The 1982 vintage was quite unusual with a late bud burst. Although the vine development continued as normal under favourable climatic situation. The previous two years had been so hard that the vines gave it their best shot. Highly sunny weather in September meant that the large harvest devloped and matured very well. In July and June their were some red spider mites and a small amount of downy mildew.

Picking began in the 17th and 20th of September depending on vineyards. The harvest exceeded the record breaking 1970.
Due to favourable climatic conditions the quality of fruit was very high.

The VR 1982 was a blend of 9 Grandcrus and Premier. This wine is made up of only Chardonnay (33.7%) and Pinot.

Colour: Deep gold, the bubbles are very developed.
Nose: Dried fruits, hints of biscuit, brioche and soft spices. The nose is quite well intergrated with softer aromas than expected.
Palate: Very developed wine with great balance, rich powerful cramy textures. It has a long finish with good bead integrity.
Overall: My favourite of the tasting. Still has another four or so years ahead. 97 on the Jeremy Scale.

Jeremy -

I'm frightened by the fact that you know so much about the climate history in Champagne.

Are you recalling this from memory or do you have a Veuve tasting guide somewhere? If the former is true, I'm VERY impressed.

Thanks for the great TN's, by the way.

M-driver,
Mostly personal notes taken during various seminars and tuitorials discussing vintage variance by region.

I've got similar notes on most French, Aussie, NZ , German and some Italian regions/vintages. Some of the info is more concise than other examples but this is due to the info available when I took the notes.

So in a way it isn't so much the guidance of one producer but of many.

The Veuve Formal tasting- the info was really limited to -
" 1990 started quite frightening and although we got some frost we managed to avoid too much dammage. The summer was intense and long and this can be seen in the wines beautiful balance and ripeness etc..."

They didn't really discuss all of the factors. The Cru's information and Cuvee blends were provided by a Veuve guide- an information pamphlet put out by Veuve's importer's here in NZ.