1998 boerl & kroff, brut
Why We're Buying
Boërl & Kroff Brut is a chef-d'oeuvre of Champagne. The wine only comes in magnum bottles and utilizes grapes from three Drappiers vineyards - Les Égrillés, Le Montouillet, and La Belle Haie. Currently, it ranks as the eighth-most expensive Champagne.
Critics Scores
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Interestingly, the highlight of this tasting was not the 1996 or 1995 but rather the 1998 Brut, perhaps because the wine is actually fully mature. Bursting with a complex bouquet that marries scents of mandarin, peach, vanilla pod and beeswax with nuances of English walnuts and fresh mushrooms, it's a full-bodied, rich and expansive Champagne that's concentrated and gourmand but impressively racy and precise despite its textural, muscular style, concluding with a long and sapid finish. I suspect the 1998 will be shorter lived than the 1996 and 1995—though of course it's certainly in no danger of decline any time soon—but it would be my pick for drinking today. Drink from 2018-2035.