Veuve Clicquot La Grande Dame 2008

Professional Ratings

• 97 Decanter
  Now almost blanc de noirs, boasting 92% Pinot Noir and just 8% Chardonnay from 60%-70% estate vineyards. La Grande Dame is one of the most affordable of Champagne’s elite prestige set, and the stunning 2008 vintage was intricately engineered by the masterful Dominique Demarville for the long haul. It unites all of the enduring potential of its thundering grands crus with the tension and energy of this legendary season, colliding high-tensile acidity with deep, fine, powdery chalk minerality, bringing its finish into stark focus.
• 96 Jeb Dunnuck

  The 2008 Champagne La Grande Dame is forward, with a luxurious perfume of honeysuckle, tropical fruit of papaya, and buttered citrus. The mousse is rounded, with an opulent texture, and it does finish dry, with orange marmalade, ripe melon, and chestnut. Its driving and impressive acidity will make this worthy to cellar and enjoy over the coming 20 years.

• 95 Wine Spectator
  An elegant Champagne, powered by a sculpted frame of acidity and minerality, this wears the refined, lacy mousse and well-meshed flavors of black currant, lemon curd, toast and marzipan like finely tailored clothing. Fresh and lasting, with hints of spice and smoke on the finish.
• 95 Wine & Spirits
  This is a sunny and delicious 2008, with brightness infusing the wine, from its platinum color to its mineral intensity, transforming its richness and power into cool elegance. Notes of agave and cassia bark add depth, suggesting the complexity this will develop with further bottle age.
• 95 James Suckling

  Still very youthful, this proves that pinot noir can give super-elegant, cool and tightly focused Champagne. Toastiness and spice build on the very long and tightly wound finish. Almost a blanc de noir with just 10% chardonnay blended into the overwhelming majority of pinot noir. Drink or hold.

• 93 Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

  Exhibiting aromas of pear, toasted brad, confit citrus and smoke, the 2008 Brut La Grande Dame is full-bodied, rich and textural, with a deep and layered core, ripe but racy acids and a saline finish. A blend dominated by fully 92% Pinot Noir, this is true to the cuvée's rich and muscular style, but the vintage lends it welcome additional cut and precision. It's showing a lot better than the bottles I tasted in the United States last year.