Quick note: First time with the 2012. Awesome. Classic Comtes. Initially a nose full of bread dough. If you told me I was smelling raw ciabatta dough I might believe you. There’s just a hint of lemon zest accenting it. The dough continues to the palate with baked yellow apples, marzipan, a hint of lemon, and some limestone minerality. Long finish. It’s cliche to call Comtes essentially a sparkling white Burgundy, but it’s cliche because it is simply such an accurate description of what this wine frequently tastes like. Here is no exception. FWIW, I am consistently confused by Comtes’ price relative to the other major houses’ luxury cuvées. But I am consistently grateful that I can afford one of my perennial very favorite Champagnes. I would compare this in style most to the 2006. The ‘06 was a little flashier and lower acidity than this at a young age, but this has a little more mineral complexity and nuance — also probably a bit longer lived that I would have said the ‘06 was at this stage.
Cheers!
