Champagne Poodleon
About Me
Hi, I'm Ted, and drink much of the Champagne and write most of the articles here. Fascinated by great drink and food - including Champagne!
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Champagne Vranken Demoiselle
Part of Vranken Pommery Monopole and basically "Supermarket Wine" on up
Champagne Demoiselle is a brand owned by Vranken Pommery Monopole in Epernay (formerly The Vranken Group). Their Champagne portfolio also includes Heidsieck & Co Monopole, Pommery, and Charles Lafitte as well as Rozes Port. They have been rapidly growing, both through acquisitions and by concentrating on sales channels their competitors have historically avoided.
Reuters describes them as a "France-based company engaged in the manufacture, commercialization and distribution of champagne, wine and Port wine." Notice "commercialization" in the description. They are trying to get Champagne into more hands, and are being successful as we'll see below. Anyone spreading the love of Champagne is cool in my book, although I found the one wine tasted so far to be just OK. I certainly did enjoy drinking it.
In 2012 alone they have reportedly spent 37 million Euro buying 5 companies. This greatly expanded their vineyard holdings with a 22 hectare vineyard northwest of Reims, and added supply contracts covering another 228 hectares of vines.
They
have also been growing via selling through grocery stores. This is an
enormous market, but one most Champagne houses have avoided historically.
Champagne Mercer, the best selling bubbly in France, is one of the few in
this market and has sometimes been referred to a "Supermarket Champagne"
in a derogatory sense (not available much of anywhere but France, and I've
never tried it as I always have more exciting things to try when in
France!).
Under the Vranken brand they make Champagne Vranken, Champagne Demoiselle, and Diamand (the French word for Diamond). The Diamond brand is the old Heidsieck & Co Monopole Diamond Blue with the distinctive bottle that looks like a cut diamond (a 1989 Heidsieck & Co Monopole Diamond Blue is shown in the picture).They make three Diamond bottlings, a Brut, Brut Rose, and Vranken Diamand Blue vintage.
Under the Champagne Demoiselle Brand, they make a number of wines. These include the Brut (tasting note below), Brut Rose, a Grand Cuvee, Sweet (presumably a demi-sec) and two vintage wines, a Parisienne Brut 1er Cru Millesime and a Parisienne Brut 1er Cru Millesime Rose.
I've found a large number of tasting notes online, and most people think their wines are decent but nothing special. In contrast, my friend Paul who has a fine palate has been drinking the Vranken Demoiselle Parisienne vintage 2000 "by the gallon" and loving it.
Tasting Note: Champagne Demoiselle Brut Tete de Cuvee NV
- January 2013, rated a "provisional" C+/B- as this bottle may have been slightly off as the cork wasn't
great and there were some slight reductive notes in the nose initially. It did have a good "pop" and seemed sound.
Certainly better than most things that come in a bottle. Maybe US$30.
80% Chardonnay and 20% Pinot Noir. Both primary and malolactic fermentation in stainless steel. Aged for three years on its lees.
Perhaps a slightly reductive nose at first but it blew off, and with some bread, yeast, and light apple. A pleasant light and sweet minerality as it warmed up.
Nice apple on the palate, quite feminine and rather simple. Not a lot of fizz and slightly sweet. Pleasant. Nothing special though.
The nose was better than the palate. Certainly an OK wine. Needs more ooomph and complexity.