How To Drink A Birth Year Magnum

First published on Tuesday, 30 December 2008 on www.ieatidrinkiwork.com.au


What a handsome fellow he is.

After the initial buzz of being given a magnum of Lanson 1982 died away, I realised the person who had given me the present had also created quite a serious problem. What do I do with 1500ml of vintage champagne? Obviously, I will drink it, but putting to one side my wife’s idea that the two of us should just crack it now, I need to work out who I should share it with. How many people? What sort of food? And most importantly, how might I console myself in the case that it has passed its best or is faulty?

I have to drink the wine soon as it is quite old, but the generally held view that champagne is ready to drink when released doesn't always hold true. Vintage champagne can age gracefully and evolve into a very different (but equally appealing) drink. Even some non-vintage blends improve with time. It just depends on how much you love the fresh, racy, zesty flavours of youth compared to the more savoury richness and fullness of age. My magnum also has the advantage of being "recently disgorged", which means it has been on lees for most of its 26 years and was only disgorged in the past few years. The lees -- the dead yeast cells from the secondary fermentation in the bottle -- have a preservative effect on the wine which slows down its evolution, but also adds more complexity and richness as those cells break down and become part of the wine.


I have kept the bottle. It survived the great cull of 2011.

Conventional wisdom says you get five to six decent glasses out of a standard bottle (750ml), so if I limit myself to six people it means everyone gets two glasses from the magnum. Trying to choose who to share the Lanson with is proving more stressful than choosing wedding guests. I find I now spend my spare moments looking at people, thinking "I like you, but are you Lanson worthy?"

The issue of food is less stressful. Given the champagne will have big flavours and a fair bit of weight I would choose something flavoursome, rich and savoury. Crayfish, white meats or pâté are all classic choices.

I guess the simplest thing to do is to take the magnum, two back up bottles of champagne and five friends to my favourite restaurant. Out of interest, I emailed Lanson to ask what they suggested I do. They failed to comment on whether the wine would still be drinking well, which is understandable because after 26 years in the bottle there is no guarantee (especially when sealed with cork!). The winemaker did, however, have a helpful suggestion: the wine would be "the ideal choice for a romantic evening". Maybe my wife is on to something!

Lanson is one of the oldest champagne houses, founded in 1760. They source fruit from 800 acres (approx 323.2 hectares) of vineyards in Champagne. They make a great range of wines and the vintage is always lovely and great value.

Additional information to the story. Added 24/03/2012.



Yep, I was excited. (And hairy).

As it would turn out, the perfect way to drink my birth year magnum was on a glorious day in November '09 at Bress Winery in Harcourt. Adam Marks and his wife Lynne put on a lovely lunch for myself, my wife Kristina and S.A. friends Matt & Tel.

The wine was in great shape, developed of course, but in no way over the hill and in fact remarkably bubbly in both senses of the word. Strong savoury, brioche, caramel and nutty notes were interwoven with floral, citrus and spice. The palate was rich and full. Still going strong but definitely developed.

The magnum was a catalyst for a very long day, thankfully Matt doesn't drink so we could get home.

Interestingly the day ended when  Lynne, quite sensibly suggested Adam needed to go inside and we should head home. But lets never mention that again. And just remember the good times.

Overall, I would definitely say that is how you drink a birth year magnum: Friends and good food. The memory of which will stay with me forever.


Look at that bead. It was full of life.

It has been something of a habit over the years. Here are a few other birth year wines, drunk with less consternation and more... well, Gusto. All are fondly remembered.

Not surviving the cull of 2011 - Birth Year Bottle of Burgundy. Bought in Burgundy.

Also not surviving - Mount Mary Pinot and Leeuwin Estate Art Series Cabernet from '82

Good Old Burgundy

A nice relaxing lunch yesterday at Mr Bianco in Kew was a great excuse to pull out a bottle that had been burning a hole in my cellar.

We started with a bottle of the Frankland Estate Isolation Ridge Riesling 2010 - You've no doubt heard me go on (and on) about it before, but it is stunning. Here are my original notes. Such beautiful perfume, great balance and great flavours.

A graphic depiction of the label. If you see one of these, grab it!

J Confuron Contetidot Nuits-St-Georges 1988 - Re-released a few years ago direct from the Domaine this wine was stunning when it landed and possibly even better yesterday.
The colour had held up beautifully, a light strawberry with just a tinge of orange. But I believe these guys have used a lot of stems in production which could easily account for the orange (rather than it being obvious signs of age).
At first smell it was quite tart and made my heart sink a little. But as it had time in the glass it developed beautiful rose petal, cherry, and raspberry notes. There was plenty of pepper, gravel/ironstone/iodine and savoury notes. Overall though, it was remarkably fresh and vibrant.
The palate was mid-weight, had a good attack of red berries and crunchy acid on the front. As the wine swept back there was a silkiness and flesh that softened me up and then the Nuits-St-Georges tannins kicked in hefty but fine, gritty and long lingering. Luckily the classic Burgundian 'peacocks tail' perfume was also present and made for a beautifully long lasting experience after each sip. This is all the more impressive that it is Village level, not Premier or Grand Cru. Great old Burgundy indeed!

