Wine Enthusiast (99)

As always, this exceptional Champagne, only released in top vintages, shows its rare qualities. Its poise between texture, acidity, intense aging ability and minerality are so right. It is ready to drink, but that would be a shame, because this wine will age so well. Drink from 2025.

James Suckling (92)

This has attractive notes of praline, hazelnuts, tarte tatin, berry fruit and spiced pears. Tasty and deliciously spicy, with soft bubbles and a medium body. Excellent persistency. 60% pinot noir and 40% chardonnay. Disgorged 2022. 3g/L dosage. Drink now.

Matthew Jukes (19.5++)

By contrast to the Bollinger, Comte is not a one-off, nor anything out of the ordinary. It is a label that all committed Champagne lovers adore. Predictable perhaps. But, of course, one thing does vary, and that is the vintage. The ‘worst’ Comte I ever tasted was rather lovely. The ‘best’, and there have been many (1959, 1966, 1996, 2002, 2006) are all sublime and you can now add 2011 to this list. Taittinger always seems to shun the spotlight, unlike Dom Perignon and other more attention-seeking brands and this modesty rather suits this House. I did something that I never do after first tasting my sample bottle. I was so shocked with the sheer class that I sealed the bottle with a simple Champagne stopper and then tasted it again and again over two days. The stress-testing sorts the wheat from the chaff. It is unlikely that anyone who bought a bottle would do this. Still, I like to see how a potentially great wine evolves, opens up, sometimes falls over, and sometimes blossoms over a few days because it gives me an indication of its potential and its true baseline of quality. The fruit is so tense, grand and layered it is remarkable. The flavour, the fizz, the length, the momentum and the overall halo of greatness did not change one iota over nearly 60 hours of being open with no preservation whatsoever. This is a genius, B de B and while it tastes scintillating now, I am confident that it will amaze Comte fans for decades to come.

The Wine Independent (97)

The 2008 Comtes de Champagne Rose Brut is composed of 70% Pinot Noir and 30% Chardonnay, with 12% Pinot Noir blended in as a still red wine. It comes entirely from estate-grown, Grand Cru vineyards and is aged 12 years prior to release with 9 g/L dosage. Sporting a very pale salmon pink color, it tumbles out of the glass with captivatingly floral notes of roses and jasmine, giving way to a core of wild strawberries, raspberry leaves, red apples, and pears, with faint wafts of crushed rocks and lavender. The palate is delicately played with racy acidity and very fine bubbles guiding the laser-precise red berry and apple-inspired flavors to a long, mineral-laced finish. For those that love the restraint and finesse with red berry sparkles, this is for you!

Wine Spectator (91)

Finely balanced and mouthwatering, this creamy Champagne layers flavors of pineapple upside-down cake, chalk, kumquat and roasted almond with a firm frame of acidity and a streak of smoky minerality.