Vintage
2008
Cool
Cool, slow and classic: the vintage to cellar
One of the coolest and least sunny years in half a century, with a long, slow ripening and a settled harvest. High acidity and great structure. Many houses held it back to release after 2009.
The harvest
Light frost on 8 April. Flowering mid-June. Cool, overcast August. Yield 14,231 kg/ha. Potential alcohol 9.5–10 per cent with steady acidity.
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From the archive
Corbon Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru Avize 2008
En kompleks nese som gir søte bakte sitroner, søt bakst, varme krydder fra lagring og gjær.
Henri Goutorbe Special Club 2008
Ripe apple and ripe citrus mark this wine, with light oxidative tones of maturity alongside them and a clear autolytic character running through.
Bollinger R.D. 2008
A fantastically rich bottle. The nose is extremely concentrated, with lovely notes of caramelised apple, warm spice, lightly roasted coffee, vanilla, tonka beans and lemon curd, and alongside these come freshly baked brioche, browned butter and toasted yeast.
Louis Roederer Cristal Late Release 2008
This is where the extra years in the cellar earn their keep.
Louis Roederer Cristal Rosé Late Release 2008
Like having a rose in the glass. Every time you fold back a petal there's something new underneath.
Fleury Boléro 2008
A beautiful Champagne offering plenty of lovely fruit, florality, light minerality and rich notes of maturity.
Dom Pérignon Plénitude 2 2008
A powerhouse of a wine. Intense, extroverted, focused and extremely complex, yet at the same time remarkably fresh and elegant — rather like a bodybuilder in a tutu.
Ayala Blanc de Blancs 2008
A lovely, complex nose: mushroom in both its cooked and raw registers, candied lemon peel over clean citrus, brioche and a touch of demerara sugar.