Celebrating the Top 10 Most Memorable Champagnes of 2023
This year has marked my 23rd in my job as Champagne Buyer here at K&L, and I feel lucky to say that it was one of the best for memorable Champagnes. This list could have been much longer than just ten, as I have been treated to so many noteworthy wines over the last 12 months. I have noticed three themes for 2023: large bottles (magnums and jeroboams) account for about one-third of the list, as do pairings with tinned fish, and half the bottles were not vintage dated. The flexibility that blending across time gives the Champenois is not just for basics—a skilled chef de cave can make magic with multiple vintages.
Thank you for taking the time to look at my reflections on a year of good bubbles—they are listed in the order they were consumed—it is too hard to pick favorites!
I have never done one of these lists where a jeroboam of 1995 Launois Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs was not featured. This year we had one of the best of these jeroboams at our company party chez Left Bank, and our operations ace Angel Lopez (also a 1995) posed for the picture with the empty. This wine just keeps getting better, with a light gold color, rich brioche aromas and a super-long Meyer lemon and Mesnil chalk finish. What a wine—I am sad to be out!
My great friend and colleague in the Champagne business, Omar, invited me out to Michelin 3-star L’Asiette Champenois for dinner on our trip to Champagne this March, and we started out on the veranda with a glass of Krug Grande Cuvée 168th Edition from magnum. This sublime Grande Cuvée was, as he says, “so good it makes me want to cuss!” Sublime depth, nutty perfection, followed by an endless and super fresh finish… Grand Cuvée out of magnum is just better than any vintage or clos you can come by!
No place on earth throws a better party than the town of Brouillet at Champagne Aspasie. Paul Vincent and Caroline Ariston put on an incredible fête in their pressoir on May 13th of this year, and I was lucky enough to be invited. They were making up for all the parties missed during the pandemic, and I would argue that they made up for some that we haven’t even missed yet! They started the festivities with a jeroboam of the very first edition of the Ariston Aspasie "Cépages d'Antan" Brut Champagne, which was based on 2006, and it was mind blowing. The exoticism of the Arbanne and Meslier grapes was perfectly preserved in this grand format, and it was super aromatic on the nose. This was contrasted by silky texture and flawless balance in the mouth and followed up by an explosive peacock’s tail finishes. One of the best Champagnes of my entire life!
My father pulled out a bottle of my old friend Pascal Leclerc’s 1996 Leclerc-Briant “Cuvée Divine” this past June for a weeknight dinner—the bottle is now on my wall of fame. We were rolling our own handrolls with high-quality tinned tuna… And wow was it ever great! Although the wine had a deep golden color and some honeyed aromas from its 27 years, the brioche still had not arrived and the wine was still framed by baguette toast. The back end has the classic 1996 acidity to carry off the chalk of the great sites in Cumières that built this blend. My father said that it was between young and old, and I agreed, adding that it was PERFECT like that!
Cinnamon and I were lucky enough to get married in 2004, which has worked out to be a wonderful vintage in Champagne. This year, for our anniversary, we went to the sadly now gone-forever Fish Market in Palo Alto, and I brought a bottle of the 2004 Michel Arnould “Carte d’ Or” along to celebrate. It was magical with the ahi poke starter in the picture and worked great with our whole meal. The color was still nearly clear after 19 years, and the marriage between the Mesnil Chardonnay and the Verzenay Pinot Noir had coalesced into something very special, with white flowers, brioche, and the inimitable hazelnuts that make the Arnould Champagne so unique. The finish still had great cut and a chalky vivacity that surely will last for many years to come.
Speaking of marriages, one of the best pairings of the year for me was in our own front yard on a hot Sunday evening this July. We had opened a bottle of the Boulard-Bauquaire "Carte Noire" Brut Blanc de Noirs Champagne with some tinned smoked salmon from Fish Wife, and it was a combination that we will be repeating as often as possible. This half–Pinot Noir and half-Meunier wine comes from as far north as you can go and still be in Champagne, the village of Cormincy. With a great nose of sourdough bread and a core of dark fruit in the mouth, this wine finished bright and savory all at once. It came alive with the smoked salmon, and the bright edge of clean Cormincy acidity and savory terroir made me think of Michelin star experiences—with a can of fish in my own yard!
Every year in late summer, I get my whole Champagne team together to meet with all our Grande Marque suppliers in Redwood City. Scott Beckerley came down from San Francisco, Philip Roufail flew up from Hollywood and Mick Benoit and Will Langhi from Redwood City joined to taste all day. After over 60 Champagnes from about 20 producers, my friend Naomi had brought the best one—the Laurent-Perrier "Grand Siècle" Iteration #26 Brut Champagne. This wine is always a blend of three declared vintage years, in this case 2012, 2008, and 2007. The incredible, nearly vanishing elegance of this sublime tête de cuvée is a tonic for the most jaded of palates. The finesse and balance that LP has achieved here leaves me at a loss for words and ready for another glass.
I turned 50 this year, and my dad saved a bottle of birth year Champagne for me, which we drank a month ahead of time… In case I didn’t make it! I am not going nearly as strong as the 1973 René Collard, which blew our minds with its kaleidoscopic complexity and nearly infinite number of aromas and flavors. Cinnamon prepared the perfect pairing, a mushroom pâté which mirrored the truffle, porcini, and brioche nose of this great 100% Meunier from the grandaddy of all the grower producers. The wine was a deep gold, and still had a great fountain of fine bubbles, a tarte tatin mid-palate and a finish for the ages, a peacock’s tail carried by acidity that we will likely never again see in modern Champagne. Monumental wine.
For my birthday proper, Cinnamon took me to Donato in Redwood City, our favorite local restaurant. We brought along an old disgorgement of the 2008 Le Brun de Neuville and paired it with the Raviolio al’Uovo blanketed in freshly shaved white truffles. I was very happy to have lived long enough to have this combination—the creaminess of the 15-year-old Champagne mirrored the richness of the raviolio, while the Meyer lemon and brioche character in the wine brought out the supreme savor of the white truffles. What a way to kick off my fifth decade!
At the end of November, my father came for a visit, and for our Sunday aperitif we had the most current release of the Gosset 12 Ans Brut with tinned smoked trout from Denmark that I bought at Corti Brothers. This wine is a late disgorged version of the Gosset "Grande Réserve" Brut Champagne with triple the normal amount of time on the lees. The color had turned to full golden and the bouquet was full of candied nuts and Panettone toast. In the mouth the wine had turned silky, the bubbles were still very lively, and so was the back end. It went fantastically well with the smoked fish, and the finish cut the fat perfectly. The expansive finale had everything from almonds to honey, but never became heavy… It was a “small” bottle and gone too fast!
A toast to you!