Brut Champagne

Sourced from the prestigious Grand Cru village of Mailly, located at the heart of the Montagne de Reims, and benefiting from over three years’ ageing, our non-vintage United Kingdom Cuvée is a classic blend of 75 percent Pinot Noir and 25 percent Chardonnay.

All the hallmarks of Grand Cru are here, with brioche and flowers on the nose and an elegant palate which marries notes of lemon grass, gingerbread and honeysuckle. The wine effortlessly combines structure and finesse, and reverberates with a really authoritative Grand Cru crescendo on the finish.

Bollinger was established in 1829 by Jacques Bollinger and Paul Renaudin. The House has a reputation for producing muscular Champagnes with body, depth and power; these are classic, complex, Pinot-Noir dominated Champagnes with the ability to age gracefully for many years.

A blend par excellence; Special Cuvée is the purest expression of Bollinger's house style. Its biscuity nose is endowed with hints of white fruit and the rich, full-bodied palate is perfectly balanced by fresh acidity and a soft, delicate mousse. A stylish Champagne that is ideal to drink now or in the next two or three year.

This case is discounted by 30%. Price shown includes saving.

The Notes Blanches is made with 100% Pinot Blanc, which is very unusual for Champagne. The nose is full of aromatic white flowers, baked apple and clotted cream, laced with ginger. The palate is full, voluminous and fleshy, giving immediate enjoyment; yet it’s razor-dry with zero dosage. Flavours of white peach, guava, waxy lemon pith and yellow figs are layered on a cool, mineral palate. Vinous and terroir-driven, this is a fascinating style and unique to our range. The finish is electric, earthy and deliciously fresh. Drink now to 2030.
Davy Zyw, Buyer (summer 2019)

The glorious summer of 2009 was particularly good for Mailly's Grand Cru Pinot Noir grapes, a high percentage of which are used in its vintage blends. The resulting wine is ripe, rounded and opulent with aromas of nectarine, pear, white blossom and biscuit. The palate is rich and textural with red apple, peach and a delicate honeyed note on the finish, which will develop beautifully with time. 
Davy Zyw - Wine Buyer

Billecart-Salmon is one of the few remaining Champagne houses to be owned by the original family and was established in 1818 by Nicolas-François Billecart. Most of Billecart-Salmon's fruit comes from a small vineyard holding, though this is supplemented with grapes bought in from the Marne Valley and the Montagne de Reims. Meticulous production techniques, from the use of their own cultured yeast to its long, slow, cool fermentation, ensure that the family has 100 percent control of production.

This is without doubt one of the finest, yet least known, Grande Marque Champagnes, made with mainly Chardonnay and Pinot Meunier. This Champagne is lively, elegantly textured and fresh, with a very long finish.

Louis Roederer, a wonderful family-owned Champagne House founded in 1776, has a tremendous reputation for quality. It has remained an independent, family-owned company and is now managed by Frédéric Rouzaud, who represents the seventh generation of the lineage. Eighty percent of the firm's needs are supplied by their own, magnificent, 444 acres of vineyard holdings.

This wine is without doubt one of the very top non-vintage Champagnes. Its elegant complexities come from the barrel-ageing of a high proportion of the blend, together with at least four years' maturation in bottle before disgorging.
The quintessence of the House style, Brut Premier offers quality and glamour as well as excellent value. A structured, elegant wine, it is deliciously creamy with almond and toast characteristics alongside the complexity and roundness that are the hallmarks of this House.

Ruinart is a low-profile, yet select, Champagne house which is steeped in history. It was founded in 1729 by Nicolas Ruinart in the city of Reims, the year after a Royal Decree in 1728, whereby Louis XV gave his consent for sparkling wines to be shipped in baskets containing 50 to 100 bottles. This opened the gates of Europe to Champagne and thus makes Ruinart the oldest Champagne House.

Made from 40 percent Chardonnay and 60 percent Pinot Noir, R de Ruinart makes use of 40 percent reserve wine and is aged on its lees for three years. The wine is elegant with floral notes to the fore and hints of white peach and acacia on the palate. An excellent apéritif wine, this is a splendid introduction to the delights from this most ancient of Champagne Houses.

Leclerc Briant’s flagship wine is a true showcase of the House’s style. The blend (40% Pinot Noir, 40% Pinot Meunier and 20% Chardonnay) is sourced from organic and biodynamic vineyards across the Vallée de la Marne, Montagne de Reims and Côte des Blancs. A portion of the blend (20%) is fermented in used oak barrels, and the wine is aged on lees for at least two years, giving it a creamy complexity. The nose offers notes of candied citrus, green apple, apricot and almond, while the palate is electric in its freshness and salinity, driving on to a chalky, mineral finish.
Davy Zyw, Wine Buyer (winter 2018)

Bottles of this product are discounted by 20%. Price shown includes saving.

