The
Yellow Label (old label at left)
isn’t the jewel in the crown of Veuve Clicquot (that would be the
Grand Dame), but it is the workhorse of the house. It is a blend
of over 300 wines from up to 60 different villages that consist of
Grand, Premier, and lesser-rated crus. Reserve wines up to a decade old
typically make up 25-40% of the blend. Pinot Noir leads the cuvee with
50-55%, Chardonnay clocks in at 28-33% and Pinot Meunier contributes the
final 15-20%. As with any non-vintage blend, it is made to be consistent
from year to year and also accessible should you choose to drink it on
purchase.
I have no problem with the consistency of this wine (I have consistently
not liked it), but I have a major problem with drinking it on purchase.
It has always seemed way too young, green, and somewhat dirty to me. I
have theorized that time will mellow it out, but who would want to take
home a fresh bottle of this and drink it? I don’t know why the bottles
are so green, but I believe that its own popularity has been its biggest
enemy. As demand has risen, so has production. With a fixed number of
high quality grapes you either have to use lesser grapes and/or rush the
bottles out before they are ready. I think that is happening here.
What has most disappointed me is that before the turn of the century, I
found Veuve’s Yellow Label to be a very good wine that drank well on
release and even better with a few years age. I long for those days and
couldn’t wait to see if any of the bottles I had been cellaring for 2-3
years had shown positive development. Heck, I was just plain excited
period to drink this much Yellow Label (strange, I know). So bring on
the wine!
The Lineup:
1. Half Bottle #1 disgorged January-February 2005
2. Half Bottle #2 disgorged January-February 2005
3. Bottle disgorged May-June 2003
4. Bottle disgorged January-February 2004
5. Bottle #1 disgorged November-December 2005
6. Bottle #2 disgorged November-December 2005
7. Magnum #1 disgorged March-April 2005
8. Magnum #2 disgorged March-April 2005
How I came up with my final scores:
I scored each bottle each day both blind and un-blind. At the end of my
experiment, I looked over my notes and came up with a final score based
on the evolution of the wine and bottle variation. I also took into
account that not many people are going to wait three days to drink a
Champagne nor create any type of custom cuvee by mixing bottles together
(keep reading and this will make sense). I apologize for any
repetitiveness in the notes, but the bottles are what they are and many
showed striking similarity.
The Half Bottles:
Find Veuve Yellow Label
Overall, the half bottles showed the worst of the group
with some slight bottle variation on opening, but with time they both
came together and met a common outcome. As the second day of this
experiment came to a close, I had around a ¼ of each half bottle left
and decided to mix them together rather than save them separately. I did
this on a whim and the result was quite astounding.
Half Bottle #1 disgorged January-February 2005
On opening, this was not very good and was muddied with a heavy mouth
feel and bitter green notes. For day 1, it was in the D+ range. However,
day 2 saw this improve quite a bit. It never became great, but the
greenness subdued and some biscuit notes came into play. Dirty citrus
was still very apparent, but at least it wasn’t like drinking green mud.
For day 2 this wine received a High C-.
Half Bottle #2 disgorged January-February 2005
This bottle showed much better on opening than the half bottle above.
Green, under ripe notes were still present, but so was a sweet and
creamy dough flavor. Day 1 saw this at the High C- level. On day 2, this
bottle also improved as creamy biscuit dough mixed with green citrus.
This bottle is still too green for me and I don’t really like it, but it
is slightly better than on the first day and gets a Low C.
Mix of the above two Half Bottles at the end of day 2
As I mentioned above, I mixed what remained of these two bottles at the
end of day 2 and created my own custom cuvee to try on day 3. I’m glad I
did this as sweet, fluffy biscuit, creamy citrus, and a touch of smoke
made for a rather nice wine. In fact, it became one that I would
actually drink. I have no clue what was going on here and maybe it would
have occurred without any mixing, but I doubt it. This wine gets a B-.
Veuve should hire me as a winemaker. I have a formula for success for
them.
I would not buy half bottles of Veuve.
My overall score for the Half Bottles is a Grade of Low C (72-74).
The Regular Size
(750 mL) Bottles
Find Veuve Yellow Label
These bottles definitely showed better with age. When
young and drunk within a couple hours of opening, they were way too
bitter, green, and dirty. I didn’t really enjoy any of these that much,
but I was impressed at how young the 2003 disgorgement tasted and think
that time and/or lots of air is needed for these bottles.
Bottle disgorged May-June 2003
Initially, this showed very fresh (more so than I expected), but with
some complex earthy, dough, and mineral notes. There is some green
tinged cream that is a bit off-putting, but this seems a tad more
refined than most Yellow Label I have had lately. This gets a high C+ on
day 1. Day 2 saw sweet creamy biscuits enter the picture and most of the
greenness fade. It is a tad sweet, but it is drinkable and somewhat
enjoyable. One thing I noticed (across all of the bottles) is that
warmth is this wine’s friend. When chilled, under ripe green notes stand
out while warmth brings out a sweet creaminess that is much more
appealing. So, for day 2, this moves up to a B-. Day 3 saw this wine
fade as the sweet notes dominated. It did have an enjoyable twangy
citrus finish, but it did nothing more than make me yawn. The grade on
day 3 was C+.
Overall Grade for this bottle is a Low B-
(79-81 pts).
Bottle disgorged January-February 2004
Initially, this bottle came off with creamy dough and bitter, slightly
dirty citrus. It was showing at the C+ level. However, on day 2, it rose
up and came out with creamy, sweet biscuits. At this point, it was
indistinguishable from the other older bottle above and moved up to B-
land. Day 3 saw a slightly sweet and spicy citrus still wine that was
pleasant, but nothing I would choose to drink. It was at the C+ level.
Overall Grade for this bottle is a High C+
(78-80 pts).
