4 DRINKS INTERNATIONAL MOST ADMIRED CHAMPAGNES 2018
ugust 25 was the turning point of the 2017 vintage, according to Lanson’s winemaker Hervé Dantan. Widespread CONTENTS development of botrytis threatened to ruin the harvest. HOW WE DID IT A“Many faced the di cult decision between picking clean, but possibly slightly under- The methodology behind the Academy’s voting ripe, fruit or waiting for phenolic maturity, but running an increasing risk of botrytis spreading,” TOP LISTING according to Giles Fallow eld. The harvest was conducted at a frenetic pace Champagne expert Giles Fallow eld on the and was completed in about 10 days rather than victories and trials of 2018’s most admired brands the three weeks it took in 2016. For Giles’s full conclusions, turn to his harvest report on page 36. As to this year’s survey, the ‘great and the CHAMPAGNE HARVEST good’ have voted and Louis Roederer has stepped Producer tell Giles Fallow eld how they coped up to take on the mantel of The World’s Most Admired Champagne Brand. Richly deserved – the with some major challenges in 2017 champagne has never been outside of the top ve since the surveys started. THE LIST For those who do not know Drinks International’s Most Admired surveys, please turn An at-a-glance guide to the full list, showing to page 6 to nd out how we came up with the who’s up, who’s down and who’s new list. At this point it is important to stress that the survey is purely an accumulation of opinions and perceptions – but from experts and specialists in the drinks sector who have an intimate knowledge of champagne. Self-styled Champagne Guru Giles Fallow eld has once again done a sterling job based on his in-depth knowledge of Champagne – both the region and the wine. I hope sincerely that you broadly agree with our ndings but I also hope that some of the climbers and absentees may surprise you and possibly challenge some of your perceptions. Times change and we all, every now and again, have to review what we think we know. christian davis MANAGING EDITOR
Champagne Guru & Main Contributor Designer GILES FALLOWFIELD JAMES DOWN Managing Editor [email protected] CHRISTIAN DAVIS Commercial Director +44 (0)1293 590047 ROB CULLEN Drinks International [email protected] +44 (0)1293 590043 Longley House, [email protected] International Drive, Production Editor Southgate Avenue, JAQ BAYLES Publisher Crawley, West Sussex [email protected] JUSTIN SMITH RH10 6AQ United Kingdom Editorial Administrator +44 (0)1293 590041 TEL:+44 (0)1293 590040 ANGEL BROWN [email protected] FAX:+44 (0) 1293 474010 +44 (0) 1293 590048 Managing Director WWW.drinksint.com [email protected] RUSSELL DODD Group Art editor +44 (0)1293 590052 CHRISTINE FREEMAN [email protected] [email protected]
003 Contents Champs 2018.indd 4 23/01/2018 16:09
6 DRINKS INTERNATIONAL MOST ADMIRED CHAMPAGNES 2018
HOW WE DID IT
Your at-a-glance guide to how the most PIDJOE/ISTOCK.COM admired champagnes academy works
ur formidable leading retailers, wine writers, 30 brands which unmasks the Academy has MWs and marketing experts movement of trends among the chosen Roederer and asked them to name their biggest names in the category. as the World’s top ve brands. Over the following pages Most Admired When choosing their list, we champagne expert Giles OChampagne Brand, replacing asked Academy members to IT’S NOW Fallow eld examines the Bollinger. Pol Roger, famously consider the following: PARTY TIME results to give his verdict on the Winston Churchill’s favourite • The quality and FOR WINNER rankings. tipple, has climbed up from consistency of the brand, ROEDERER Champagne Lanson is one of fourth place to take the paying particular attention CHAMPAGNE the biggest brands to exit the runner-up slot, while last year’s to its main, non-vintage 2018 list. Coming in at 20 last winner has slipped to sixth line year, the brand known best for place in 2018. • Whether this quality and • The brand’s value at its price its Wimbledon sponsorship, has The Academy voting process consistency has been level fallen o the list completely. was unchanged for the poll’s maintained or improved in • The overall image of the It’s now party time for h year and, as ever, we the past year brand Roederer and it won’t have to assembled a panel of judges • The quality of brand The results from the Academy look far for a champagne worthy drawn from a wide range of marketing and packaging members has revealed a list of of celebration.
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8 DRINKS INTERNATIONAL
LOUIS ROEDERER
LOUIS-ROEDERER.COM
ouis Roederer has never finished outside the top five in the four EVERY YEAR previous years we EFFORTS ARE have run the World’s BEING MADE MostL Admired Champagne TO IMPROVE Brands supplement. And this QUALITY is the year it’s finally made the top slot, which has been hogged exclusively by Bollinger and have made over the past Krug for the past three years. few years. Being the modest What these three brands have man he is, he’d give the team in common is consistency. They much of the credit for this don’t make bad wines and every evolution in the Roederer year efforts are being made to winemaking. Collectively they improve quality, even when give great attention to the tiny they appear to already be at details, as we’ve reported in the peak of their game. That’s this supplement before. For what it takes to build a great example, the work they have champagne brand – consistent done on following the evolution quality over many years. This is of the second fermentation in what we ask our distinguished I note, for example, the 2012- grapefruit acidity keeps this bottle, which has in part led to voting academy to take notice of based blend of Brut Premier sparklingly fresh, there’s now the decision to give different first and foremost, consistency, that was in the market in late more depth, texture and mid- formats of the Premier Brut, plus evidence, most likely to be 2016/early 2017 had around 35% palate complexity, especially differing pressures by varying found inside the bottle, that the reserve wine in it from seven when in magnum, bringing the amount of sugar in the prise producer is striving to improve. different vintages, more Pinot something extra to the party. de mousse. In the case of Roederer, we Noir than usual (at around This is not just the result of While winemaking at know that the foundation for 46%) less Chardonnay and one major change in policy, Roederer is constantly evolving, that quality is the Rouzaud Meunier and didn’t go through but rather lots of tiny ones it’s only doing that in line with family’s 240ha vineyard estate, malolactic. While the trademark that Lécaillon and his team the changing character of the large enough to provide around juice being obtained from the two-thirds of the grapes it company’s vineyards, which needs, and mainly comprised THE ROEDERER ESTATE VINEYARD were for the first time 100% of Premier and Grand Cru organically farmed in 2017. The vineyards. This covers a total area of 240ha, enough to produce around 2.4m bottles area it is farming biodynamically of champagne. It is divided into 410 parcels, or ‘lieux-dits’. Some 130 are in continues to grow with the BRUT PREMIER BLEND Grand Cru villages and a further 73ha have Premier Cru status. All the Roederer ‘crystal estate’ on track to be So what helped Roederer clear vintage wines – that’s Cristal Blanc and Rosé, the regular vintage, Blanc 100% farmed this way by 2020, the final hurdle to the number de Blancs vintage and Rosé vintage, plus Brut Nature vintage – are 100% says Lecaillon. “Farming in one spot? From my perspective, produced from this estate. this way is generating more it’s undoubtedly partly down to The wine that is bought in from growers under contract is all fermented in a freshness, more chalkiness, the quality of the Brut Premier different part of the winery in Reims, across the road from where the estate more intensity, more complexity. blend. I believe head winemaker wine is kept. It has forced us to think Jean-Baptiste Lécaillon – who The largest part of the Roederer estate is in the Côte des Blancs where the differently at blending. The focus has worked at the house since house owns 126 parcels covering an area of 84ha. This is in villages including: is now on texture and soil site August 1989, amid the three Avize, Cramant, Oger, Mesnil-sur-Oger, Chouilly and Vertus. In the Montagne expression rather than on grape great vintages of ’88-’90 and de Reims Roederer owns 112 parcels covering 69ha in the villages of Verzenay, variety percentages.” is widely regarded as one of Verzy, Beaumont-sur-Vesles, Ambonnay, Bouzy, Louvois, Villers-Allerand, Écueil So the Roederer style the leading winemakers in the & Sacy. The Roederer vineyard holdings in the Vallée de la Marne total 172 continues to evolve dynamically, whole appellation – has taken parcels covering 68ha in the villages of Aÿ, Mareuil-sur-Aÿ, Dizy, Champillon, which seems likely to keep it it to another level over the past Hautvillers, Cumières, Damery, Mutigny and Epernay. in the top-rated brands of our few years. survey for years to come.
