Bruno Paillard Nec Plus Ultra Brut 1999
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This N.P.U - Nec Plus Ultra 1999 required more than 13 years of dedication to reach an outstanding result: it deserves some time to open in the glass, and express its potential. First admire the beauty of its bright deep gold color and tiny bubbles. Close your eyes and listen to its little music. Then smell its multiple and complex aromaswhich slowly show through.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
After 1990, 1995 and 1996, the fine fizzing golden-yellow 1999 N.P.U. (Nec Plus Ultra; latin for "There is nothing beyond") is the fourth vintage of this prestige cuvée from Bruno Paillard. Sourced from the four grands crus of Mailly, Verzenay, Oger and Le Mesnil sur Oger, the musts were fermented and aged for 10 months in barriques before the finest 42 barrels were selected for this 50/50 Chardonnay/Pinot Noir cuvée. The Champagne was kept for more than 12 years on the lees before it was disgorged in January 2012 with a small dosage of 4 g/l and spent another year in the cellar before a total of 11508 bottles and 508 magnums was launched on the market. Number 2879 of the 1999 NPU offers a uniquely rich and aromatically very particular bouquet of ripe and dried fruit aromas, dried flowers, potted ginger, candied lemon and orange peel, mandarins, roasted sesame, walnuts, resin and ultra ripe pears (Williams) to name just a few of the steadily developing aromas. The really complex and multi-layered nose leads to a rich, intense, round, voluminous and elegant Champagne of great expression and persistency. Firmly structured and remarkably mineral in the long aftertaste, this is a big character, quite aristocratic but also sensual and harmonious. Unfortunately this modern "classic" is highly expensive but worth a dinner for two. The wine benefits a lot from a certain time in a big wine glass.
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Wine Enthusiast
N.P.U., Neo Plus Ultra, the summit of Paillard's range, is a blend from four Grands Crus vineyards. Half-and-half Pinot Noir and Chardonnay give a wonderfully rounded, mature wine that is at its pinnacle for drinking now. It is rich, full in the mouth, mingling toast with ripe grapefruit and quince fruits.
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Wine Spectator
The refined, creamy mousse softens the firm, focused acidity in this elegant Champagne, showing a fine knit and good balance. Offers baked pear, smoke, candied kumquat and pastry notes, revealing a hint of marzipan on the finish. Disgorged January 2012. Drink now through 2025.
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James Suckling
A mellow, bold and toasty mature Champagne that has a lot of mushroom, dark grilled hazelnuts and woody aromas, plus some wild cherries and sweet rose-like fragrance. The palate has a bright core of red cherry fruit flavor and is rich, mellow and toasty for the most part.
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Representing the topmost expression of a Champagne house, a vintage Champagne is one made from the produce of a single, superior harvest year. Vintage Champagnes account for a mere 5% of total Champagne production and are produced about three times in a decade. Champagne is typically made as a blend of multiple years in order to preserve the house style; these will have non-vintage, or simply, NV on the label. The term, "vintage," as it applies to all wine, simply means a single harvest year.
Associated with luxury, celebration, and romance, the region, Champagne, is home to the world’s most prized sparkling wine. In order to bear the label, ‘Champagne’, a sparkling wine must originate from this northeastern region of France—called Champagne—and adhere to strict quality standards. Made up of the three towns Reims, Épernay, and Aÿ, it was here that the traditional method of sparkling wine production was both invented and perfected, birthing a winemaking technique as well as a flavor profile that is now emulated worldwide.
Well-drained, limestone and chalky soil defines much of the region, which lend a mineral component to its wines. Champagne’s cold, continental climate promotes ample acidity in its grapes but weather differences from year to year can create significant variation between vintages. While vintage Champagnes are produced in exceptional years, non-vintage cuvées are produced annually from a blend of several years in order to produce Champagnes that maintain a consistent house style.
With nearly negligible exceptions, . These can be blended together or bottled as individual varietal Champagnes, depending on the final style of wine desired. Chardonnay, the only white variety, contributes freshness, elegance, lively acidity and notes of citrus, orchard fruit and white flowers. Pinot Noir and its relative Pinot Meunier, provide the backbone to many blends, adding structure, body and supple red fruit flavors. Wines with a large proportion of Pinot Meunier will be ready to drink earlier, while Pinot Noir contributes to longevity. Whether it is white or rosé, most Champagne is made from a blend of red and white grapes—and uniquely, rosé is often produce by blending together red and white wine. A Champagne made exclusively from Chardonnay will be labeled as ‘blanc de blancs,’ while ones comprised of only red grapes are called ‘blanc de noirs.’