Financial Times

JANCIS ROBINSON MW recently tasted 19 luxury Champagne cuves. 'Champagne is the one wine in which image and reputation can influence the palate most powerfully,' she says. That's why 'assessing the wines on the basis of taste alone can be so revealing'. The most impressive were 'the extremely energising and intriguing' Taittinger Prlude Grand Cru and the 'underpriced and under-appreciated' Charles Heidsieck, Blanc des Millnnaires 1995 Blanc de Blancs - 'a beautifully mature wine'. Majestic is selling the Taittinger Prlude for 24.99 a bottle if you buy three or 34.99 at larger Tesco stores for a single bottle. The Heidsieck is much harder to find in the UK; www.vintagewinegifts.co.uk is selling it for 89.99, with a corkscrew, wine pourer, drip stopper and wine stopper thrown in. Meanwhile, Laurent-Perrier Grand Sicle and 2000 Taittinger also showed well in the tasting, and Philipponnat Clos des Goisses 1996 'should be wonderful in a year or three'. Krug Ros is worth a mention for being 'much more beguiling than any current bottling of Krug Grande Cuve to have come my way in the last year.