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MOST ADMIRED CHAMPAGNES 2018
POL ROGER
that time called Pol Roger PR POLROGER.CO.UK Réserve Speciale, which was a 50/50 Chardonnay and Pinot andwiched between Noir blend, also entirely sourced Bollinger and from Grand Cru vineyards. Roederer last year They were both produced in third spot, this until the end of the ’80s and, if time round Pol it hadn’t been for the power of RogerS makes it to number the Churchill connection, this two, splitting winner Louis might still be the style of Pol Roederer from third-placed Roger’s prestige line today. Charles Heidsieck. This is now As we have seen in a number the third year in a row that Pol of recent tastings run by The has achieved a top-four finish – Finest Bubble in London, more evidence, if it was needed, at which Pol Roger vintage that Pol is a great favourite and Winston Churchill have among the professionals in the been shown together blind, drinks trade and it’s the brand’s many people take the view best result in the five years that the higher proportion of of the World’s Most Admired Chardonnay in the straight Champagne Brands. volume of vintage champagne vintage gives a better balance This hasn’t happened by compared to champagne’s and often more complexity, chance. A great deal of work norm, which is less than 10% especially in magnum, a format has gone on behind the scenes of any house’s production. This to which Pol seems ideally to take Winston Churchill’s is sensibly used to preserve suited. favourite champagne to another IMPRESSIVE Pol’s reputation as a producer My introduction to vintage level of consistent quality. Chief OFFERINGS HAVE of age-worthy, quite muscular Pol Roger was with the Blanc executive Laurent d’Harcourt, BEEN MADE champagnes that often show a de Chardonnay vintage, often who joined Pol from Bruno NEARLY EVERY lovely silky richness. the unsung star of the range. Paillard’s operation, started EVEN YEAR In reality these are the wines It comes exclusively from five working with the larger-than- on which the house’s reputation Grands Crus – Oiry, Chouilly, life Patrick Noyelle on the for quality and it’s hard-to- Cramant, Avize and Oger – export side of the operation these wines perform when they match image are built, rather and provides further strong in January 2006. So he’s been are released, compared with than the Brut Réserve. The evidence that Pol Roger’s in the business a dozen years, the highlights of the previous longer ageing that non-vintage Chardonnay vineyards are quietly and unassumingly at the decade, where impressive cuvée gets, along with the something special. helm since the ebullient Noyelle offerings have been made nearly increasing portion of reserve A blind tasting of Pol Roger retired in 2013. every even year (2000-2008) and wines used plus the three- Sir Winston Churchill, putting He has continued to be some critics say Pol 2008 is the way grape blend, provides the a jeroboam of 1988 along with a discreet figure in the best vintage it has ever made. classic example of the so-called magnums and bottles of ’96 background, getting on with Crucially, in today’s goût-anglais and the secondary (bottle only), ’98 (magnum job of ensuring everything runs competitive market for grapes, flavours longer ageing tends to only), ’99, 2000, ’02 (bottle only) smoothly and efficiently. The where increasingly high prices impart. and ’04 showed little pattern in renovation and enlargement of have to be paid to secure the While the brut vintage style either the speed of development the winemaking facilities was best supplies, Pol Roger owns is typically a 60/40 Pinot or any obvious difference completed at the beginning 91ha of vineyards on prime Noir/Chardonnay blend, it’s between bottles or magnums of this decade. It gave head sites. curious to think that Winston’s of the same wine. Although it winemaker Dominique Petit, These are in the Côte des Churchill’s penchant for Pinot did show up 2002 (in bottle), poached from Krug back in Blancs, Montagne de Reims and Noir-dominated champagne 1998 in magnum and, perhaps the late ’90s where he clocked the Vallée de la Marne, enough was an influence in the blend surprisingly, magnums of the up more than two decades, to supply slightly more than effectively created in his honour 2000 vintage, as being the most all the modern winemaking half its needs with production at with the 1975 harvest, which impressive wines on the night. tools to work with from the around 1.8m bottles. has nearer 80% Pinot Noir set Can Pol Roger make it to the 2012 harvest. With another fine Given the importance of the against 20% or so Chardonnay. top spot next year in the Most vintage due to follow in 2013, it Pol vintage offering, it makes There was, of course, another Admired Champagne Brands? will be interesting to see how a disproportionately large prestige offering from Pol at We’ll have to wait and see.
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10 DRINKS INTERNATIONAL MOST ADMIRED CHAMPAGNES 2018
CHARLES HEIDSIECK
re-establishes itself among the CHARLESHEIDSIECK.COM most distinguished brands. The availability over a period of he biggest mover in nearly a decade of the top-class the upper echelons Blanc des Millénaires 1995 – of our Most Admired which Daniel Thibault took the Champagne Brands decision of making in far larger report is Charles volumes than the then brand THeidsieck. It’s been placed sixth owners required – has not been and seventh in the past two a hindrance to the cause. years and in 2015 it was only When Leroux was in London 14th. This past performance in mid-January to launch the doesn’t, however, represent a next 2004 vintage of Blanc des fair assessment of the wine. It Millénaires, we tasted through has been consistently one of the current range, starting not the finest non-vintage blends with the white but the Rosé since Daniel Thibault was given Brut Réserve. the freedom to make it so in This has recently moved 1985, when then owner Rémy from a base of 2008 to a base of Cointreau bought Charles and 2012, quite a jump. Partly as a Piper Heidsieck. result it seems a much fresher Although Thibault had made style. This is the direction new earlier versions based on the winemaker Cyril Brun, the red 1986, ’87 and ’89 harvests, the wine specialist in his previous Brut Réserve was commercially position at Veuve Clicquot, had launched in 1997 as Brut been talking about taking this Réserve Mise en Caves 1992, small distraction of owning Krug. cuvée. This predates his arrival with 60% of the wine from the That , though, was sold off to at Charles, however, and is 1991 vintage plus 40% reserve LVMH in January 1999, less than more about the more youthful, wines. This was a bold new step two years after Charles Mise en though similarly high quality, for any significant producer, Cave was launched, to help stave base year. giving the base year for its non- DEMAND FOR off a financial crisis at Rémy. Until very recently the vintage cuvée. At this time it ALL CHARLES The new era for Charles available blend of Charles Brut was pretty well unheard of for HEIDSIECK Heidsieck and sister brand Réserve was based on the 2008 anyone to be using such a large WINES HAS Piper began in 2011 when both harvest. Now it has moved, but amount of reserve wine in a REGENERATED were bought by Entreprise only to 2010. mainstream non-vintage brut. Patrimoniale d’Investissements, Faithful to the original Though today many producers run by Christopher Descours. Thibault model, it still has 40% have as much as a third of fall by millions of bottles so that The first issue was to sort out reserve wines in it and shines reserve wine in their non- Thibault could build up some the brand’s distribution, an in a most appealing way, so you vintage blends, in most cases it reserve stocks”. easier job than with Piper as the know that it’s only going to get won’t be a stock that goes back Fast-forward to 2018 and volume had dwindled to around better with time. over many past vintages. the house’s current executive 250,000 bottles. Blanc des Millénaires 2004 As Nick Faith has observed director, Stephen Leroux, is While the image of the brand may not be around for quite as in his writing on the subject, telling everyone that 30 years had weakened over the years long as it predecessor, now that there was a price to pay for this ago, before the decision to under Rémy Cointreau, which demand for and interest in all extravagance as it involved change the style was made, failed to communicate what Charles Heidsieck wines has a large drop in the volume of Charles Heidsieck was a larger Mise en Cave was all about, the regenerated, but it’s likely to non-vintage brut champagne brand than Veuve Clicquot, wines remained top class across give similar pleasure. Charles Heidsieck was selling 4.5m bottles. But under the board and continued to win Asked how many bottles are producing. This, Faith says, Rémy Cointreau’s ownership countless awards. now selling, Leroux says it’s was the decision of “the far- this dwindled to a few hundred PR activity and tastings of under 1m. sighted André Hériard-Dubreuil, thousand bottles as the great older vintage wines, many “The strategy is not to create of Rémy Cointreau” who, in an company lost interest in drinks in magnum and jeroboam, a big volume brand, but be a effort to transform the quality outside its core spirits business. have helped strike a much meaningful player in the high- of the wine, “allowed sales to There was, of course, also the more upbeat note as Charles end sector.”