I first tasted this producer in about 2003 when the tasting group I was organising went through a line up of their 2001s to try and understand 'house style' and as a great excuse to taste six awesome Burgs. They own 7 hectare in the Cotes de Nuits. They tend to use cold soaks before fermantation with all the stems (imagine making a tea like infusion out of the crushed grapes and their stems). Stems tend to give the wine a tart, acidic edge which is great if they are ripe but can be mouthpuckeringly sour if they are not. This can mean that the producer sacrifices immediate appeal for long term drinking. The best exponents of the use of stems tend to make the most long lived Burgs in my experience.
Therefore this Domaine is often best enjoyed with some bottle age.

Riesling To The Occasion

Imagine coming back from holiday and a supplier asking if you'd like to attend a large Riesling tasting featuring some of the best German producers (with a few ring ins). Well that is what happened, and of course I said "Oh God yes!". It is after all the best way to ease back into the working cycle (don't believe me? Try it for yourself).

This is what the grape in question may look like.

In my mind Riesling is the ultimate terroirist - it transmits the flavours of the soil it is grown so faithfully. Couple this with the fact that Riesling tends to reject outright any wine maker influences that could cover these natural characters (think new oak or malo) and you've got the a pretty unstoppable force.

Might I also add to this that Riesling is delicious!

So many highlights... So much lovely Riesling.

JL Wolf -Dr Loosen's sister estate in Pfalz. Brilliant wines. Wachenheimer Riesling 2009 was so amazing. Pure, clean, mineral, great perfume and great balance. Just so drinkable, but the balance points to a long and healthy life ahead of it.

Donnhoff Nahe based, they make trocken (dry) styles and also QMP wines (ask what this is). Their mango and tropical, off dry, fleshy and intense Norheimer Kirschheck Spaltese 07 was excellent and certainly lingered in my mouth after I had spat. Equally good was their dry Niederhauser Hermannshole Grosse Gewaches 08, spices and herbal, tight young, citric and texturally appealling.

Heymann-Lowenstein Making dry wines from the Northern part of the Mosel known as the Terrassenmosel (not surpringly the vineyards are terraced in this area). These guys make some truly amazing Riesling!. The entry level Schieferterrassen had it all. Very expressive wet stones (in a good way), pepper & spices, stonefruits. It is long, dry, intense, silky and just a hint of bitterness.  The Von Blauem Schiefer was the next step up in intensity and presence. The Rottgen was dense, grapey and appley, floral. The perfume dances over your palate. Superb wine! Their Kirchberg was similar to the Rottgen but had more of everything and great length. The best was last for sure. Uhlen Rothlay showed floral, apples, grapes, spice. So young and pure. It's youthful simplicity coupled with an amazing mouthfeel made this wine a pleasure to taste.

This is what they mean by Terrassenmosel.

A. Christmann Another of the Pfalz brigade (it is a really great and underappreciated region!). The whole line up of trocken wines were perfumed, and full of finesse and class. The Grosse Gewaches in particular are worth mentioning. However we were treated to a very small (but still, extremely generous) taste of his Idig #1 Eiswein. A wine made from grapes left to freeze on the vine. Sauternes like concentration and intensity. Really complex, really satiny mouthfeel. A little taste is often enough because the flavours lingers for so long. Beautiful!

Wittman calls Rheinhessen home. their wines are pure and direct. Some good perfume lift with some more 'funky' sort of notes too. They had an interesting Silvaner on tasting too. Nice to try some of these quirky varieties.

Brundlmayer So these guys are Austrian, not German. But the wines are really, really good. A couple of pretty Gruner Veltliners (Yum!) and some mineral laden, clean and fruitful Rieslings.

Georg Breuer Those who are paying attention may remember we've sold some of these wines before. I do love the wines from Breuer. This time there was only the Berg Roseneck to taste, but it showed all the hallmark pretty florals and fruits with the underlying structure and power.

Berg Roseneck in all its glory

Ring ins

Huber Germans making Pinot Noir? And Pinot Blanc? Yep, that is what we have here. They were brilliant too. The Noir was like a light and minerally Mercurey and the Blanc was spicy, white fruited and citric with and oaky/creamy finish.

Pittnauer Austrian Reds Zweigelt and St Laurent. Hard to compare to other varieties. They are both dense, savoury, meaty with a savoury undergrowth character. The St Laurent is more silky and dense. The Zwiegelt leaner and more savoury.

Sadly I did not get to taste everything, but I was easing myself back in after all...

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