Champagne
In 1668, Dom Pérignon is said to have discovered how to make sparkling wine; today his technique is used the world over, although Champagne continues to make some of the finest. France’s most northerly wine region, Champagne is now home to 15,000 growers and 290 ‘houses’. A blend of grape varieties is usually required: white Chardonnay to add fruit and elegance, and two reds – Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier – to provide body and backbone.
Our wine buyers leave no stone unturned in their quest to find the best Champagnes, and Berry Bros. & Rudd takes particular pride in its eclectic range of artisan Champagnes that represent a real sense of terroir, original winemaking, labour-intensive viticulture (often organic/biodynamic) and the uncompromising excellence of the end product.
How Champagne is made
In 1668, in the village of Hautvillers, the monk turned cellar master, Dom Pérignon, is said to have discovered how to make sparkling wine; while the same technique is used all over the world today, the region of Champagne continues to make some of the finest.
So what makes wine sparkle? Adding a solution of sugar and yeast to a white wine starts another fermentation in the bottle which results in the bubbles. Once the yeasts have done their job, a sediment known as ‘lees’ collects on the side of the bottle; contact with this deposit during maturation gives the wine its characteristic flavours of freshly-baked bread, toast and biscuit. Once this sediment is isolated (remuage) and removed (dégorgement), the Champagne is topped up with a sugar solution to make it dry or sweet
The Champagne Wine Region
Champagne is the most northerly wine region in France and is situated north-east of Paris. There are three main vineyard areas: Côte des Blancs, Vallée de la Marne and Montagne de Reims.
Ripeness of the grapes is often a problem, which is one reason why a blend of grape varieties is usually used: the white Chardonnay to give fruit and elegance, and two reds – Pinot Noir (particularly to provide a ‘backbone’) and Pinot Meunier.
In Champagne there are around 15,000 growers and 290 Champagne houses. Traditionally, growers have sold their grapes to the Champagne houses which account for 70 percent of production and 90 percent of exports. Recently, increasing numbers of growers are making growers’ Champagnes themselves, using their own grapes.
The Champagne houses used to be organized into a Syndicat des Grandes Marques, which had 28 members, not all of them of equal quality. That has now been superseded by the Club des Grandes Marques, with 24 participants: Ayala, Billecart-Salmon, Bollinger, Canard- Duchêne, Deutz, Dom Pérignon, Heidsieck & Co. Monopole, Henriot, Krug, Lanson, Laurent-Perrier, Moët & Chandon, G.H. Mumm, Perrier Jouët, Joseph Perrier, Piper-Heidsieck, Pol Roger, Pommery, Ch. & A Prieur, Louis Roederer, Ruinart, Salon, Taittinger, Veuve Clicquot-Ponsardin.
Champagne Styles
Vintage Champagne
Made exclusively from grapes grown in a single year, this is produced only in the best years, and is released at about six years of age.
Non-Vintage Champagne
Most of the Champagne produced today is Non-Vintage, comprising the blended product of grapes from multiple vintages. Typically grapes from a single-year vintage will form the base of the blend, ranging from 15 percent to up to 40 percent.
Rosé Champagne
Typically light in colour, rosé Champagne is produced either by leaving the clear juice of black grapes to macerate on its skins for a brief time (known as saigneé), or by adding a small amount of Pinot Noir red wine to the sparkling wine cuvée. The saigneé method is more elaborate and costly, requiring highly-skilled winemaking, hence only a few houses still use it – among them Laurent Perrier and Louis Roederer.
Luxury (Prestige) Cuvée
Top of the range, this is vintage-dated. Famous examples include Louis Roederer's Cristal, Laurent-Perrier's Grand Siècle, Moët & Chandon's Dom Pérignon, Duval-Leroy's Cuvée Femme and Pol Roger's Cuvée Sir Winston Churchill.
Demi-Sec (Rich) Champagne
Demi-Sec or Rich is a medium-dry to medium-sweet style which occupies the other end of the spectrum from the standard dry "Brut" style. Brut Natural or Brut Zéro contains less than three grams of sugar per litre, Extra Brut has less than six grams of sugar per litre, and Brut less than 12 grams of sugar per litre.
Recently Disgorged Champagne
R.D. (Recently Disgorged) style was introduced for the first time by Madame Bollinger in 1961, on the 1952 Bollinger Grande Année vintage. Late disgorgement allows the Champagne to retain its freshness, vivacity and fruity expression, despite the ageing.
Blanc de Blancs Champagne
Blanc de Blancs denotes a Champagne made exclusively from Chardonnay grapes.
Blanc de Noirs Champagne
Blanc de Noir Champagnes are made exclusively from black grapes, Pinot Noir (typically) and Pinot Meunier grapes. Bollinger's prestige cuvée Vieilles Vignes Françaises is the lead example.
