WTN: Nicolas Feuillatte Champagne Brut NV

A blend of Chardonnay (20 per cent), Pinot Noir (40) and Pinot Meunier.

Good frothy mousse when poured.

Dark yellow in the glass.

Good streams of fine bubbles.

Nothing much on the nose.

Nutty, lemon, lime, very tart and sharp, bitter citrus rind. The tartness-bitterness moderated somewhat with warming, but was still quite overpowering.

Sharp, bitter citrus rind on the finish.

A very disappointing wine.

Purchased at $50.60 (Canadian).

I think I'd rather drink Domaine Chandon than Feuillatte.

You should try to find Pierre Peters. Harder to find but never disappointing.

F

Is that the one with the blue label? If so my wife buys it at $32 US. Agree at the $50 price point you are better off with Pierre Peters.

Is that the one with the blue label? If so my wife buys it at $32 US. Agree at the $50 price point you are better off with Pierre Peters.

Yes it is the on with the blue label.

I must admit that Nicolas Feuillate is not one of my favorites either, for whatever reason. Have only the had the NV twice (and one was a half bottle) but I also didn't find anything memorable about it. It was drinkable I guess but nothing more. No offense to the house (I do think they have a nice looking label at least) but I too would rather spend the money on a number of other choices, if given that choice. Oh well, such is the beauty, and in these cases, sometimes the "danger" of tasting champagnes - you can never know for sure exactly what a given bottle will hold...

The one that's most frustrating for me is the "was it just a bad/young bottle?" epidemic. If you KNEW that the winemaker/house was just simply bad it would make life easy. Just simply cross it off your list forever more. Yet, as in life, things aren't usually that simple. Maybe it IS a good wine (typically) and I just got a bad one? Or shouldn't have opened it just yet? Or maybe I just have too soft a heart and am always willing to give things two or three chances. I had that happen to me with Louis Roederer NV. My first experience with it was a bottle that, I guess, was just off? I tasted none of the "richness" that I'd heard nearly everyone admired about the house's NV. Just tasted very "green" to me and with no real hint of "sweetness" (not as in sugar but just ripeness...). Then I had a good bottle about a half year ago. It was THEN I started to understand what people saw in Louis Roederer! That bottle was very weighty, perfectly balanced (to my taste). On the dry end yet kinda exotic too. Very delicious! If I had just decided that I simply did not like Louis Roederer, I may have never saw the true "light". Of course, as already mentioned, there's no guarantee another bottle won't be "bad" again...

I suppose it's one of the things that as a wine lover is a counter-productive trait I have. I'd prefer a wine I've come to like to ALWAYS be that way, always be at least "consistent", be foolproof and reliable if not constantly GREAT. Yet that's definitely not what wine is about (or meant to be about actually). Even with the consistently "good" wines there are still times when it's good-er than others. Not that I don't enjoy the thrill of a wine surprising me. It's just I'd rather those surprises occur on a backdrop of the wine already being good and "how you always remember it to be", and not "is this wine going to be great like time "X" or is it going to be lackluster like that other time "Y".

Am I even making any sense here? I better go as I have a feeling that answer may be a glaring NO...



Jeff

Nicolas Feuillate is actually a co-op I believe. Anyone? I have found their offerings far more variable in style AND quality than most real Champagne houses.

Nicolas Feuillate is actually a co-op I believe. Anyone? I have found their offerings far more variable in style AND quality than most real Champagne houses.

Yes, after doing further research it looks like they are a co-op actually. In the latest Richard Juhlin Champagne guide I recently bought he mentions that 85 OTHER sub-co-operatives all "share" the grapes that come into their giant pressing plant. If I fully understand the capsule he wrote for them, it sounds like they run a rather "unromantic", fully hands-off kinda process which probably says everything right there! It also says they produce 10 million bottles per year as well so...

Jeff

Jeff B, thanks for alerting me to the 2008 Juhlin guide. I have "4000 Champagnes" and and have found it the most reliable guide in a field where mistakes can be costly! My 1-click amazon order is in. So now there's an update?--I'm in.

[Jenise]

If you KNEW that the winemaker/house was just simply bad it would make life easy. Just simply cross it off your list forever more. Yet, as in life, things aren't usually that simple.

When we moved to Washington five years ago, the NV Nickie that Costco carried, for about $20 then, was good stuff. We celebrated a few early milestones with it. It had good yeast and brioche characteristics on baked apple. Then the price went up a few dollars and the new bottles, presumably a new shipment, were vapid and dilute. Too much variation and with the price up around $30 now, we've not purchased it since.

[David M. Bueker]

Feuillate is not bad, but the field has upped its game in the last 10 years while they have stood still.

Jeff B, thanks for alerting me to the 2008 Juhlin guide. I have "4000 Champagnes" and and have found it the most reliable guide in a field where mistakes can be costly! My 1-click amazon order is in. So now there's an update?--I'm in.

