Taittinger Comtes Champagne Blanc de Blancs 2008

Taittinger Comtes Champagne Blanc de Blancs 2008

This is just the 37th release of the Comtes, the first being in 1952. It is entirely grand cru, and only from the Cte de Blancs, made from a selection of the best lots from Avize, Chouilly, Cramant, Mesnil and Oger. Only the cuve is used, the first and most gentle pressing and the wine is fermented almost entirely in stainless steel, with just 5% going into oak. The wine is then aged for a minimum of 10 years on the lees and is only just now being released at 12 years old, enjoying a bit of time on the cork as well.

Critical Acclaim

99 James Suckling

A slightly more luxurious nature to 2008 than the great 2007. Full-bodied with a lovely framework of acidity and dry fruit, such as apples, pears and peaches. Opulent. Dense and muscular. Yet, its balanced and harmonious. Line of acidity at the end. One for the cellar. Release in 2020. Drink or hold.

98 Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate

Taittinger’s 2008 Brut Blanc de Blancs Comtes de Champagne is being released this year, and it will be worth a special effort to track down. I wrote in August 2019 that this is the finest Comtes de Champagne since the brilliant 2002, and this tasting confirmed that. Offering up a deep and complex bouquet of citrus oil, crisp orchard fruit, warm brioche, crushed chalk, blanched almonds and smoke, it’s full-bodied and incisive, with excellent concentration, racy acids and a long, searingly chalky finish. While this is already immensely impressive out of the gates, this 2008 is clearly built for the long haul, and three decades’ longevity won’t be a challenge.

98 Vinous

Taittingers 2008 Blanc de Blancs Comtes de Champagne is simply breathtaking. I have tasted it many times over the years in various trial disgorgements and it has never been anything less than compelling. The final, finished wine captures all of that potential. Bright, focused and wonderfully deep, Comtes is a fabulous example of a vintage that expresses so much energy but with real fruit intensity, the signatures that distinguish it from other vintages (1996 comes to mind) that were similarly taut, but more austere in the early going. Although the 2008 impresses right out of the gate, it only really starts to open up with several hours of air. The 2008 Comtes represents the purest essence of the Ctes des Blancs in a great, historic vintage. Readers who can find the 2008 should not hesitate, as it is a truly brilliant epic Champagne that no one who loves the very best in Champagne will want to be without.

97 Wine Enthusiast

Coming entirely from Grand Cru vineyards in the Cte des Blancs, the new release of this famous Champagne is from a top vintage year. The wine is at perfect maturity, poised between crisp, taut minerality and wonderful toastiness. It is intense, beautifully clear and limpid, a great Champagne. It is ready to drink now and for many years to come.