RJ stayed at Hotel Timeo in Taormina and had the following Champagne as an apéritif on the terrace:
1998 TAITTIINGER ‘COMTES de CHAMPAGNES’ | Reims | Champagne | France | Taittiinger | 100CH | RJpoints 94(95)
TASTING NOTE ‘Not even the importer knew that the new vintage was on its way when they found a magnum 98 among their bottles. It is clearly a bit wrong to start tasting a new vintage in a magnum since the size of the bottle makes the wine even less ready. So far this is a fresh, lemon-crispy package of mineral without the slightest “Comtes” maturity. Store!!! All right, not as sharp any longer, some toastiness started to appear during the spring of 2007, and butterscotch plumpness in the spring of 2008.’