You're very welcome! I kinda found it by accident myself while browsing for any potentially new champagne books on amazon. It's more of a "pocket book" type companion to the coffee table book (has a white cover). I'm sure he must have saw the need to make his excellent books available in more of a practical condensed format. I really don't know if he plans to do these as a yearly update kind of thing or if he'll just update them occasionally (like the big book). I wouldn't say it's anything drastically new or exciting beyond his awe-inspiring heavy books but it IS easier to browse through and I still recommend it (HIGHLY recommended if someone doesn't have ANY of his champagne books). I believe if you subscribe to his website (which I never have yet but perhaps should) you get constant and "up to the minute" access to all his latest notes, writings, offers etc.

I have two editions of the coffee-table books, the latest "4000 champagnes" and also the previous "2000 champagnes", the latter still my favorite actually. The "4000 champagnes" is obviously more up to date and is stunning in terms of all the information and notes it contains yet as a tiny quibble I don't like the paper quality and "feel" as much on the "4000" book. The "2000 champagnes" was slightly smaller (a bit easier to handle) and had the super glossy pages giving it an almost true photographic type feel when flipping through it. Probably because his book/notes were getting so expansive or, understandably, due to cost the "4000 champagnes" book has more of a stiff matte cardboard-ish type feel to the pages that I dont care for as well. However, these are all rather silly and superficial quibbles on my part. I LOVE the books as well. Whether one's own tastes match Juhlin's or not, his passion (and even one-mindedness) for champagne is obviously something I share and can relate to. In my opinion, the books are so good and indispensible that I recommend them even to people who may not really even care for champagne! They're that good. lol Just the notes, even if just for pure browsing enjoyment are, in my opinion, worth the price alone. And yet that's only half the book. I've had the two editions going back about 7 or 8 years now and I STILL haven't come close to reading every note! And I use them quite frequently! I don't think cellartracker's database has anything on Juhlin, and he's only tasting one type of wine all the time! lol It's also a treat just to simply read his notes on the MANY truly old champagnes he's tasted, in which most of us can only dream about! It makes you jealous but more importantly is just fun to browse through...

Take care,

Jeff

Nicolas Feuillate is actually a co-op I believe. Anyone? I have found their offerings far more variable in style AND quality than most real Champagne houses.

Yes, after doing further research it looks like they are a co-op actually. In the latest Richard Juhlin Champagne guide I recently bought he mentions that 85 OTHER sub-co-operatives all "share" the grapes that come into their giant pressing plant.

yes, that would explain some batch variation!

Hello everyone - pleased to make your acquaintance

I was interested in your posts about Nicolas Feuillate and I agree with most of what has been said - it's not one that I rate that highly either. However I would caution against writing off any champagne just because it's from a cooperative.

Union Champagne is a cooperative that is based in Avize and has an outstanding reputation in the Champagne region as being a producer of first-class wines.

Avize, as you probably know, is a Grand Cru village in the Côte des Blancs and is, in my view, something of a centre of excellence - they also have a well-thought-of college of viticulture and viniculture in the village.

Union Champagne produces many champagnes but their own "brand" is Champagne De Saint Gall and it's well worth the effort of trying when you have the chance, especially the Cuvée Orpale: an outstanding Blanc de Blancs, as you'd expect from Avize

Happy tasting

Jiles

Thanks for the contribution Jiles and welcome to the forum.

Why don't you post a message on the site and tell us something about yourself?

Hello everyone - pleased to make your acquaintance

I was interested in your posts about Nicolas Feuillate and I agree with most of what has been said - it's not one that I rate that highly either. However I would caution against writing off any champagne just because it's from a cooperative.

Union Champagne is a cooperative that is based in Avize and has an outstanding reputation in the Champagne region as being a producer of first-class wines.

Avize, as you probably know, is a Grand Cru village in the Côte des Blancs and is, in my view, something of a centre of excellence - they also have a well-thought-of college of viticulture and viniculture in the village.

Union Champagne produces many champagnes but their own "brand" is Champagne De Saint Gall and it's well worth the effort of trying when you have the chance, especially the Cuvée Orpale: an outstanding Blanc de Blancs, as you'd expect from Avize

Happy tasting

Jiles

Hi Jiles, welcome to the board here!

You are right about not writing off any co-operatives, or any champagnes as a whole. I mentioned in one of the posts above how even with some of the big, well acclaimed houses you can have some bad bottles that lead to you wondering why a house is thought to be so great. Then you get "a good one" and it can all make sense. Or vice versa. I do believe you really have to treat each bottle as a whole new possible experience.

While I obviously have more natural fondness for houses/growers that I've had good bottles from or that I know have at least some true "hands-on" passion for the blending aging etc I still am one who always says "you should taste bottles, not houses". In theory, any bottle of (true) champagne can be something special even if by pure accident.

And in Nicolas Feuillatte's case, it may even be more the pure number of bottles produced more than the fact they seem to be an automated co-op that is actually the reason for some of the apparent "lackluster-ness". Then again Dom Perignon is produced in large quantities and is still at worst, nice enough and at best, about as good as anything so you're right, you can never make blanket statements about anything really...

Take Care,

Jeff