keep for decades if you choose to hang on to it. I can’t believe that it is still available!

Krug "Grande Cuvée" 159ème Édition Brut Champagne $309.99 97DC 97JS When Olivier Krug invites you on a trip, you have to go, so I packed up my warmest stuff for a Highlands Quest in Scotland that I wrote about in these pages. We drained so many great bottles, magnums and jeroboams that I almost feel ashamed to have drained the Krug cellar of their patrimony. But then I remember how good it all was! I am like a broken record, but as Olivier Krug says, there is no hierarchy of cuvées at Krug—they are priced according to rarity, not quality. Every time that I am lucky enough to attend one of these events, it is the oldest of the Grande Cuvées that steals my heart, and this cold April evening at Burnbogle Castle it was the 159ème Édition. Even though the youngest wine was from the scorching 2003 vintage, the high acid reserves wines turned this into a kaleidoscope of complexity that never lost its finesse. Panoramic nuttiness, peacock’s tail splendor, chalk forever…

2008 Franck Bonville Brut Millésime Blanc de Blancs Champagne $39.99/ $84.99 1.5L When I returned from the Krug trip, I knew I had to open something good so Cinnamon would let me out of the doghouse. We opened this Bonville on April 9th, with homemade spicy tuna handrolls and gyoza. This bottle came from the cellar of our dear departed colleague Jim Barr, so it held special significance for us. For those of you lucky enough to have some of this in your cellar, keep in mind that it is in the top class of this great vintage, and while open, will age for at least another generation. With a sourdough toast nose framed by Meyer lemon, a fine texture and a character in the mouth that is both powerful and light, it simply had the best of the 2008 magic. The finish showed off the great acidity of the vintage and carried the exquisite Avize Grand Cru chalk off to infinity.

1983 Ariston Aspasie Brut Champagne: Half of this list could have come from the monumental vertical of Aspasie that I tasted in Brouillet on May 24th—such was the quality and character of these fabulous Champagnes—but the 1983 was both the oldest and the best of the day. Paul Vincent and Caroline were wiped out in 2021, and they had no vin clair for me to taste when I arrived, so they settled on a four-decade retrospective instead. What a once in a lifetime opportunity! This golden nectar was loaded with chanterelle-in-butter savor and tarte Tatin depth on the bouquet but had a brioche character married to extraordinary freshness in the mouth. Will we ever see acidity like they had in Champagne in 1983 again? The finish seemed to wrap around the world twice with invigorating freshness. A disgorged on the spot treat that I will never, ever forget.

2008 Billecart-Salmon "Cuvée Louis" Brut Blanc de Blancs Champagne $199.99 98DC 96JS 96WA Any tasting with Florent Nys, cellarmaster, and Mathieu Roland-Billecart is going to be memorable, but when it includes one of the best wines of the best vintage of my career, it is over the top. We tasted this fabulous all Grand Cru cuvée in Mareuil-sur-Aÿ, at the property on May 25th, just the day after the Aspasie vertical. I was on good stuff overload. The exceptional bouquet married Puligny-like lime with classic, subtle, Champagne brioche and a mid-palate of perfect, miniscule bubbles and concentration that never turned heavy. This will be a classic like the legendary 1966.

1959 Launois Blanc de Blancs Côteaux Champenois: I was back in Champagne in June last year, flying in for the 150th anniversary party of Launois, and in for one of the best treats of my career in wine. Like the Krug Highlands Quest or the Vertical of Aspasie, this whole list could have been made just from this one event, such were the quality of the wines. But this still Chardonnay, with its starbright color, honeyed nose and briny, saline finish truly stood out as one of the most unique wines of my life. The finish was like a current release Manzanilla—so fresh after 63 years!

1995 Launois Vintage Brut Blanc de Blancs Champagne Jeroboam (3L) $349.00 I am sorry, it looks like this wine has been on every one of these lists that I have ever done, but we still have some left in our cellar and they always impress! Cinnamon and I brought this bottle to our neighbor’s Bastille Day party this July, and it was all gone before I could get a second glass. With a golden color, a rich, truffle-like brioche nose, clean white fruit, a delicate bead in the mouth and a finish that was as bright and chalky as one could wish for, this was yet another great Jero from Launois. The combination between the freshness from the large format and the layered complexity of 27 years of age made for a perfect Champagne experience.