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12 DRINKS INTERNATIONAL MOST ADMIRED CHAMPAGNES 2018
BILLECART-SALMON CHAMPAGNE-BILLECART.FR
Billecart-Salmon is one of representing the sixth the few significant family- generation of the family at 5 owned champagne houses the helm. He has set out the remaining. This year it has a company’s strategy for the next 200th anniversary to celebrate, century, detailing how it has along with its been investing in the future, highest-ever both in the winery and by ranking in the making small purchases of top Most Admired quality vineyards. Champagne “The goal is to have more Brands Grand Cru vineyard, especially survey, up in Ambonnay, Verzy and one place on Verzenay, which are all last year. important Pinot Noir crus for the Antoine house, plus Chardonnay from Le Roland- Mesnil-sur-Oger and Avize.” Billecart, In terms of production, runs the he says, the family is happy company to stay at the same level of with his around 2.5m bottles, but wants brother to upgrade the quality on the François, grape supply and the profile of the business. In the winery it is adding a further 25 80hl KRUG foudres of French (Seguin- Moreau and François Frères) KRUG.COM and Stockinger Transylvanian oak for fermentation, which will Krug and Roederer are the only two brands which have stayed all be installed in time for the in the top five for the half decade we’ve run the Most Admired 2018 harvest. Champagne Brands supplement. Krug’s careful sourcing, long Antoine says the style of ageing, complex assembly and specific production method, the Billecart wines was with fermentation taking place is small oak barrels, make for a created by his father, Jean, particular and distinctive flavour profile. who started working in Add in a direct family connection that goes back to the origins the winery in 1947 and of the house – it’s no accident that four of our top-five brands have celebrated his 94th an active family involvement in their operations – and you have a birthday last October. He recipe for ongoing success. was looking above all for The idea that all future releases of the flagship Grande Cuvée freshness and elegance. will have an edition number only really took hold last year. This “He was a pioneer in development links all the way back to Joseph Krug in the 1840s the cold settling of the and recognises the fact that collectors like to taste and compare must prior to the first different blends of Grande Cuvée. fermentation and was Surely the positive outweighs the negative, where retailers one of the first to do almost inevitably champion blends based on known, high-quality this back in 1952.” Jean vintages, as they did with the 164th Édition, based on the 2008 still participates in harvest and released in 2017. the pre-tasting and Krug has also decided to show the Grande Cuvée based on the blending of the wines. harvest of the appropriate year at the launches of new vintages. As Antoine puts it: It did this with the impressive 2004, still youthful and tight in its “He has 70 harvests’ ‘luminous freshness’, showing the 160th edition of Grande Cuvée experience to share.” alongside to memorable effect, delighting journalists and buyers It’s this continuity, at the launch. married to It turns out that a bottle of this same, but unmarked, Grande embracing the best Cuvée (160th edition) cellared in 2013, was consumed and greatly bits of modern appreciated chez moi on Christmas Day. The identity of said bottle technology, that sets was kindly provided afterwards by Olivier Krug from the code Billecart-Salmon 111011 on the shrunken cork, so it works for me too. 4 apart from the pack.
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MOST ADMIRED CHAMPAGNES 2018 DRINKS INTERNATIONAL 15
BOLLINGER CHAMPAGNE-BOLLINGER.COM
An eventful 2016 was always family shareholders as chief keeping this Rolls Royce going to be a hard act to follow. operating officer of Société of champagne production It climaxed in a one-off June Jacques Bollinger. This going in the right direction, tasting of the best and most oversees Bollinger and Ayala maintaining the excellent significant vintages in the in Champagne, Chanson in production of Special Cuvée Bollinger cellars, looking Burgundy, Delamain in Cognac, by the winemaking team, at most decades of the 20th the Loire’s Langlois-Château ably led by Gilles Descôtes. century. It also included and, in future, other wine One the highlights of one of only 13 remaining, operations if plans to expand Philipon’s valedictory successfully restored bottles the business come to fruition. year in charge may have of Bollinger 1830, 54 of which After Philipon’s reforms of been his quite lengthy were unearthed during a the Bollinger business model, appearance on Joanna massive restoration project at no replacement Bollinger & Jennifer: Absolutely the company’s HQ in Aÿ. Out of president has been appointed. Champers, shown on these, only a baker’s dozen were Instead a new role of general BBC2 in December. In the judged drinkable. manager has been created and programme he opened Last year was also the filled by Burgundian Charles- a magnum of Bollinger point at which chief executive Armand de Belenet, previously Grande Année 1992 Jérôme Philipon said goodbye of Pernod Ricard where he was (the year AbFab was to Champagne, moving off international marketing director first made) for Jennifer after a decade in charge to of Martell, Mumm and Perrier Saunders and Joanna Paris, where he’s been given Jouët. It will, one suspects, be Lumley, alias Eddy and a wider brief by the Bollinger a case of ‘steady as she goes’, Pasty, to, well… quaff. 6 TAITTINGER
TAITTINGER.COM
Yet another family-run house in the top 10 performers that’s risen a couple of places on 2017. It’s a sizeable business too, with around 5m bottles sold each year. It was put back together by the indefatigable Pierre- Emmanuel Taittinger, who fought a lone battle against the wider family’s desire to sell up, and more than a decade on the business is thriving. The relatively new team, led by managing director Damien le Sueur and involving two of his children, Clovis and Vitalie, is showing a new confidence. Evidence of this came with the planting last summer in the heart of the Kent countryside of a new 40ha vineyard of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Meunier for an English fizz to be named Domaine Evremond. We will see the first bottle around 2023. The strength of the champagne part of the business is that it’s built on considerable vineyard ownership. In a market where rising grape costs are a constant, Taittinger’s ownership of some 288ha of top vineyards, which supply around half its needs, enables it to compete with the corporate strength behind the LVMH and Pernod Ricard-owned brands. It has large holdings in the Côte des Blancs, and Chardonnay features in most of the house’s cuvées. The Brut Réserve has one of the largest percentages of Chardonnay in a non-vintage blend at around 40%. While Comte de Champagne, sourced wholly from Grands Crus Côte des Blancs sites, remains the brand’s star attraction, its regular vintage offering a 50/50 Chardonnay/Pinot Noir blend has been getting more attention of late, doing very well in competitive 7 blind tastings run by The Finest Bubble over the past year.
