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 40cs
Bottle
£28.50
Bottle 6 x 75cl 1,114cs
Magnum
£61.00
Magnum 3 x 150cl 440cs
D. Magnum
£150.00
D. Magnum 1 x 300cl 26cs
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 7cs
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 53cs
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 9cs
Moët & Chandon can trace its history back to 1743 when it was established by Claude Moët. It is now part of the massive LVMH group and is by far the largest House in Champagne, producing a staggering 24 million bottles a year and with nearly 30 kilometres of cellars in which to mature its stocks.
Bottle
£35.95
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 44cs
Magnum
£75.00
Magnum 3 x 150cl 10cs
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 1cs
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 6cs
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 8cs
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.
Bottle
£39.95
Bottle 6 x 75cl 23cs
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 15cs
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 23cs
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 2cs
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 17cs
Bottle
£45.00
Bottle 6 x 75cl 105cs
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 35cs
Bottle
£47.00
Bottle 12 x 75cl 1cs
Bollinger is famed for its rich and savoury style of wines, dominated by Pinot Noir and underwritten by oak fermentation and extensive lees maturation. It seemed only a matter of time before the release of a non-vintage rosé and this wine has been well worth the wait.
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 12cs
Simon Field MW, Wine Buyer
Bottle
£55.00
Bottle 6 x 75cl 4cs
Bottle
£56.20
Simon Field MW, Wine Buyer
Bottle
£60.00
Simon Field MW, Wine Buyer
Bottle
£60.00
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 47cs
Simon Field MW – Wine Buyer
Bottle
£63.00
Bottle 6 x 75cl 4cs
An intriguing Blanc de Noirs, the Rosé was aged for seven months before its second fermentation, with 30% Burgundy barrel-matured Reserve Wine adding depth and elegance, the barrels courtesy of M Leflaive naturally enough Thereafter 24 months on lees and a modest 7 grams of dosage ensure integration and a textural integrity…...the personality of the wine however, is unabashed in its exuberance, red fruit charm evidenced by notes of strawberry, raspberry and even a hint of cassis. Spice and ginger complete the picture and the overall impression, unsurprisingly, has a Burgundian feel which is hard to resist…
Simon Field MW, Wine Buyer
Bottle
£65.00
Bottle 6 x 75cl 31cs
Bottle 6 x 75cl 1cs
Simon Field MW, Wine Buyer
Bottle
£68.00
Bottle
£69.00
Bottle 6 x 75cl 9cs
Bottle 6 x 75cl 2cs
Simon Field MW - Wine Buyer
Bottle
£75.00
Bottle 6 x 75cl 4cs
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.