2004 Daniel Ginsburg "Cuvée Rene Millésime" Brut Blanc de Blancs Champagne $39.99 This bottle was a gift from my friend Peter for our wedding anniversary; we were lucky enough to be married in 2004, and the weather cooperated with a very good vintage in Champagne, in the classic, leaner, longer style that we love. Dan bought organic Chardonnay from David Leclepart in Trepail to make this wine and gave it a long élevage in a large oak foudre before bottling. It is named after René Collard, Dan’s longtime friend who never used agro-chemicals from 1943, his first vintage, to his last in 1995. It was first sold under the De Meric label. We had this wine with Cinnamon’s homemade spring rolls on the 23rd of July, and when I tried to open it, the cork broke! Undeterred, Cinnamon popped the top off with her trusty saber. This wine was so fresh at 18 years old that I am sure it will easily continue to improve for decades and make a damn good 50-year-old. The color still had a flash of green to it, and the bouquet had coconut and subtle toast notes. In the mouth it was full of pure, white Chardonnay fruit. The finish was the best part—long, ultra-fresh and full of white flowers. Truly unforgettable.

2014 Louise Brison Brut Champagne $34.99 On July 27th, the women’s Tour de France raced through the vineyards of the Aube, and in fact raced right on the white gravel roads between Delphine from Louise Brison’s vines. I watched the replay of the whole stage with this bottle, my cat Morsel, and some good takeout sushi. Cinnamon was out with her friends, and I wrote in my notebook that “the wine was very easy to drink with the sushi, too easy, and I found it very difficult to leave a glass in the bottle for the next day”. Like 2004, 2014 is a bright, racy, vintage giving wines that tend to be long and light. This all barrel fermented, organically grown Champagne from Delphine’s estate has great baguette and red cherry aromas, is completely dry and almost crunchy in the mouth, but also has a fantastic texture and a fine bead from the long ageing on the lees. It is an incredible value at $34.99 and we are lucky enough to have some of the last bottles still. The finish is super long, clean, and has a nod to Chablis with its citric, mineral style. 

2008 A.D. Coutelas Vintage Brut Champagne $34.99 On November 3rd, Amaury, Angelique, and Damien Coutelas visited us for dinner while taking a road trip around the USA. I dug this great bottle of 2008 out of a heavy stack in my cellar for the occasion. We served it with pâté, which worked perfectly, and the Champagne cut the richness of the food like a second knife. It was almost water clear in spite of its 14 years of age and had a sourdough nose framed by subtle white peach. In the mouth it had the brilliant, lively concentration that 2008 is so famous for and a finish that went into next week with chalky class and clean acidity. I hope I have another one to try at 25 years old!

2002 Bruno Michel "Cuvee Millésime" Brut Champagne $89.99 This bottle was a birthday present, also from my friend Peter. He is one of the most serious and generous Champagne collectors that I know, and I am so grateful to him for the incredible gift. I opened it on November 13th, just two days after my birthday while my father was still in town. My dad is a big fan of Bruno Michel and was with me for my first meeting with him back in 2006. Sadly, Bruno has since passed away, and we toasted him before having our first sip. We served smoked salmon with this golden nectar, and at 20 years old it had started to develop the aromatic chanterelle mushroom character to go with its generous brioche and fresh butter bouquet. In the mouth it had virile lime character like a great bottle of les enseignères and the finish was as long and chalky as anything I had ever had. My father said it was still too young, but I loved the combination of developed aromatics and youthful vigor. Better than most wine.

2008 Le Brun de Neuville "Grand Vintage" Brut Champagne $49.99 It is no surprise to me that a full third of the wines on this list are from the 2008 vintage, the best harvest of my career in Champagne. The combination of concentration and freshness is like no other, and it is incredible to me that there is still some of this left on our shelves! We had this on November 26th, after I poured a busy tasting in the store and paired it with sushi from Kanpai in Palo Alto. The pairing was perfect. This stainless steel-fermented Champagne is 96% Chardonnay and 4% Pinot Noir from the chalky slopes of Beton in the Sézanne, and still has a completely clear color traversed by a stream of super fine bubbles. The bouquet is generous with warm bread aromas framed by Meyer lemons and in the mouth, I found the wine creamy on the palate, but super vibrant on the finish. The combination of richness up front and vibrant acidity and chalk on the back really made this a perfect combination with the sushi and a perfect end for this list. At $49.99, a case is going in my cellar, and I am sure it will feature on many more of these lists for years to come!

A toast to your 2023!

- Gary Westby, Champagne Buyer