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16 DRINKS INTERNATIONAL MOST ADMIRED CHAMPAGNES 2018
JACQUESSON CHAMPAGNEJACQUESSON.COM
The Chiquet brothers, Jean- need, is located around their Hervé and Laurent, like to think base in the top Premier Cru 9 of themselves more as growers of Dizy. than négociants. They feel that They have vineyards in approach is more closely in line nearby Hautvillers, and the with their whole philosophy Grand Cru of Aÿ, which adjoins of vineyard management and Dizy to the east. winemaking at Jacquesson. In the Côte des Blancs, they It’s no accident that the have south-facing parcels in other members of Trait-d'Union, the Grands Crus of both Avize the small group of producers and Oiry. with which they show their Over the many years I’ve been wines, are all récoltant- tasting their wines the range manipulants and includes has changed radically and now some of the best- they produce no vintage blends known growers in – the fabulous 2002 was the last the appellation – of those and 1995, ’90, and ’88 Pierre Larmandier memorable vintages before that of Lamandier- – just a collection of four single Bernier, Francis vineyard wines. Egly (Egly-Ouriet) Two are from Dizy terroir on Jérôme Prevost, their doorstep (one Chardonnay Roger Coulon and and one Pinot Noir that was Anselme Selosse. made as a vintage rosé in 2002, RUINART The brothers’ ’03 ‘04 and ’07 but changed to largely a Blanc de Noirs in 2012) and RUINART.COM organically one each from the Grands Crus farmed domain, of Aÿ (Pinot Noir) and Avize The Ruinart brand is one of the great success stories at Moët- which provides (Chardonnay). Hennessy. It’s a classic example of how to change a reasonably 80% of the Now as Jean-Hervé explains: successful, well-made champagne that’s best known in the French grapes they “Our Cuvée 700 is the only on-trade and thus relatively unspoiled by any discounting, into a blended wine we produce. It is significant international player with all of its wines sold at a very meant to be the expression of a attractive premium. All within a decade. year and thus each year offers The articulate, multi-lingual, wine-loving chef de cave, Frédéric a different identity which we Panaïotis, has been there since joining from Veuve Clicquot just recognise by numbering the over 10 years ago and has been an important part of this transfor- cuvée.” mation. He, not various chief executives, has been the public face 8 It’s meant to be the best of Ruinart. Even if you think you already know about champagne, possible blend they can make you'll learn a lot if you go to one of his masterclasses on rosé or from any individual harvest, Blanc de Blancs champagne. The latter is Ruinart’s particular spe- not a consistent style. ciality and the only all-Chardonnay champagne made in the Moët- The latest available blend, Hennessy group apart from Krug’s Clos du Mesnil. Cuvée 739, is based on the 2011 Panaïotis and Ruinart are generous at sharing with journal- harvest with 31% reserve wine. ists and trade buyers, library wines that help give an indication It’s made from all Premiers and of the direction a new cuvée of Dom Ruinart, the house’s prestige Grands Crus juice, while the cuvée, might go in. Thus in March last year (2017) the launch of dosage is a low 2.5g/l. Dom Ruinart 2006 (white) and Dom Ruinart Rosé 2004, two wines The blend consists of 57% worth turning up to taste on their own, were accompanied by the Chardonnay, 21% Pinot Noir two previous vintage releases of both, ’04 and ’02 white plus ’02 and 22% Pinot Meunier and the and ’98 rosé. brothers made precisely 264,292 The rosé is released later because, as Panaïotis says, it takes time bottles, 10,250 magnums and to develop. Only around 2% – it might be 1.5%-3% – of Ruinart’s 304 jeroboams. production is accounted for by Dom Ruinart, says Panaïotis. He’s In complete transparency, not sure about the ageing potential of the white (’06) but good palate all this information is given on structure suggests it will age well, he finds it “quite Burgundian”. the back label of each bottle, With age the rosé can develop distinctive truffle and gamey notes – along with the disgorgement it’s not a light, fresh, primary fruit style, even when youthful. date.
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18 DRINKS INTERNATIONAL MOST ADMIRED CHAMPAGNES 2018
DOM PÉRIGNON
DOMPERIGNON.COM
Last year was a busy one for Dom Pérignon in terms of launches. It started in April with the second plénitude of the 10 2000 vintage, or P2 as it is now called, plus DP Rosé 2005 but, most significantly, 2009 Dom Pérignon, released before the 2008 vintage. This has been the approach taken by several producers to manage those two very different but high- quality vintages. The ’08’s vibrant acidity needs time to be tamed, while from the warmer ‘09 harvest ripe, generous, forward wines, are more approachable at seven or eight years. Chef de cave Richard Geoffroy concedes launching ’09 out of sync isn’t ideal. “It will be better in two more years, but is approachable now,” he says. “The ’08 is quite an animal, another ’96 but in a good way. When we released the ’03 before the ’02, that was the first time we had ever done it. We avoided the same issue with 1988 and 1989, similarly contrasting vintages, by never releasing ’89,” he adds. Interestingly, Krug released both the ’89/’88 and the 2002/’03 vintages out of chronological order. “We have been blessed by a stunning collection of vintages in the first decade of the millennium. Ripe fruit translating into rich wines. We are doing OK with global warming. In the late ’90s I put more pressure on our vineyard team saying I wanted extra ripeness, to see how far we could push the envelope. 2002, ’03, ’05, ’09 and ’10 were all warm years. Before there were perhaps one or two warm years per decade, years such as ’37, ’47, ’76 and ’89. In the nineties there was nothing extravagant, then in the 2000s, bingo. “With the ’09 we got the fruit as aromatically ripe as we could. Beyond an almost voluptuous richness, there’s restrained power and silky, salty, sappy bitter sensations. I hear some people didn’t declare ’09 – that’s a real surprise.”
SALON SALONDELAMOTTE.COM
If you want to find Blanc de 1ha plot behind the winery, plus want to see what Salon is really 11 Blancs styles of champagne 19 other small plots. capable of achieving you need with great longevity, you are It’s not always made, perhaps to go back over two decades, probably going to go to one of four times a decade at most. perhaps to the ’90 or ’88. Twenty the Grand Cru sites in the Côte Since the initial 1921 vintage, years ago I tasted back to still des Blancs. Narrow it down a great year in Champagne lively ‘59 and ‘43 vintages while even further to a single village, some see as the best of the ’64 in magnum was sublime. and for many that would be 20th century, there have The 2006 vintage, when Le Mesnil-sur-Oger. Covering been 37 vintage releases up 53,000 bottles were produced, an area of around 410ha, all to and including 2006. Total was launched last summer. planted with Chardonnay, production is usually around Looking ahead the 2007, yields it’s a base for many fine 60,000 bottles, but sometimes from which were rather higher, grower-producers, a top- considerably less. will be released in two tranches class co-operative and Salon, It’s a wine that needs in 2018 and 2019. The tiny 2008 which, for many, makes considerable ageing before vintage, which Salon president the purest, unadulterated, its even approachable and it’s Didier Depond has high hopes expression of Le Mesnil fruit. typically first released after for, was only made in magnums Salon only makes one about a decade on its lees. Even not expected to be released until wine, always a single then for many palates it’s still around 2020. It will be much vintage, produced from the impenetrably steely. If you sought after.
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GOSSET CHAMPAGNE-GOSSET.COM
The Gosset name and brand Renaud-Cointreau group owner will always be linked with the of Cognac Frappin bought 13 Grand Cru village of Aÿ, where it the house in 1994 – made the has claim to be the oldest wine decision to buy the premises house in Champagne. Originally in Epernay that used to belong Aÿ was famous to Château Malakoff as it had for making outgrown the Aÿ site with still light red production crossing the 1m table wine. bottle mark. Along with This deeply traditional house Beaune produces champagne made it was in a rich, aromatic style with the main lots of character, which works source of red particularly well with food and wine for the logically it targets top on-trade French court establishments. Its entry level in the 16th Brut Excellence NV is a decent century. non-vintage blend, but Grande Back in Réserve at the heart of the 2009 Jean- Gosset range, always a blend Pierre of three years that’s aged for HENRIOT Cointreau significantly longer than most CHAMPAGNE-HENRIOT.COM – the non-vintage cuvées, is a big step up in complexity, concentration Henriot has consolidated its much deserved and meteoric rise and length. in the Most Admired Champagne Brands standings and, with The plan was for Gosset all the changes in how this family business is run behind it and to concentrate its efforts refurbished premises in Reims complete, the future looks rosy. behind what we might call In Laurent Fresnet it has a passionate and widely experienced its ‘multi-vintage range’, the winemaker to ensure everything in the bottle sings and there’s aforementioned Grande Réserve, exciting news on the horizon about a new prestige cuvée to be plus Grand Rosé and the launched later this year, replacing Cuvée des Enchanteleurs. relatively new Grand Blanc For someone who has tried quite a few older vintages of this de Blancs NV. It’s not clear wine, including the fabulous 1959 on more than one occasion, whether products such as thanks to the Henriot family’s generosity, this news is tinged with ‘15ans de cave minima’ sadness. The name has resonance, being a reference to when all or the Blanc de Noirs, champagne was made in wooden barrels and the cellar workers which might have been who moved them around, called ‘enchanteleurs’, knew which bar- seen as a partner for rels contained the best wines. the Grand Blanc, are to Henriot is very much a Chardonnay-led house – although become regular lines Enchanteleurs is a 50/50 Chardonnay/Pinot Noir blend. Its Brut in the range. Neither Souverain NV, which Fresnet sees as symbolic of the Henriot style, are mentioned on the “a mixture of elegance and precision”, contains a much larger company’s website, proportion of Chardonnay than most other big names at nor have we tasted around 50%. them. Perhaps, like Its flagship Souverain Blanc NV is a 100% Chardonnay style the special production blended from a range of top crus, including Côte des Blancs vil- of its fine 2004 lages – Mesnil, Chouilly, Avize and Vertus – but also Montgueux to Grand Millésime, the west of Troyes, and Trépail in the Montagne de Reims. Both are launched in magnum famous for the very different styles of Chardonnay they produce, at Christmas in one rich and full bodied, the latter powerful, lean and long-lived. conjunction with It gets the extra time in bottle that wines of such pedigree demand Fine & Rare, which to show more complex expression. claims to have At the top of the Chardonnay tree comes Cuvée 38, made from selected the dosage a ‘solera’ of four top Grand Cru Chardonnays – Chouilly, Avize, used, it signals a Mesnil-sur-Oger and Oger – set up by the late Joseph Henriot in new departure into 1990 to “concentrate the genie of the marque”. small scale, one-off The first magnum-only release in 2014 was based 18 harvests. 12 bottlings.
