The 2000 Brut Blanc de Blancs Comtes de Champagne is a huge wine bursting with ripe varietal fruit, smoke, ash, crushed rocks and slate. This is an unusual Comtes that deftly balances richness and power while maintaining considerable minerality. The 2000 will be hard to resist in its youth, but should also age beautifully for a number of years. It is a stunning, flat-out great bottle. This is Lot L0346UJ05700. Disgorged October 2010. Anticipated maturity: 2012-2030. I tasted a wide range of outstanding wines during my recent visit at Taittinger, including a handful of upcoming releases of the flagship Comtes de Champagne. I don’t often hear much of a of buzz about Comtes de Champagnes, but the cognoscenti know this is one of the very best and most ageworthy wines in Champagne. As much as I admire the work Pierre-Emmanuel Taittinger and his team are doing, it would be nice to see the Taittinger their NV wines with disgorgement dates, or at the very least lot numbers that actually convey something of real meaning to the consumer. Importer: Kobrand Corp., Purchase, NY; tel. (914) 253-7756

After hot weather early in the year, Champagne was hit in 2000 with hail and rain. Fortunately, conditions improved late in the year, and the quality of the final results is sometimes underestimated. I find the Comtes de Champagne delightful, with perhaps more ripe apple than lemon on the nose and a distinct note of butter and brioche. On the palate, the texture of the wine was very fine, with crisp acidity and a lingering finish. Lovely.

(L0346UJ05700): Pale gold. Deep, pungent aromas of dried pear, toasted nuts and grain and white flowers, with a subtle citrus note in the background; pretty exotic stuff. Broad and silky in texture, with slow-mounting minerality adding focus to its powerful, smoke-accented orchard fruit flavors. Shows an energetic, spicy quality on the finish, which echoes the mineral, smoke and floral notes. This Champagne is still very young but I suspect that it will be more a mid-term drinker than a long ager.

Pale straw. Very fresh and refreshing. Riesling-esque. Mouth-filling and filigree textured. Nicely matured – we’re at a good point to drink this. A delightful surprise, this one. Not a vintage with a fabulous reputation but it has developed well, better than Loïc Dupont expected, and this is beautifully balanced. (JR)