Platter highly recommanded, **** 1/2
"Yellow straw color. Bright, fruity, creamy leesy aromas of lemon chiffon, nougat, brioche, and balloon with a body and a smooth, charming, medium-long honeyed lemon and mango and toast finish with no oak. A very zesty, lemony sparkler that will cut through rich foods like a knife."
- Beverage Testing Institute (December 10th 2015), 91 pts
"For just a bit higher price (in South Africa), the Brut Reserve is a very significant step up from the Brut Plaisir. The bottle we tasted was made of mostly 2011 base wine and recently disgorged and is still tight and not very expressive, but its fine texture and balance promises good drinking pleasure. Pale straw, it’s very clean with bread dough, apple and citrus notes, excellent acidity and a nice chalky note on the finish. It’s a 52/48 blend of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, mostly from the 2011 vintage, with about 22 percent reserve wine. Once it settles down, we expect this wine to be at least as good as earlier releases that we’ve tasted."
I-WineReview (January 2014), 91 pts
"The Brut Reserve (disgorged April 2018) was 10% fermented in French oak barrel and includes 20% reserve vintages. It spent 30 months on the lees. The well-defined, focused nose features bright citrus lemon and hints of baked bread. The palate is well balanced with a taut, crisp, citric entry. This is vivacious, very pretty and graced with lovely apricot hints on the finish. A superb MCC from Colmant. - Neal Martin"
- Vinous (August 28th 2018), 91 pts
"Light creamy yellow. The Brut Reserve is an outstanding New World sparkler. Rich and leesy, it’s fresh and beautifully balanced with a creamy texture and rich long finish. 52% Pinot Noir and 48% Chardonnay with 20% reserve wines and a minimum of 30 months on the lees. A small portion of the base wine is oak aged. Excellent value."
- I-wineReview.com (December 2022), 92 pts
"Labelled as a non-vintage wine, but this is based on 2017 fruit with a generous dose of reserve wine. Pale, youthful, yet showing some subtle autolysis, it has pinhead bubbles, notes of citrus, fennel and white flowers and a fresh, vibrant, acidity-led finish. 2020-23"
- Tim Atkin (South Africa 2020 Report), 92 pts