Bottle #1 disgorged November-December 2005
Ahh…. new Veuve Yellow Label. Lots of bitter green citrus, but no dirty
citrus notes. Even if it isn’t that attractive, it gets points for no
dirt! The nose on this was quite nice as citrus and biscuit were very
strong. Unfortunately the rest of the wine didn’t measure up on day 1
and this clocks in at High C. As with all the other bottles, day 2 saw
creamy citrus and dough come into the fold, but the green notes still
detract. Still, it is enough to move up into the C+ range. Day 3 saw a
rather strange transformation as chalky, dirty green notes came in and
overpowered the citrus and cream flavors that are quite nice. As I
allowed this to warm towards room temperature, the citrus and cream took
over, but I never would have expected this to taste the way it did. The
mystery of how wine transforms is still unsolved! Grade of High C for
Day 3.
Overall Grade for this bottle is a Low C+ (76-78 pts)
Bottle #2 disgorged November-December 2005
As with the bottle above, this showed a big nose and overpowering under
ripe citrus notes. These wines need more age at the house (on or off the
lees), a better wine selection, or something, because they are not
enjoyable to drink on purchase. Grade of C for Day 1. Just like the
other new bottle above, this improved quite a bit on Day 2 as sweet
creamy citrus, and light touches of biscuit dough came out. It isn’t a
great wine, but it isn’t offensive and moves up to a C+. Day 3 saw a
bland dough, dirty/chalky, and slightly sweet sparkler remain. It wasn’t
horrible or as strange as the other new bottle above, rather it seemed
like a forgettable house pour. Grade of High C for Day 3.
Overall Grade for this bottle is a Low C+ (76-78 pts)
I don’t think I would buy bottles of this for anything other than to
check in to see how things are going. Overall
750 mL Bottle Grade of Low C+ (76-78 pts), but you must let this
wine breathe and warm up a bit. With 3+ years, this has the potential to
move up towards the top end of the C+ range or the bottom of B- range
(79-80 pts).
The Magnums
Find Veuve Yellow Label
These big boys brought it. They tasted great and were
full of flavor without any green, bitter, or dirty notes. If only all
the bottles of Yellow Label tasted like these. The Magnums of Veuve
Yellow are a good bottle of bubbly.
Magnum #1 disgorged March-April 2005
Ohhh baby! I like this. It is like popping open a can of fruit cocktail
and pouring it into a fresh made pie dough shell. This is pretty nice. I
know the competition isn’t putting up much of a fight when I get excited
over this. After all, it is only a High B- wine. Day 2 saw this wine
rise up to the B level with lots of yeasty dough mixed with sweet ripe
fruit cocktail. It became a very solid wine that I would happily
drink?!? Unfortunately because I liked this bottle so much, I repeatedly
drank glasses of it and not much was left for day 3. This left a very
large air to wine ratio in the bottle and it didn’t show too well on day
3 as the flavors were faded and turning a tad bitter. The bottle wasn’t
bad, but it had regressed quite a bit to the C+ range.
Overall bottle Grade of High B- (81-83 pts)
Magnum #2 disgorged March-April 2005
Very similar to the wine above, this showed pears, peach, orange, apple
and dough. The orange notes really stand out in these Magnums. In fact,
the purity of fruit really shines and makes the Magnums clearly superior
over the other bottles in this tasting. Grade of High B- on Day 1. On
day 2, the dough turns to a yeasty, biscuity flavor and meshes perfectly
with the fruit. What can I say? It is a good wine. Grade of B. There was
more of this bottle left on day 3 than the wine above, but the air to
wine ratio was still quite high and likely detrimental in my opinion.
The wine still showed a wonderful fluffy sweet fruit note, but some
bland and bitter edges were working their way in. Grade of low B-.
Overall bottle Grade of High B- (81-83 pts)
Overall Magnum Grade of High B- (81-83 pts) with B
(83-86 pts) potential. And, yes, I would buy a Mag of Yellow Label. It
tastes like the Yellow Label from the good 'ol days.
So what is the moral of this tasting? Buy bigger bottles? Let them age?
Let them warm up? Buy a couple bottles and create your own 2-3 day old
cuvee? I’ll let you be the judge, but I think I will be buying a few
magnums of the Yellow Label and letting them age in the cellar as the
magnums were clearly the star of the tasting. I was also quite surprised
by how much better air, time, and warmth made all of the bottles. Except
for the magnums, the other bottles were dirty and green for the first
hour or so they were open, but cleaned themselves up with some air
(sometimes it took a day) and warmth.
Still, how many people open a bottle of Champagne and then wait hours or
a day to start drinking it at a warmer temperature? Some Champagne
aficionados might, but the general public who buys this en masse does
not. Veuve needs to address this issue in my opinion otherwise their
main audience is not getting the most from the product. That said, I was
impressed by the consistency between the bottles and leave more
impressed than I expected. There is a definite style across the board
and I think you know what you are getting when you pick up a bottle of
the Yellow. I look forward to trying bottles that have never left the
homeland and continuing my journey in the land of Yellow, be it good or
bad. After all, someone has to do the dirty work.
Old cap -- new cap
And, as a final note, Veuve changed their labels and
cork cap with the late 2005 disgorgements. Anyone want to start a new
Label/Cap controversy?
Cheers!
Brad Baker
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April 2007 © Brad Baker
of
Veuve Clicquot’s NV Yellow Label Champagne (new label
at left). I have stated numerous times that it tastes green,
bitter, and dirty. Well, the folks at Veuve have taken an interest in my
comments and I’ve had a chance to correspond with the wine team
including head winemaker Jacques Peters. They think they make a very
solid wine and that I do not understand it properly. Understand,
shmunderstand I say, the wine isn’t good.