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VEUVE CLICQUOT VEUVECLICQUOT.COM
After the successful launch important to the making of It’s also made at a lower 4.5 last year of head winemaker Yellow Label (they are the bars pressure, rather than Dominique Demarville’s first ‘spices’ used for seasoning it). the more typical 6 bars, solo vintages – 2008 white and These are all stored separately because Demarville wanted rosé – he has now introduced in tanks on their lees, naturally to enhance the palate feel and an entirely new cuvée: Extra without filtration, kept year by texture. Brut Extra Old. EBEO was Veuve year, cru by cru and variety by It’s partly about shining Clicquot’s in-house code and variety. a light on the importance of it couldn’t find a better name “Our oldest is a Cramant reserve wines and their use when it came to launch time. [Chardonnay] from 1988, and in Yellow Label, Demarville “It’s Extra Brut, with a dosage we still have 80hl left of this.” says. of just 3g/l as a consequence of The idea of making a new This is well demonstrated being Extra Old,” Demarville cuvée entirely from these by tasting the current says. reserve wines began to take Yellow Label blend based In April 2017, Demarville shape in 2011, says Demarville. on the 2013 harvest, which brought the building blocks The new wine is a pure blend has 48% reserve wine with him to London, to show of these reserves from six in the blend from the six how the whole idea was put different harvests, the youngest previous harvests, plus a together. “When I joined 2010 and going back through dash of 1999. “We didn’t Clicquot 11 years ago I found a 2009, 2008, 2006, 1996 to the want to create a competitor beautiful collection of reserve oldest component, which is to La Grande Dame, the wines, a resource that’s very the 1988 Cramant Chardonnay. house’s prestige cuvée.” 14 DEUTZ
DEUTZ.COM
Consistent high quality across the range has helped restore the 15 reputation of this traditional Aÿ house to its former celebrated status. Its wines exude understated charm and elegance. At a range tasting with chief executive Fabrice Rosset in October, we’re reminded that Brut Classic is a textbook version of a non-vintage cuvée. Fresh, grapefruit citrus flavours give way to a mid-palate boasting biscuity notes and texture, plus a satisfyingly crisp, well- defined finish. The current release has a 2014 base with around 40% reserve wine and a dosage of some 9gm/l. The 2010 Blanc de Blancs, often an unsung star of the range, shines. Brut Vintage 2012 is even better – inviting warmth, riper and beautiful fruit bode well for long keeping. This leads us to a five-strong vertical of Cuvée William Deutz, 2006 back to 1988. These are subtle, nuanced wines, not powerhouse styles. “Freshness, elegance and harmony is what we look for,” says Rosset. We compare the, generally acid-vibrant, 1996 with 1995 and it confirms the impression seen recently, comparing the straight vintage wines from those two disparate years. The vibrant streak is still there in a long-held but single note, while the ’95 has the balance that gives more complexity of aroma and flavour. The 1988 has a dark, smoky, toasty character that evolves into mocha coffee notes with time in the glass. All this is a long, enjoyable prelude to the 2010 Homage to William Deutz, a 100% Pinot Noir that comes from two superbly located, south-facing plots just above the Deutz winery in Aÿ. “The aim with this savoury, ripe Pinot offering is to put the spotlight on William Deutz.” It will be relatively modestly priced at just above the vintage offering. “I like to think of it as an introduction to William Deutz,” says Rosset. “We are not going down the Krug route.”
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LAURENT- ALFRED 16 PERRIER 17GRATIEN LAURENT-PERRIER.COM ALFREDGRATIEN.COM
Last year Laurent-Perrier took A new entry in last year’s Most the major step of quite radically Admired Champagne Brands top changing the style of its non- 30, Alfred Gratien is the biggest vintage brut, renamed La mover bar one, rising 12 places. Cuvée. Initially based on the It’s interesting to speculate why. high-quality 2012 harvest, it will Is it about authenticity? Is there have more Chardonnay in the growing interest in wines where blend and, says UK managing oak plays a significant role? After director David Hesketh MW, a Hesketh says the Chardonnay- all, there has been a movement traditional house based in different flavour profile. Tasted dominant style of the non- back towards using more oak Epernay never moved away side by side with the old Brut vintage has evolved from in Champagne. This has not from oak fermentation to NV “there’s a clear difference the 45% of the blend it stood generally been to try to produce stainless steel as most houses between the two”. at when he started at the obviously oaky wines, but rather did in the ’60s and ’70s. It It is already one of the houses company. “Winemaker Michel in search of something subtler continued to ferment in 250- with the largest proportion of Fauconnier saw the opportunity – a gentle aeration in previously litre oak casks, bought second- Chardonnay in its non-vintage. of improving the blend after we used large foudres or barrels hand from La Chablisienne This now rises from 50% to 55% bought Château Malakoff and to give additional complexity cooperative in Chablis today, with Pinot Noir remaining at its vineyards in 2004, giving and textural notes. We’ve seen suppressing malolactic 35% and Meunier falling to 10%. him access to more high-quality Roederer, Veuve Clicquot, GH fermentation for further It also gets extra lees ageing, Chardonnay. The number of crus Mumm, Lanson and Billecart- freshness and longevity. up from three to four years. In in the assemblage nearly doubles Salmon all introduce or increase The result is exciting, line with long-term trends in to around 100. Hesketh says the oak fermentation capacity over characterful, expressive wines Champagne the dosage level high proportion of Chardonnay the past decade. that develop slowly and improve falls from 10 to 9gm/l, while in its non-vintage is one of the It must amuse Nicolas with further ageing on the the proportion of reserve wine reasons Laurent-Perrier doesn’t Jaeger, the fourth generation cork, particularly the long-lived increases, with up to 30% in the make a Blanc de Blancs as this of his family to be cellarmaster vintage wines. Some things are new blend. wine is its priority. at Alfred Gratien. This very worth waiting for. BRUNO PAILLARD
CHAMPAGNEBRUNOPAILLARD.COM
A man who has worked hard over the years to help steer Champagne collectively in a good direction, Bruno Paillard has championed complete transparency in production. He has been trying to convince his fellow producers to introduce a ban on trading vin sur lattes and arguing in favour of putting the date of disgorgement on all bottles of champagne. He has done this from the outset at his own boutique house, where Paillard set out to produce the highest quality without compromise. He has gradually built up a holding of 32.5ha of vineyards, 12ha of which are Grand Cru, in 15 villages. These 100 individual plots supply more than 60% of the grapes for the house. The Paillard wines – elegant, crisp and impeccably put together – are mainly sold in the higher echelons of the restaurant business. They can be quite austere in their youth but, with time and accompanying food, they blossom, as anyone who has tried the older disgorgements of the Brut Première Cuvée found on some distinguished restaurants’ lists, will avow. In 2017 Paillard was one of the very last houses to release his prestige cuvée Nec Plus Ultra from the celebrated 2002 vintage. Intense, concentrated and savoury with some gingerbread notes, this still has a long future ahead and will be even better in another decade. 18
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GH 20MUMM MUMM.COM
After years of playing second fiddle to Perrier-Jouët in the Pernod Ricard champagne portfolios, GH Mumm is emerging from the shadows. Head winemaker Didier Mariotti has rejuvenated the non- vintage, prestige line Lalou and vintage cuvées. PERRIER- More exciting is his work on JOUËT the gastronomic cuvées, the 21 best known of which used to be called Crémant de Cramant, PERRIER-JOUET.COM a wine of renown in Michelin- starred restaurants and at events Perrier-Jouët has developed its such as the biennial Bocuse d’Or Chardonnay credentials further chefs competition in Lyon. in 2017 with a new premium non- This cuvée became Blanc de vintage Blanc de Blancs style. Blancs and Blancs de Cramant Perhaps the marketing people (the Grand Cru village where at Pernod Ricard have been the grapes come from), at watching the success at LVMH which time Mariotti also made that Ruinart has had with Blanc a Pinot Noir partner Blanc de de Blancs styles. It’s worked for Noirs from pure Verzenay fruit others of course, and enables a I thought even better. In 2016 higher price to be charged for these two were relaunched a non-vintage wine in a way under the striking RSRV label consumers may feel is justified. 