Savory might not be a term you associate with champagne, but that is my most immediate reaction to this wine. And, I mean it as a big compliment. I tasted this wine alongside Ruinart’s venerable cellar master, Jean-Philippe Moulin. Somehow one-on-one tastings with the winemaker are really my favorite exercises since my level of concentration and understanding is heightened many times over at these occasions. Cognac in tone, the wine is infused with flavors of cooked plum. This Grand Cru wine dates from the highly-coveted 1990 vintage (still my favorite vintage of the last decade), and shows its age well in both the depth of the color and the rich taste of the slightly savory wine. Jean-Philippe and I happily imagined all the good dishes this wine would pair well with, and we dreamed of Moroccan pigeon pastilla, Chinese caramelized duck, and ginger-flavored desserts. This wine struck home so hard, the taste still lingers in my mind.