Prices:
H/Bottle
£16.75
H/Bottle 12 x 37.5cl 15cs
Bottle 6 x 75cl 5cs
Magnum
£61.00
Magnum 3 x 150cl 39cs
D. Magnum
£150.00
D. Magnum 1 x 300cl 11cs
Simon Field MW, Champagne Buyer
Rich Pinot fruit tempered by fresh Chardonnay provides gravitas in this champagne from the generous 2005 vintage.
Edwin Dublin - London Shop Staff
Bottle
£32.70
Under the gifted management of Gilles Marguet, Le Mesnil is making stunning Grand Cru Champagnes from Chardonnay. With an unrivalled provenance and over two years’ bottle-ageing, our own-label Blanc de Blancs has a generous floral nose, a deliciously refreshing, yet rich palate and a clean, satisfying finish. The perfect apéritif for festivities, this Champagne is an absolute winner every time.
Bottle
£33.00
Bottle 6 x 75cl 320cs
Champagne R&L Legras Brut is a pure and very satisfying expression of Chardonnay; the Brut has been aged for three years on its lees and has a modest dosage of six grams per litre. The floral aromas are complemented by an autolytic yeastiness and yellow fruits on the palate. Linear and focused, yet not without an attractive depth of flavour, the wine has a long mineral finish.
Bottle
£33.95
Bottle 6 x 75cl 13cs
Magnum
£70.00
Magnum 3 x 150cl 2cs
The 2008 vintage was outstanding in Champagne and Mailly has crafted a typically complex wine, dominated by toasty and savoury Pinot Noir with the balancing Chardonnay providing just that; a joyful and harmonious balance. The wine’s fruit-stone core cedes to a long refreshing finish, while its impressive concentration bodes well for the future.
Bottle
£36.00
Bottle 6 x 75cl 27cs
Magnum
£75.00
Magnum 3 x 150cl 26cs
Who better than Benoît Marguet, doyen of Ambonnay, to complete our UKC Grand Cru trilogy? Sourced from the finest Grand Cru villages, this is perfectly balanced and richly structured. It is an exuberant and beautifully fragrant wine, with red berries and other summer fruits dancing harmoniously on the palate.
Bottle
£36.00
Bottle 6 x 75cl 80cs
The nose is of brioche, butter, hazelnut and orange zest, whilst the palate is pleasantly mellow and balanced, the mousse is delicate and a lovely creaminess is beginning to shine through from the autolytic character.
Bottle
£38.00
Bottle 12 x 75cl 3cs
With only four grams of residual sugar but appropriately enough, four years of lees’ ageing, this superb new cuvée takes Legras to new heights of excellence. Julien Barbier, the winemaker, extols its purity, power and its precision on the mid-palate, sentiments with which we fully concur.
Bottle
£38.95
Bottle 6 x 75cl 7cs
This perhaps explains the inherent complexity on the palate, with its notes of hazelnut, acacia and apricot garlanding the more usual descriptors of citron pressé, sweet spice and crushed rock. The dosage is seven grams per litre and the finish is powerful, with a twist of salinity to confirm the fact that the majority of the fruit is sourced from the great village of Le Mesnil-sur-Oger, the balancing 30 percent coming from equally prestigious Grand Cru sites in Oger, Chouilly and Cramant
Bottle
£39.95
Bottle 6 x 75cl 8cs
De Sousa is based in the Grand Cru village of Avize in the Côte des Blancs. Vigneron and paterfamilias, Erick de Sousa is third-generation Portuguese who practices biodynamic viticulture. The De Sousa philosophy adheres to late ripening, allowing the vines to benefit from the mineral-rich soils and to develop palate profiles that are both rich and pure, with most impressive length evidenced across the range.
The De Sousa Brut Réserve is a blanc de blancs, therefore made from 100 percent Chardonnay, its grapes sourced mainly from the village of Avize and sites in its immediate environs. With only six grams of residual sugar, this is a serious and complex wine, with notes of fennel, pear-skin and brioche and a powerful mid-palate, which is almost redolent of beeswax. A distinctive and serious vin de contemplation.
Bottle
£39.95
Bottle 6 x 75cl 14cs
Vinified in fût, this is a blend of 90 percent Pinot Noir and 10 percent Chardonnay. The wine has an astonishing purity of flavour, showing its full biodynamic pedigree and a real gout de terroir, its vinous quality in no way overshadowing the pinprick acuity of its attack. Notes of mandarin and quince are also evidenced. One for fruits de mer.
Bottle
£40.00
Bottle 6 x 75cl 23cs
Simon Field MW, Champagne Buyer
Bottle
£40.00
Simon Field MW, Wine Buyer
Bottle
£42.00
De Sousa is based in the Grand Cru village of Avize in the Côte des Blancs. Vigneron and paterfamilias, Erick de Sousa is third-generation Portuguese who practices biodynamic viticulture. The De Sousa philosophy adheres to late ripening, allowing the vines to benefit from the mineral-rich soils and to develop palate profiles that are both rich and pure, with most impressive length evidenced across the range.
