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 101cs
Bottle
£28.50
Bottle 6 x 75cl 333cs
Magnum
£61.00
Magnum 3 x 150cl 286cs
D. Magnum
£150.00
D. Magnum 1 x 300cl 20cs
Bottle
£32.00
Bottle 6 x 75cl 8cs
The reputation of Bouzy resides in the quality and style of its Pinot Noirs, generally ripe, rich and very expressive. All three of these adjectives apply to this, the signature wine from Champagne Bara: a charming, forward Champagne, with a nose evocative of nectarine, plum and spice, then delicious flavours in the mouth which combine ripe fruity notes, a very fine mousse and an elegant, finely sculpted finish.
Juhlin's Champagne Guide, 2008
Bottle
£32.00
Bottle 6 x 75cl 3cs
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 4cs
Simon Field MW, Wine Buyer
Bottle
£36.00
Bottle 6 x 75cl 45cs
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 3cs
Bottle
£39.00
Bottle 6 x 75cl 24cs
Simon Field MW, Wine Buyer
Bottle
£42.00
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.
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 88cs
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
Bottle 6 x 75cl 23cs
Bottle
£45.00
Bottle 6 x 75cl 79cs
Bottle 6 x 75cl 1cs
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 154cs
Bottle 6 x 75cl 1cs
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.
Bottle
£45.00
Bottle 6 x 75cl 30cs
Bottle
£46.95
Bottle 6 x 75cl 48cs
Simon Field MW, Wine Buyer
Bottle
£55.00
Bottle 6 x 75cl 9cs
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.
Premier and Grand Cru sites only supply the grapes for this excellent rosé, which is made up of 45 percent Chardonnay and 55 percent Pinot Noir, with 18 percent of the latter added as red wine. A subtle nose of rosehip, spice and wild strawberry; on the palate the wine marries exuberant fruit with a richly velvety texture. Ruinart is famous for their Rosé; justly so it would seem.
Bottle
£55.00
Bottle 6 x 75cl 3cs
Bottle
£56.20
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.
Bottle
£57.00
Bottle 6 x 75cl 38cs
Simon Field MW, Wine Buyer
Bottle
£60.00
Bottle
£61.55
Bottle 6 x 75cl 12cs
Bottle 6 x 75cl 1cs
Bottle 6 x 75cl 1cs
Bottle 6 x 75cl 1cs
With 2010 as its base year, this Blanc de Blancs has been enhanced by the addition of 30% of Reserve Wine, which has been matured, naturally enough, in Burgundy barrels, courtesy of M Leflaive. Aged on lees for 42 months and disgorged in February 2015, this is a sophisticated and textured wine, its creamy generosity finding a perfect foil in an elegant, citric minerality. A beguiling floral aromatic finds counterpoint on the palate with notes of brioche, poached pear and hints of honeysuckle. A triumphant début!
Simon Field MW, Wine Buyer
Bottle
£63.00
Bottle 6 x 75cl 6cs
Case price (Bottle 6 x 75cl)
Bottle 6 x 75cl 27cs
Billecart-Salmon is renowned for the quality of its delicate rosé – and rightfully so. This is a delightful rosé with a charming, fruity nose and palate with hints of roasted nuts.
Bottle
£65.00
Bottle 6 x 75cl 93cs
Bottle 6 x 75cl 1cs
Simon Field MW, Wine Buyer
Bottle
£68.00
Martyn Rolph, Private Account Manager
Bottle 6 x 75cl 1cs
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.
A blend of 90 percent Chardonnay and 10 percent Pinot Noir, the Caudalies has been vinifed in oak, with the Pinot spending a year in five-year-old barrels before assemblage. The wine has a salmon colour and attractive aromas of red-berried fruit, and is gently toasty and with hints of praline and brioche. The palate maintains the red fruit theme and builds on it with layers of nuanced flavour.
Bottle
£86.00
Bottle 6 x 75cl 4cs
Bronze medal winner at the 2016 Decanter World Wine Awards
The original and some would suggest the best of the Biodynamic Champagnes (certified by Ecocert and accredited to Demeter and Biodyvin), Champagne Fleury is based in the less than entirely fashionable Cote des Bars and excels in the production of Pinot Noir.
The great thing about them is that they have been biodynamic for so long (1989) that the vines have now gained maturity under the purity of this rigorous regime. This is clearly evidenced in the exceptional Blanc de Noirs; intense red fruit and savoury depth (Reserve wines are voluminous and kept in foudre) and such structural integrity that one is surprised to learn that there is 8.4 g of residual sugar.
The mid-palate is pure, refreshing and harmoniously constituted.
Simon Field MW – Wine Buyer
Magnum
£95.00
Magnum 3 x 150cl 1cs
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.