Maison Lenique '04 vs '05

My husband and I were very sad to see the bottom of the bottle of Maison Lenique 2004 that we drank on Wednesday, so I put a bottle of the 2005 on the champagne shelf in the fridge. He was supposed to be out late last night so I figured I would have a glass with the bread and cheese I nibbled on for dinner. But he came home earlier than expected, so we managed to share the bottle, which was a bit of a treat.

One of the things we had commented on while drinking the 2004 was how nice it was to come back to a really well-made champagne after drinking some of the other sparkling wines we've had of-late - regardless of how good they were. There's nothing quite like a well-balanced champagne. It was incredibly refreshing, clean on the palate, and had fantastic bubbles - the kind of thing that made us say "aaahhh" upon drinking and left us wanting more.

I was a little disappointed that I didn't get that feeling again while drinking the 2005 last night. At first I thought it was because it wasn't the best match with the blue cheese I was eating. But then my husband agreed with me. While the 2005 is still a wonderful champagne, with its yeasty, sweet apple flavours, it's not quite as refined as the 2004 and the residual sweetness on the finish makes it a little less refreshing. We still really enjoyed it, but it was good to try the two vintages back-to-back again to remind ourselves of how different they are.