19 as premium vintage cuvées with Blanc de Noirs is a much more PHILIPPONNAT the superb Blanc de Verzenay difficult concept for even vaguely from the excellent 2008 harvest wine-savvy champagne drinkers PHILIPPONNAT.COM and the Blancs de Cramant from to grasp. Given that everyone 2012 – on this evidence an even has to increase the ‘value’ they Philipponnat is part of the Boizel Chanoine Champagne (BCC) better vintage and probably the are getting from highly priced group, though it operates as an entirely separate entity run by best Mumm release I have ever grapes, this is a strategy that Charles Philipponnat. There were Philipponnats in the village of tasted. makes sense for producers large Mareuil-sur-Aÿ back in 1522, but Charles, brought back to head The RSRV range has now and small. the house by BCC boss Bruno Paillard in 2006, was an excellent been expanded to include a The wine has a base of the choice for more than just his antecedents. He’s revitalised the longer-aged Grand Cru non- highly rated 2013 harvest. We house, setting out to make vinous wines with real fruit intensity, vintage and a rosé, but Pernod are yet to see released as a but balanced with freshness, reflecting the unique terroir. needs to make more noise about vintage wine but if this is a sign, A focus by the fine wine market on the ‘jewel in the crown’, them and then Mumm should it will be impressive. Disgorged Philipponat’s single-vineyard Clos des Goisses, a 5.5ha plot shoot up our rankings. in September it had around 30 with a 45° incline that faces due south – receiving no shade months on its lees and nearly from sunrise to sunset and probably the warmest site in all a year on the cork when tasted Champagne – has substantially raised the profile of the house. in July 2017. We are told the This now needs to be translated into more attention for its high- Chardonnay is sourced from quality Royale Réserve Brut, a consistently fine non-vintage, some 30 villages in Côte des which benefits from extra ageing, plus reserve wine kept in oak Blancs, Montagne de Reims, in a ‘solera’-type system, adding depth and complexity to Sézannais and Vitryat. Light, the blend. fresh, with a soft, creamy palate For those looking for a fairly vinous Pinot Noir-driven style of it’s a classy offering with a rosé, Royale Réserve Rosé is one of the best pinks on the market. planned retail price of £70. With Talking of vinous styles of champagne, at the recent launch of no straight vintage wine in the 2004 Clos des Goisses we had some rare steak served with it, a range any longer, it’s a stepping challenge it easily handled. stone between the regular Brut and Belle Époque.
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VEUVE- MAILLY 22FOURNY 23 CHAMPAGNE-VEUVE-FOURNY.COM CHAMPAGNE-MAILLY.COM
Brothers Charles-Henri and Co-operative isn’t a dirty Emmanuel Fourny, fifth word in France, and certainly generation of the family, took not in Champagne, where over running this business in the co-operatives exercise the village of Vertus in 1993. considerable power, thanks to Their vineyards lie almost their vigneron members who exclusively within this highly control a massive chunk of the rated Premier Cru (95% on the total vineyard. Most of the top Échelle des Crus), by some way from than you might imagine is co-operatives work hand-in- the largest of the 44 Premiers possible in one village. glove with the major négociant Crus in Champagne, covering The wines are pure, refined, brands, which need them to more than 500ha of vineyard. elegant expressions of these source the material they require. They own 10ha of vineyard different sites, mostly very low But they also produce their own and buy in grapes from another or no-dosage and often partial wines, the best of which can be from older reserve wine, some 14ha (five of which they farm) or non-malo. very good indeed and usually barrel aged. The Blanc de and their parcels divide into Some, like the fine, chalky represent great value. Thanks to Noirs is a big, concentrated around 30 ‘lieux-dits’. They vintage cuvée Monts de Vertus, its location, in the middle of the gastronomic champagne that are mostly planted with are unoaked. Cuvée ‘R’, named Grand Cru of Mailly, and to the comes from some of the best Chardonnay on three main soil after the brothers’ father, Roger, vineyards there its 70 members Pinot plots – including Les types: brown topsoil over chalk; is vinified in small oak barrels, own, this is one of the very best. Crayats, Les Coutures and Les rendzina over chalk and brown producing a richly aromatic, They farm some 71ha of Pinot Chalois – and benefits from topsoil over chalky gravel. The savoury style. Noir and Chardonnay planted in longer ageing. Top of the range average age of the vines is more Clos Faubourg Notre-Dame 480 parcels. Les Énchanson is a vintage wine than 40 years. These parcels are is an intense, honeyed, long- The rich and rounded Brut of real depth and complexity all vinified separately, giving lasting fizz from a tiny walled Réserve is a classic blend of 75% that needs time and puts some winemaker Emmanuel a much plot of 0.29ha next to the house Pinot Noir and 25% Chardonnay of the top offerings from the bigger range of material to blend replanted in 1951. with added complexity coming grandes maisons in the shade. PIPER-HEIDSIECK
PIPER-HEIDSIECK.COM
Along with its sister house Charles, Piper-Heidsieck was bought by French luxury goods group Entreprise Patrimoniale d’Investissements in June 2011. But, as the considerably larger- volume brand, sorting out its distribution has taken longer. But these issues have been addressed and now Piper is ready to make the most of its excellent quality credentials, which have seen the brand become one of the most widely awarded in international wine competitions. Partly to put a distance between what is available in grande distribution and the on-trade, a new, longer-aged and more refined version of the brut non-vintage, itself decent quality for more than a decade now, was launched in 2016. Named Essentiel, it has a lower ‘extra brut’ dosage and, as chef de caves Régis Camus says: “We have decided to display additional information on the label, such as the disgorgement and cellaring dates, to communicate that extra level of detail to an engaged Champagne audience.” Prestige cuvée Piper Rare, only seven vintages of which have been produced since the first in 1976, now has an ‘even rarer’, rosé partner. Only 1,200 bottles of the first 2007 vintage are available for all markets initially and the retail price in the UK will be around £325. 24
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32 DRINKS INTERNATIONAL MOST ADMIRED CHAMPAGNE 2018
MOËT & 26 CHANDON MOET.COM
Moët is the one marque that has almost instant worldwide recognition. That Moët Hennessy spends millions to help keep consumers engaged is also vital to stimulate interest in ‘brand champagne’. Sensibly it doesn’t just spend on marketing – what’s in the bottle gets serious attention CANARD- too from head winemaker Benoït DUCHÊNE Gouez and his team. 27 Gouez is generous in sharing the superb library of past CANARD-DUCHENE.FR/ vintage wines Moët has built up, doubling the number it keeps There are changes afoot at back since 1993. At the launch of Canard-Duchêne as the house vintages he shows past similar celebrates its 150th anniversary. vintages at different stages in Stanislas Thienot has brought their development, to give an in Cathryn Boudiak as global idea about how he sees any new brand director to oversee wine developing. the changes and plan future High acidity is not essential strategy. Boudiak, who worked for long ageing. Gouez has at LVMH for 14 years, sees this demonstrated many times that year as a key turning point in Moët vintages age particularly the history of Canard Duchêne. well in warm years with riper “Chef de cave Laurent Fedou fruit. He’s more a fan of the has been working tirelessly at new 2009 vintage than the perfecting a singular style for 25 previous classic, but austere, the house, driven by Pinot Noir. HENRI GIRAUD 2008. “In 2009 everything came While this remains his constant together in a natural way,” he challenge, what will change is CHAMPAGNE-GIRAUD.COM says. “There’s more of a Pinot the way we communicate with Noir focus and it’s the style we our consumers. Champagne Henri Giraud is another of our top 30 producers based in the love. There’s a structure that needs to remain innovative Grand Cru of Aÿ, in the heart of Champagne. It has a great gives charm and elegance to the and attractive in the face of reputation for its wines, many of which are fermented in oak wine, it’s not a vinous style of increasing competition, inside barrels from the Argonne forest to the east of Aÿ, where the Pinot Noir.” It was a warm year and outside the category.” Champenois sourced oak until the end of the 19th century. But in 2009, but “not excessive like The house is looking to when owner Claude Giraud wanted to start using it again, he in 1996 and 2003”. We end with bring to life some of the effectively had to create the supply from scratch as there was no a magnum of 1990, disgorged entrepreneurial spirit of reliable source available. Since then he has become something of 13 years earlier in 2004 but still founders Victor Canard and a champion of Argonne oak. brimming with life. Leonie Duchêne and to build on The Henri Giraud range is constantly evolving, from the entry- their heritage establishing the level unoaked Esprit de Giraud white and rosé, through the business in the Premier Cru of oaked Homage à Francois Hemart and Code Noir unvintaged Ludes, which covers just over champagnes to the Fût de Chêne vintage and multi-vintage wines 300ha of vineyard. that are being replaced by Argonne Grand Cru vintage, currently Volume growth to 4.5m from 2008, which retails for around £250 a bottle. bottle sales is no longer a target Late in 2016 Giraud oversaw the opening of a new cellar where but perhaps we can expect all winemaking will be done in oak barrels and egg-shaped to see more activity around terracotta amphorae. The winery is apparently gradually divesting Canard’s organically certified itself of all stainless-steel vats. There are also plans to launch a champagnes in both its Léonie ‘zero residue of pesticide’ label called Esprit Nature in January and Authentic ranges, as 2018 and later to expand the ‘zero pesticides’ labelling to the whole Thienot sees this as a good way Henri Giraud range. of recruiting new consumers and adding value.
