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Hugh Johnson OBE
Recently Disgorged 1982 versus 1985 Champagne
The world's first tasting of mature Champagne vintages competing on a demonstrably level playing field
Our Champagne taster Tom Stevenson and WFW organised a very special Champagne tasting focusing on the fully mature 1982 and 1985 vintages. What was particularly remarkable about this tasting was that for the first time ever the wines were compared on a level playing field, the houses having agreed to disgorge all of the bottles for WFW on the very same day. Normally the disgorgement dates would have been years apart, making the comparisons much less meaningful than they were on this occasion.
20 Champagne producers participated. Lanson 1982 and 1985 took first and second place. The tasting was hosted at Berry Bros' 17th-century cellars in London www.bbr.com and our full report is published in WFW issue 26.
What the WFW experts said:
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| Tom Stevenson : "If the smart money 20 years ago would have been on the 1982s to win, then the smart money today must have been on the 1985s. But because every wine had been disgorged on the same day, it could well have been such a close-run race that the smartest money remained in the pocket." |
 | Michael Edwards : "It came as no surprise to me that Lanson 1982 and Lanson 1985 showed so well. As insiders over the age of 50 know, old vintages of Lanson have always been magnificent. "
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 | Simon Field MW : " I was fascinated by the potential of this event. What jumped out for me was the extraordinary focus and freshness of the best examples." |
Read the full story of this exceptional tasting in Issue 26 of The World of Fine Wine
The World of Fine Wine's award-winning editorial team is led by Hugh Johnson OBE, Andrew Jefford, and Neil Beckett
Our international contributors include
Serena Sutcliffe MW • Gerald Asher • Allen Meadows
Randall Grahm • Jancis Robinson MW • Tim Atkin MW
Michael Broadbent MW • David Schildknecht
Read what they say about The World of Fine Wine.