Quote:
Originally Posted by Jérôme W
Great Champagnes are also made by very small producers and sold directly.
I was afan of Ruinart and the more fruity Pommery, but I had one year a very bad experience with Ruinart.
Each year, we order about 120 bottles. We keep about 20 for us and the remaining are for gifts.
One year, each and every Ruinart was just aweful. The Rosé was undrinkable, and the Blanc was drinkable but disappointing. Public price : 40 euros the bottle.
So one friend told us about this small producer : Moreau Billard. For both Rosé and Blanc. 13 euros per bottle. Direct from the cave. We tried. Holy Mackerel ! This Moreau Billard puts the Ruinart to shame !
Not comparable with the great great ones at about 100 euros the bottle, but can stand the fight against most "economic" Champagnes.
Unfortunately, I 'm not sure if Moreau Billard would send to the US. But it may be possible.
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Jerome you're reminding me of my early Champagne days. We had a customer in the mid 70s who also owned a wine store. When he made the trip to Coral Gables from Palm Beach he always brought a case or two of wines he thought might be of interest. One of those trips introduced me to Ruinart. At the time it was a quarter of the price of Cristal, Taittinger, and Perignon.
A few years later I remember moving to California and finding that Ruinart was becoming the hip LA choice. There was a killer store on Sunset that had Ruinart at its new list price - 3 times what I paid when I first bought it 5 years earlier! But the other three were the best deal ever - 2/3 the new price of a Ruinart! Imagine a Cristal at $29.95!
Our favorite for the last 23 years though has been La Grande Dame. Certainly there are others as good, even better, but La Grande Dame is what we drank on our second honeymoon at the Salzburg Music Festival. It's for special occasions but there's a certain magic every time we pop one open.
