Terry Theise Dinner at Island Creek Oyster Bar in Boston

Grower Champagne advocate and importer Terry Thiese moved to Boston recently and a group descended on Island Creek Oyster Bar in the Hotel Commonwealth, in the shadow of Fenway Park, for a shellfish extravaganza. There was some beef, too, as folks brought some middle-age Bordeaux and Barolo, in addition to our embarrassment of bubbly riches.


Here is the Champagne lineup, which frankly, was all I was focused on:

• NV Varnier Fanniere BdB
  
• NV Gaston Chiquet BdB
• NV Billiot Cuvee Laetitia (actually a solera)
  
• 2001 Vilmart Coeur de Cuvee
• 2002 Goutourbe Special Club
• 2002 Pierre Peters Chetillons
• 2002 Chartogne-Taillet Fiacre
• 2003 Pierre Peters BdB
• 2004 Gimonnet Fleurons BdB
  

I've actually been fortunate enough to try all of these wines before but tasting them alongside each other was a revelation for how distinct they were, and was another argument in favor of "terroir."

Sniffing the Varnier Fanniere was a great example, it clearly showed off it's pencil lead aromas associated with the vines in Avize.

The 02 Pierre Peters Chetillons was such a complete wine even in its youth, it and the 01 Vilmart Coeur de Cuvee stole the show. The latter wine is almost beyond description and is certainly a singular wine.

Amazingly these wines are always fairly priced when compared to their large-house brethren. At a recent single-blind tasting, the 02 Gourtourbe Special Club (approx. $70) dusted some heavyweights, such as 1996 Krug (approx. $250+) and 1996 Dom Perignon ($260+), with its rich flavors.

Some argue that there aren't enough aged examples to judge how they might taste years from now. There could be a point there.

But even so, if a wine tastes incredible in its youth - is that pleasure any less or diminished versus one that has a couple of decades of age and drinks well?