ROBERT M. PARKER THE WINE ADVOCATE

Unanimously recognised as the most demanding of wine professionals, Mr Robert Parker, in "The Wine Advocate", underlines with praise the elegance and great finesse of Lenoble Champagnes.

Lenoble's NV Brut produced from a blend of the 1996 and 1995 vintages is one of the finest values consumers can find from Champagne on the market today. An outstanding wine, it offers a toasty, yeasty nose and a broad, crisp, light to medium-bodied personality. Flavors of fresh pear, yeast, and flowers can be discerned in its refreshing, complex character. Drink it over the nest 3-4 years.

The apple-scented NV Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs is a highly focused, delineated, and pure sparkling wine filled with zesty apple and floral flavors. It has outstanding length yet lacks the friendly, expansive nature of the Regular Brut cuvée. Those who enjoy aging their Champagnes may well find that this wine will blossom with cellaring. Projected maturity : 2004-2009.

A creamy, sealky-textured beauty, the 1995 Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs displays white flower and toast aromas. This sexy, sensual Champagne is loaded with spiced apple, toast and pear flavors. It is generous, broad, vinous, ripe and exceptionally long in the finish. Projected maturity : now-2009. Incidentally, 1995 was a fabulous vintage for chardonnay-based Champagnes.

The Domaine A.R Lenoble proved to be an exciting discovery. As I have frequently written, one of the more positive developments in Champagne is the number of small domaines that are getting recognition for the high quality of their selections.

In America, the large Champagnes houses will continue to dominate because of their strong distribution system, as well as the extremely high quality of their Champagnes. Nevertheless, there is room for some of the small estates, particulary those offering wine with a quality/price rapport such as Domaine A.R Lenoble. At $22 a bottle, readers should stock up on the non-vintage Brut Réserve. This blend is a delicious, crisp, elegant, light-bodied Champagne with gorgeous finesse, an attractive, creamy texture, precise and persistent pin-point bubbles, and a dry, fresh, vibrant finish. This lively, elegant Champagne should drink beautifully as an aperitif."

"The non-vintage Blanc de Blancs exhibits a creamy white Burgundy-like nose of pineapples and tropical fruits, as well as some attractive wheat bread, yeasty-like notes. Concentrated, light to medium-bodied, dry, pure and fresh, this is an impressive bottle of Champagne. I would opt for drinking it as an aperitif, or with delicate fish dishes."

"The 1988 Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru possesses superb depth, excellent ripeness, admirable acidity, and medium body. More expansive, it cuts a broader swath on the palate, and it is probably better served with food than served as an aperitif. All three of these Champagnes are pure, dry, and beautifully balanced. Excellent value."