Champagne

Almost a by-word for celebration, is there a wine as evocative, as enticing, as exciting as Champagne? We seriously doubt it…

Just an hour or two east of Paris, Champagne is a relatively northerly wine region, its largely chalk and limestone soils and cool climate the perfect stage for the core blend of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier grapes. Produced via the ‘traditional method’, meaning a secondary fermentation in bottle, such a formula can be tweaked – sometimes to be sharp and crisp, other times rich and creamy. Such contrasting styles, accentuated by the different cuvées made by each producer, are part of the joy of fine Champagne, and mean that this is a wine (and it’s worth remembering that this is a wine) that is about more than simply popping corks. Some fizz will best as an aperitif, some is made for enjoying with food while others – notably older, vintage Champagnes that develop wonderful, creamy, mature flavours – merit savouring on their own, as one would with any fine wine.

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Champagne styles

Most Champagne houses make a number of different cuvées across a range of styles and price points. The core bottling for nearly all producers is the non-vintage (NV), normally made from a blend of recent years, with some reserve wine, and intended to reflect the house style from edition to edition, so that customers can be confident that this style will remain relatively consistent. This is the calling card of the house, and sets out their identity.   Thereafter, most houses will make a vintage Champagne in years where the crop is of the requisite quality, held back for extended ages, while some producers who specialise in Chardonnay might make a regular blanc de blancs (feauring only white grapes, in this case Chardonnay), and others who favour Pinot Noir (or, occasionally, Meunier) might make a blanc de noirs (from only black grapes). Rosé, having for long been a relatively niche specialism of the likes of Laurent-Perrier and Billecart-Salmon, is an increasingly popular style produced across the spectrum, as both a vintage and non-vintage bottling. And then there are multi-vintage cuvées, prestige cuvées, the fashionable Brut Nature (ultra-dry) cuvées, bottlings aged under water and so on and so on…

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Popular Champagne

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Show in Bond Pricing Buying in bond means the wine is stored in a bonded warehouse and no duty or VAT has been paid—ideal for storage or resale. <br>Duty paid means taxes are included and the wine is ready for home delivery and drinking.

2014 Clos des Goisses, Champagne Philipponnat

2010 Dom Ruinart Blanc de Blancs, Champagne Ruinart

N/V Special Cuvée, Bollinger

2014 Clos des Goisses, Champagne Philipponnat

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Champagne FAQs

What are the best vintages of Champagne?

Much like Port, Vintage Champagne is not produced every year, and is at the discretion of each individual house as to whether they feel the quality of the year merits such a release (often after several years ageing). That said, releases from some of the top houses seem to be becoming more frequent, possibly as a result of climate change providing more reliable conditions, allied to better winemaking know-how and more rigorous selection. Since the back-to-back pair of 1995 and 1996, the most widely released – and critically acclaimed – vintages have been 2002, 2004, 2008 and 2012. Of these, 2008 was probably the most universally heralded, and a decade later, 2018 looking set to join its ranks, and possibly even surpass it.

What is a prestige cuvée?

A prestige cuvée is a limited release from a house, usually of a single vintage (or, occasionally, as with Laurent-Perrier’s Grand Siècle, a multi-vintage) that is rarer and generally of smaller production than its vintage Champagne. Each house will have their own approach to such a bottling, though this is generally consistent across releases. Louis Roederer’s Cristal, for instance, always comes from a selection of particular plots; Taittinger’s Comtes de Champagne and Ruinart’s Dom Ruinart are always blanc de blancs. Often the wine is richer in style – Pol Roger’s Cuvée Sir Winston Churchill is famously made in this manner as a tribute to the former prime minister, who preferred such generosity of fruit.

Champagne producers

Most Champagne houses source grapes from right across the region, relying largely on purchased grapes rather than their own vineyards. Some boast more of their own vineyard holdings than others, however – Louis Roederer, for example, is unusual in being able to turn to their own sites for 70% of their grapes. The most recognisable names within Champagne are the grandes marques, whose names have become household names – Roederer, Bollinger, Taittinger, Billecart-Salmon, Pol Roger, Ruinart et al… But so-called ‘Grower Champagnes’ are now an increasingly influential and popular source of fizz too. Produced at a smaller scale by producers using only their own grapes, these more artisan operations have accrued a loyal following among purists, with names such as Vilmart & Cie, Ulysse Collin and Jerome Provost leading the way.