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NICOLAS CASTELNAU 28 FEUILLATTE 29 NICOLAS-FEUILLATTE.COM CHAMPAGNE-CASTELNAU.FR
Nicolas Feuillatte is one of In 2017 Champagne Castelnau, the three largest producers of celebrated its centenary with champagne, with brand sales a relaunch and smart new put at 10.4m bottles in 2016 by branding as it gears up to Impact, and one of its main expand sales. Director general strengths is access to grapes Pascal Prudhomme says: “last from 5,000 grower members year I did an audit of our brand across the appellation. which revealed great customer growers, who own more than But even a producer with loyalty, but opportunities to 900ha of vineyards in 155 crus ready access to grapes wants widen out appeal to a new across the appellation, around to put as large a proportion audience. Our ambition is to sell half of it in Premiers and as possible into premium 1m bottles by 2020 and 2m by Grands Crus. wine production. So, while it very different in style, with 2025, so reaching an extended Castelnau prestige cuvée Hors currently has five non-vintage the former about two-thirds audience is key.” Catégorie – a three-vintage blend offerings in the large range, black fruit (Pinot Noir and Castelnau’s association with based on 2010 with reserve wine the focus of attention should Meunier), both have developed the Tour de France since 2012 has from 2009 and ’08 matured in be wines such as the vintage an attractive richness and helped raise the brand’s profile. Argonne oak – was launched in cuvées, including the two grand offer fantastic value for money It shipped just under 800,000 June 2016 and has impressed. cru single varietal champagnes, against similar offerings from bottles in 2016 and already But the signature wine remains plus the impressive prestige other top brands exports 79% of its volume, Brut Réserve, which boasts a cuvée Palmes d’Or. It will be interesting to see the with the UK, US, Germany and lovely richness and complexity Happily the current vintage new strategy from managing Belgium the main markets. A thanks to extensive lees ageing wines, in the shape of the 2008 director Christophe Juarez, who new winery is being built which of typically at least six years Brut vintage and the Blanc de started last summer and has a will have a 23,000hl capacity (twice the Champagne norm). Blancs vintage from the same strong marketing background. when it opens this year. Fine recent vintage releases fine harvest, are great calling You can be sure that ‘adding Castelnau reputation for from 2002 and 2003 have also cards for the brand. Although value’ will be at its heart. quality is built on its 600-plus impressed. ALAIN THIÉNOT
THIENOT.COM
Alain Thiénot, who started out in Champagne finding good sources of grape supplies for other producers, built his own family business on the depth of knowledge of the terroir he acquired in the process. His first vineyard purchases were 6ha of Pinot Noir in the Grand Cru of Aÿ – that would set you back more than €12m today – followed by plots in the equally, if not more, expensive Côte des Blancs Grand Cru of Le Mesnil. This was a great basis for the house of Thiénot, founded in 1985 and from the start aiming to make gastronomic wines for the table. Today this family business is run by Alain’s son Stanislas with his sister Garance and the 30ha or so it owns supplies four-fifths of the grapes they need to produce 350,000 bottles. Quality is paramount. You can see that from the fine non-vintage brut style right up to the single vineyard La Vigne Aux Gamins (moving from the 2005 to 2006 towards the end of this year). This is a complex, vinous wine that bares comparison with the four of five best single vineyard wines made in Champagne. Look out for a new Blanc de Blancs cuvée later in the spring and a second colourful Speedy Graphito limited-edition magnum of Thiénot Brut NV, due out in the autumn. The juice inside is a real step up from most non-vintage offerings. 30
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2017 was another tricky harvest for R ACE champagne, reports Giles Fallowfield AGAINST t was another eventful growing season in Champagne in 2017, culminating in a harvest that was challenging to TIME Imanage, with di cult decisions to be made about exactly when to pick. Unusually warm weather in March encouraged early growth then late spring frost hit the vulnerable rst shoots in mid-April. Therea er it was unusually warm, dry and sunny, with the highest May temperatures recorded since 1947 and 50% more sunshine in June than the 10-year average, including 15 days over 30°C. By mid-July, with little need for vineyard treatments and barely any disease issues, there were predictions for a healthy, decent-sized harvest, despite the potential yield losses to earlier frost. But from the last week of July when it started raining, climatic conditions changed radically. A warm, wet and o en very humid August followed – perfect conditions for the widespread development of botrytis, which threatened to ruin the 2017 harvest. “August 25 was the turning point,” says Lanson winemaker Hervé Dantan. “While in the Aube, the Sézannais, the Côte des Blancs and Vitryat a dry period began, in the Aisne and a large part of the Marne, between 15 and 50mm of rain fell. The four days with temperatures around 30°C which followed sealed the fate of the vintage in these regions [where it rained], because in those humid and hot conditions botrytis was developing fast, particularly e ecting Pinot Noir and Meunier.”