Lemon gold appearance with a delicate creamy mousse. The nose is rich and complex showing soft floral tones with citrus and orchard fruit entwined with hints of vanilla and hazelnut. The palate is fresh with an abundance of lemon and apple, a rich nuttiness with a hint of salinity balanced with inviting acidity and a rounded smooth finish. A delicious wine which will develop beautifully over time.

Champagne Gosset is the oldest wine producer in Champagne, dating back to 1584. Situated in the tiny Grand Cru village of Aÿ, 5km from Epernay, Gosset has some rather famous neighbours, including Bollinger.  Gosset’s blends come from some of the best villages across the Marne Valley encompassing both Grand and Premier Crus. It may not be the most famous of the Grande Marques simply because they don’t produce vast quantities, making only 1.3 million bottles a year, yet the quality of production here is at a very high level.

With this small production, Gosset concentrates on the quality of its wines rather than the quantity. One of the distinguishing characteristics of the Gosset style comes from their decision to create most of their cuvées without the use of malolactic fermentation; this preserves the purity of the fruit in the wine. This is evident in the 2006 Gosset Grand Millésime.  Having spent eight years maturing in the darkness of the Champagne Gosset cellars in Epernay, this 56 % Pinot Noir and 44 % Chardonnay wine is an excellent expression of the 2006 harvest (disgorged in spring 2015).  With a “low dosage” and no malolactic fermentation this is a very precise Champagne, with a move away from the brioche, toast notes one often

*This offer is available until 31st December.

Cuvée 742 is based on the 2014 vintage – a varied year in Champagne that required meticulous selection. The Chiquet brothers are constantly fine-tuning, and this year saw the wine aged on lees under cork rather than crown cap, and two months further ageing in oak. The result is even more complex than previous releases. Full of orchard fruit and cinnamon, tarte tatin, Chantilly cream, white blossom and savoury depths – this elegant wine has the texture of pure silk. Intelligent, supple and full of energy. Drink now to 2029.
Davy Zyw, Buyer (November 2019)

A blend of 95% Chardonnay with 5% Pinot Noir, this rosé Champagne is a shimmering pale pink colour. The nose is a wash of raspberry, wild strawberries, pink grapefruit and acacia, with a hint of aniseed and mint. With time, the wine reveals aromas of blackcurrant, peach skin, fresh almond, passion fruit, chalk and a heady scent of roses. On the palate, it is supple and fresh with a soft and creamy effervescence followed by a fleshy fruitiness supported by a citrus backbone. Chalky minerality lends breadth to this long and saline wine. A juicy fruity sensation, and a hint of salt, set in an ever-changing whirl of freshness.
Davy Zyw, Wine Buyer (winter 2018)

Leclerc Briant creates wines which are captivatingly energetic and terroir-driven. The 2010 Extra Brut is a blend of 40% Pinot Noir, 40% Chardonnay and 20% Meunier from Cumières, Hautvillers and Verneuil. White gold in the glass, it has a pithy citrus character, lifted with notes of anise and camomile. The finish is pure, electric freshness with an underlying clay and chalky minerality. More than a mere apéritif, try this with roast fish on the bone, or chicken supreme with morels. Drink now to 2025.
Davy Zyw, Buyer (October 2019)

Ruinart is a low-profile, yet select, Champagne house which is steeped in history. It was founded in 1729 by Nicolas Ruinart in the city of Reims, the year after a Royal Decree in 1728, whereby Louis XV gave his consent for sparkling wines to be shipped in baskets containing 50 to 100 bottles. This opened the gates of Europe to Champagne and thus makes Ruinart the oldest Champagne House.

The distinctive clear bottle for Ruinart’s Blanc de Blancs is based on an 18th century original. Its elegant Chardonnay persona is harmonious and elegant, capturing the House style. It is one of the finest blanc de blancs on the market, luminous of hue, rounded of form and lengthy in the memory.

The 2012 vintage was exceptional in Champagne; yielding wines with maturity, freshness and longevity. Roederer’s 2012 is one of the standout cuvées of the year: sourced from the House’s own vineyards, it’s predominantly Grand Cru fruit from the Montagne de Reims. A blend of 70% Pinot Noir and 30% Chardonnay, over a third of the blend is vinified in large oak foudres, aiding texture and complexity. Rich and powerful, notes of white peach and yellow fruit pricked with ginger and saffron are supported by a saline freshness with a pure and dangerously moreish finish. Drink now to 2035.
Davy Zyw, Buyer (October 2019)