This has a salmon pink, copper-tinted hue and a nose redolent of roses, violets and also redcurrants, raspberries and wild strawberries. On the palate, these fruits develop a liqueur-like texture, counterbalanced by light citrus and mineral elements from the Chardonnay.
This has a salmon pink, copper-tinted hue and a nose redolent of roses, violets and also redcurrants, raspberries and wild strawberries. On the palate, these fruits develop a liqueur-like texture, counterbalanced by light citrus and mineral elements from the Chardonnay.
(Edwin Dublin, London Shop)
Bottle
£42.00
Bottle 6 x 75cl 26cs
From four parcels in four villages, Pierre Peters’ Extra Brut is far from foursquare, stretching its modest two grams of residual sugar into a symphony of stone fruit and flowers. The wine is incredibly complex; the putative austerity of an Extra Brut all but forgotten in this maze of flavours, where one is just as likely to fall upon liquorice and cinnamon as the more usual descriptors of plums and other orchard fruit.
Bottle
£42.00
Bottle 6 x 75cl 7cs
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.
Bottle
£42.00
Bottle 6 x 75cl 121cs
With its famous yellow label, this non-vintage Champagne is recognised as Veuve's flagship wine. It is a blend of around 50 Cru village and reserve wines from different vintages. Exhibiting fruit, finesse and style, this is a rich, classic Champagne with a yeasty bouquet that truly deserves its status as a Grande Marque.
Bottle
£44.00
All Pinot Noir from this fantastic House, the most celebrated co-operative in Champagne by some distance. Mailly is ideally suited to black grapes, its extended ripening period and the ensuing complexity of flavour perfectly captured here. Rich, creamy and food friendly, this is one of the best Blanc de Noirs on the market.
Bottle
£45.00
Bottle 6 x 75cl 15cs
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.
Bottle
£45.00
Bottle 6 x 75cl 115cs
Case price (Bottle 6 x 75cl)
Bottle 6 x 75cl 139cs
The key seems to be to stick with the winning formula, namely a third each of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier, but to select from specific vineyards and to age it a little longer, thereby engendering a natural softening. Spicy, with notes of crushed apple, broiche and peach stones, this is a very successful wine. Suitably cerebral to accompany any lively debate over a plate of 12 Fine de Claire Oysters.
Bottle
£48.00
This, like all of their cuvées, captures a purity of terroir, which I’m sure reflects their biodynamic credentials (even the winery was built on such principles). The poor and calcareous soil gives a lightness of touch and a saline quality to the Chardonnay. The result is a restrained, fresh style with a filigree minerality supported by sensitive use of oak.
Bottle
£48.00
Bottle 6 x 75cl 3cs
Dry, powerful and very serious indeed, this highly polished rosé combines notes of plum, patisserie, cinnamon and spice. With structure and weight and harmony of vibrant flavours right across the palate, this is a delicious accompaniment that can match a variety of dishes.
Bottle
£50.00
Bottle 6 x 75cl 43cs
Magnum
£115.00
Magnum 3 x 150cl 3cs
Simon Field MW, Wine Buyer
Bottle
£55.00
Bottle 6 x 75cl 16cs
Bottle
£55.00
Bottle 6 x 75cl 13cs
Bottle
£55.00
Bottle 6 x 75cl 7cs
Bottle
£56.20
Made by the unusual (for Champagne) and tricky technique of prolonged skin contact with the juice, you can almost taste that extra degree of texture not generally seen in rosé Champagne. The main player here is Pinot Noir, uncommon in the Côte des Blancs, and this location tempers the fruit, giving a finesse to the subtle black cherry, rosehip and lightest touch of strawberry. Drinking beautifully now as an apéritif, it develops a delicate savoury note with a little bottle age, pairing well with rabbit or game birds.
Bottle
£58.00
Bottle 6 x 75cl 1cs
This is a vintage Pol Roger which is immediately very, very likeable – positively luxurious in its weight and complexity. On the nose it is showing layers of character, soft peach and ripe, almost autumnal apples with a frame of fresh honeycomb. The palate is no different, the weight of fruit in the mid-palate means that this can be enjoyed now. The white pear, crisp apple and spicy white pepper notes taper to a taut close with finishing acidity which is trademark Pol Roger.
Until 31st August 2017 this product is discounted by 20%. Prices shown include discount; no further discount will be applied at checkout.
Bottle
£60.00
Bottle 6 x 75cl 2cs
Bottle 6 x 75cl 1cs
Bottle 6 x 75cl 1cs
Magnum 3 x 150cl 1cs
Magnum 3 x 150cl 1cs
Simon Field MW, Wine Buyer
Bottle
£60.00
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.