First and most importantly a very happy new year to those who read this blog (yep, happy new year to the two of you...)

Let's have projects, let's have fun and let's have bubbles !

In 2009, one of my project for the New Year was to buy some barrels and to have my first vinifcation in them. I had a clear idea of I wanted without a clue one how to achieve my goal.

I wanted the vanilla, the caramel the onctuosity without the sharp oak notes.

I got insights from fellow wine-makers who worked with barrels and I eventually bought 6 second-hand burgundy barrels in Santenay.

At harvest 2009, some Chardonnay from Avize ended up fermenting in those 6 barrels, first racking 10 days after, another racking at the end of march 2010.

Bottling occured on July 27th. Half the batch was closed with the standard capsule+bidule and the other half with a cork and a metal clip (all the details in this post).

These bottles are now 16 months old. This means that I could put them on the market. I won't but the appellation d'origine contrôlée Champagne allows to sell bottles after 15 months.

But as patience is certainly not my main virtue, I had to open some and taste the difference !

It is a diffucult exercice to taste such wines objectively, I put so much effort and expectation in them.

And as objectively as I can be, I have to admit they both are delicious... 

I actually tasted them three times over december.

And each time I was amazed to see (taste) how different they are.

I was expecting the capsule+bidule champagne to be more mature but it is actually the opposite. I feel like the cork+clip will need much more time to develop. 

The oakiness of the barrel shows more in the cork+clip champagne, with  tropical fruit and ripe banana, but it remains discreet and fondu (what could be the word in English for that ?)

Globally, what really struck me was how fast they were changing. They are blooming adolescant at the monment. They would love Hello Kitty on Monday, Justin Bieber on Tuesday, Rihanna by Thursday and before the end of the week, they would ask you for your Sergeant Pepper album.

So I shall give them a bit more time.