2016 Vintage
– At Cailez-Lemaire – Better Than 15 (By A Lot)
– Same Tension, More Precision and Çlass
At This Price, ($54.99!) This Wine is a Crazy Value for 2016 Vintage Champagne
– Case Pricing
– My Favorite Vintage Caillez Wine Ever
– Go to Town…But I don’t have much!
2016 Caillez-Lemaire Chardonnay de la Valle Blancs de Blancs Brut Nature
– Like Sparkling Puligny Montrachet
– Nose: Jumps from the Glass
– Screaming Minerals and Wet Earth
– Spice, Green Apple
– Super Yeasty
– Saline and Iodine as it Airs
– Palate: Amazing Sap and Power
– Rich and Energetic
– Top Flight Mousse and Finesse
– Concentrated and So Pure
– So Salty
– Huge Spice on the Finish
– Terrific Precision
– You Normally Pay $150 for This Level of Finesse, Elegance and Purity
– Truly Top Flight / 2nd Vintage
– Arguably the Best Wine I’ve Ever had at Caillez-Lemaire
Sometimes you need to taste a lot of crappy Champagne to realize that what you have is a gem. A beauty. An estate that is so good one you must take advantage of it. I’ve been looking for new Champagne estates for years now and I’ve tasted a ton. I always ask myself are they as good as or better than Caillez-Lemaire? The answer, as many of you can predict is no. Or else you would have seen it. It’s remarkable how brilliant the wines of Caillez-Lemaire are. The quality is bonkers. They should be 2-3-4 x the prices they are.
These wines will get reviewed and the prices will explode one day.
Trust me. So please, take advantage of the genius of today’s two wines at prices that are just silly.
2016 Vintage
The 2016 Vintage is legendary with small yields and just stunning wines. They are beautifully balanced with rich and intense fruit and will improve for decades.
The Wine
Today, we are selling a super special wine that is a brand new effort from Caillez-Lemaire. The 2016 Caillez-Lemaire Chardonnay de la Valle Blancs de Blancs Brut Nature for $56.99 a bottle on a 4-pack and $54.99 on a 12 Bottle Case. I’ve always wanted to taste a pure BDB from Caillez-Lemaire, since when I have the Vin Clair tastings in the cellar, the Chardonnay barrels are outstanding and I always said in passing how they should be separated and made into a single cuvee. And well, I was right.
This is a smoke show. The 13 Pur Meunier was an incredible debut but 14 might be better and that’s the same case today as the 2nd vintage of the BDB (2016) is brilliant and very similar to the 15. This is a rare treat and why I am offering case pricing. But I don’t have much! I just did a wine dinner in Newton, MA and I got there late and I had a glass of the 2015 after it had been opened an hour and it blew me away. One of the best BDBs for the money I have ever had. So I messaged Virginie at Caillez and she said she’s glad I loved the 15 but she knows the 16 is better. More cut, more precision and finer mousse.
The nose jumps out of the glass with all types of screaming minerals and wet earth. Spice. Green apple. Endless complexity. Sickness. It’s wafting and so so aromatic. Super yeasty. Yeasty with all minerals and super yeastiness and ocean air. So airy with smokey minerals, saline and iodine. Wow this is so smokey, A nose that is exploding with character. Herbs as well. So so deep. Nose gets tons of saline and iodine as it airs. Just an insane nose. Only open 5-8 minutes and it’s changed 5-6 times. Sickness. Virginie was “hoping” I would like it when she wrote she was sending me a sample. I wish I could be even as half as humble as she is!
Wow. That palate has flavor! Flava in my ear as the acid gets all the way up to my ear. Amazing sap and power. Rich and energetic and gets into every nook and cranny of the palate. So, so salty this is brilliant like a bubbling Puligny Montrachet. Iodine coming out now. There is such fine mousse and finesse. Wow this is so so pure. A perfect representation of chardonnay of the Valle de Marne. So sappy. Concentrated and so pure. Almost painfully intense. Wow, huge spice on the finish. So fresh and precise and wow is this long. What palate presence, and the palate develops a mineral sweetness that is stunning. Wow. This is sick. The palate presence of great BDB cannot be denied. A masterpiece. This has 10-12 years of age ahead of it. There is top flight finesse and elegance and purity you would need to pay $100+ for in the 3-tier system. This is an amazing wine and shows me that Caillez-Lemaire is a master of the Brut Nature style. I made no Day 2 notes as this was so good on Day 1 it was all drunk.
Midjourney
As you know, we believe that strict recitations of tasting notes is only part of the story of a wine. We’ve always tried to include metaphors to try to give our readers a better understanding of how wines impact us. These metaphors have included architecture, painting, music and poetry.
We’re trying something new to help create visual metaphors using Midjourney, a generative artificial intelligence program that is by far the best image gneratour out there. I’ve messed around with a bunch and this is by far the best. We look forward to hearing your feedback.
Please call Cheryl at 949 378 5251 after emailing with your order if you are a first time customer (we prefer not to receive credit card numbers over E-Mail).
OFFICE HOURS 4-7 PM
I love drinking and selecting wines – but my passion for teaching people about wine is almost as big. I’m happy to announce a block of time each day where people can call me just to chat about wine in general. These blocks are NOT intended to sell wine (I do that all day). This is to talk to me about wine pairings or great producers or how long to age wines or styles of wine making or the latest wine controversy. My goal is to help people learn more about wine and enjoy it more. Call me at 917-912-4355 from 4-7EST Monday – Friday.
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A Word about Fass Selections and Social Media
I am big into certain social media and I want people to take pictures of the wines they have received or will receive and tag me in them and share their thoughts. I a am on Instagram. Please tag me there. I also am on Delectable which I love a lot. It is Iphone/Ipad only, but it’s like Instagram meets Facebook for wine. Tag me there and find me there as well. I want to know if you liked the wine, were not moved by the wine, hated the wine or the wine gave you a religious experience. I want to know it all. Feedback is key and I will answer all feedback e-mails as quickly as I can.
For all billing and invoicing inquiries please contact Nick at accounts@fassselections.com or 646-498-6078