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Many growers faced the in terms of harvest potential Pinot Noir in the Côte des Bar, di cult decision between lost,” says Deutz winemaker Champagne’s most southerly picking clean, but possibly Michel Davesne, “but it is the vineyard, was generally good. slightly underripe, fruit or areas of Chardonnays that are “In the Côte des Bar, the waiting for phenolic maturity most a ected, villages such as situation was quite di erent R ACE but running an increasing Oger, Villeneuve and Bisseuil from the Marne. The botrytis risk of botrytis spreading. In [all crus exposed to the east], attack we had in late July has the end it was a race against not to mention certain areas of been stopped by the sun and time to get in as much healthy Mareuil-sur-Aÿ and Aÿ”. we were not under any pressure fruit as possible. Once started, to start picking too early harvesting was widely APRIL FROSTS [because of rot anxieties], so we completed at a frenetic pace Taittinger managing director have waited a few more days AGAINST in one concentrated burst of Damien Le Sueur, says the main and reached a good maturity 10 days or fewer, compared damage su ered in the April without losing quality,” says with over three weeks in 2016. frosts was in “40ha mainly Drappier. “We picked Pinot Noir Rigorous selection was an around Murigny, immediately at an average of 10.2°. Urville essential part of the process south of Reims, where several of was quite lucky, botrytis had no for those pursuing quality, our best plots – mostly Meunier e ect on the quality of the must, TIME especially for Pinot Noir and (45%) but 30% Pinot Noir and it is a pity we had frost. It would Meunier. 25% Chardonnay – were badly have been a great year in both At Krug, for example, they damaged and more than 80% quality and quantity.” picked “70% of the crop in just destroyed by frost, resulting in a According to champagne’s ve days”, says Olivier Krug, rarely-seen 3,500kg/ha harvest. generic body, the CIVC, a er a “although we had three weeks Our vines on the Côte des Bar, in cold winter, in late January it was between when we started the Aube region, also su ered below -10°C, the growing season picking in Clos du Mesnil (on from the icy temperatures, kicked o with mild weather in August 25 before the harvest yielding a disappointing March – the warmest in 20 years opening dates had even been 6,900kg/ha.” with temperatures 2°C above announced) and our last day of Côte des Bar-based producer average. This resulted in an early picking”. In fact, they completed Michel Drappier says: “Global bud break, around April 4 for all their picking in Mesnil-sur- warming has an e ect in Chardonnay, April 6 for Pinot Oger by the o cial opening date Champagne, there is no doubt Noir and April 10 for Meunier, for the village of September 1. about that. In Urville we had 10 days earlier than the 10-year And, says Krug, a er the rst frost again, like Chablis and average. This early start made round of vins clairs tastings in Burgundy, but much less than the vines susceptible to late frost, January, “we can clearly see it in 2016. Last year, the frost was that almost inevitably arrived, was one of the best decisions we deep and all potential grapes with temperatures falling below have ever taken”. were burnt. This year frost was -5°C on the nights of April 18-20, Because it was ahead of more super cial, allowing a causing considerable damage to the black grapes in terms second bud burst which has the young shoots and generally of ripening, Chardonnay is covered 50% of the loss.” But cutting overall potential yields the variety that generally they didn’t have the rot problems by between 20-25%, said the fared best in 2017, with good of further north, “we lost only CIVC. It said the heaviest levels of ripeness, relatively 5%-10% of the crop through damage was in the north and high potential alcohol and sorting, grapes were healthy,” west of the Montagne de Reims, few problems with rot. “The so, “despite the frost, we have the Valle de l’Ardre, the Côte des quality of the Chardonnay harvested 9,200kg/ha.” Bar and the sector to the west of was magni cent, stunningly Although it was again one Château-Thierry. ripe and in irreproachable of the Champagne areas worst By the time the Champagne condition,” according to hit by the April frosts, botrytis Comité met in mid-July however, Laurent Fresnet, winemaker at wasn’t an issue here and everything was looking set for Henriot. “Yields are lower than a decent-sized healthy harvest in previous years, but entirely and they set the minimum adequate for Maison Henriot.” potential alcohol level (PAL) “Chardonnays were at 9.5°. But the weather turned beautifully mature,” says before the end of July and, as Perrier-Jouët chef de cave Hervé Davesne puts it: “The drought Deschamps, “but unfortunately THE DROUGHT observed since the beginning of STOCKNSHARES/ISTOCK.COM yields were low,” as certain AT THE START the year gave way to signi cant villages in the Côte des Blancs, OF THE YEAR rainfall and a sometimes such as Avize and Oger, were GAVE WAY TO tropical atmosphere between hit by the April frosts. “The RAINFALL August 15 and 30. These damage was estimated at 23% conditions have slowed down
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the speed of ripening and were particularly favourable for the development of botrytis, particularly among the Pinot Noirs and Meuniers.” As conditions worsened towards the onset of the harvest, some questioned whether the Comité had set the minimum required PAL level too high at 9.5°. But Moët & Chandon chef de cave Benoît Gouez demurs. “As the final potential alcohol level is close to 10° we can definitely say that an average of 9.5° wasn’t too ambitious.” Cyril Brun, winemaker at Charles Heidsieck, takes a slightly different view. “While we didn’t start picking anywhere more than two days before the official opening date, we managed to pick faster than in previous years to keep ahead of the spreading botrytis. But in many cases the maturity ambition
[ie achieving 9.5° PAL] was too TITOSLACK/ISTOCK.COM high compared with the size of the botrytis problem.” Brun notes that it’s “always hard to say whether you prefer ripe fruit with some rot progression of botrytis damage compromises between quality problems, or no rot issues, but and we didn’t regret this and quantity. Sorting was a unripe fruit. There isn’t an decision,” says Uriel. brave move when some growers answer that fits all situations, it Jean-Francois Preau at Mailly only picked three or four varies from one [grape] variety Champagne, where picking thousand kilos of grapes per to another, from one terroir to started on September 3, just OUR GRAPE hectare,” says Eznack. another. We tried both options, one day before the village GROWERS At Bollinger, chef de cave but neither is perfect. Phenolic official opening date, regrets HAD TO MAKE Gilles Descôtes doesn’t think ripeness you don’t get naturally having chosen “too late a start, DIFFICULT the Comité set the PAL too high. will hardly be compensated which at the end of the harvest DECISIONS “No, as is well demonstrated by by chaptalisation, so I tend to resulted in very high ripeness the simple fact that the average favour harvesting ripe and then levels”. On average they reached [potential] alcohol level in for using severe sorting.” 11.29° for Chardonnay, which published on August 26 and 2017 will probably be over 10°. Nicolas Uriel, winemaker at was very clean and where the the minimum average alcohol In some places, especially for Thiénot, says: “As far as the evolution of maturity surprised content set at 9.5° there was Meunier it [9.5°] was difficult to minimum PAL is concerned, in its speed, and 10.32° for Pinot a lot of debate. Some wine reach, but for people who had when the profession fixed it in Noir, which had to be picked growers thought the proposed problems with botrytis, they mid-July, we thought it wouldn’t more selectively. Preau says dates were too late and that the could ask for a derogation [to be a problem. Everything looked one of the problems was the PAL level was too ambitious, pick early]. right in the vineyard, with the wide heterogeneity in ripeness considering the health of the “The Chardonnay could weather conditions almost from village to village and vines which worsened by have started a little bit earlier, perfect for a good ripening. We plot to plot. And, due to the the day, particularly in Pinot but for Bollinger Chardonnay, have to be ambitious, but this botrytis caused by the rainy Noir and Meunier vineyards. Cuis is a key cru and as this is decision may have been made end to August, “our growers Applications for special a village which tends to ripen too early. were obliged to be very selective permission for villages to later, I think that September 4 “We started picking on and around 20% of the grapes harvest earlier began piling up [as the start date] was a good August 28 in old plots of had to be put on the ground”, on desks at INAO. choice. For the Pinot Noir, it was Meunier in Verneuil (Vallée de Preau says. Picking finished by “Planning picking routes difficult to pick earlier as the la Marne), three days before the September 13. (l'ordre de cueillette) was more acidity was still very high, and fixed opening day, in spite of a Head winemaker at Jacquart, crucial than ever. Our grape the ripeness not completed,” PAL under 9.5° (about 9-9.2°). Floriane Eznack notes: growers sometimes had to says Descôtes. We did this because of the fast “When the harvest dates were make difficult decisions and Despite the immediate
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pre-harvest weather at the average alcohol content of 10.64° end of August being bad, we in the winery. It is without doubt managed to reach a yield of the king of grape varieties this 10.260kg/ha,” he says. “We year.” reached that level even after a For Bollinger Descôtes says: careful selection. We estimate “Chardonnay was perfectly that the loss because of sorting healthy. Late Pinot Noir did was over 15% on average, but well in crus such as Verzenay, while this was nothing in Cuis, Louvois, Bouzy and Tauxières. it was a lot more in Aÿ.” It was more difficult in our For Didier Mariotti, head vineyards in Aÿ. The most winemaker at GH Mumm: “It difficult was for Meunier and we was crucial for us to harvest had some problems with many the grapes quickly, even with a of our suppliers of Meunier. lower level of ripeness, rather We have started to taste the than to risk having rotten Chardonnays and they are very grapes. This was especially good, but the Pinot Noirs are important with warm weather heterogeneous, so I would say in early September increasing that 2017 will likely not turn into the chance of rot [spreading]. a vintage for Bollinger.” Selective picking was crucial “The Pinots Noirs of the Côte throughout the harvest.” des Bars and the Chardonnays With potential yields in large will be the big winners of 2017. parts of the vineyard hit by the However, large qualitative April frost and more material variables are expected for lost as a result of the rigorous CARTERDAYNE/ISTOCK.COM Pinot Noir and Meunier,” sorting needed to eliminate rot, says Lanson’s Dantan. From particularly with Pinot Noir his perspective in Mareuil- and Meunier, meeting even sur-Aÿ Philipponnat says: “The the relatively low maximum Chardonnays were perfectly permitted yield of 10,300kg/ha healthy and very, perhaps too, looked challenging. But perhaps vineyard in Aÿ was a disaster, ripe. Pinot Noir was variable, surprisingly, the Champenois “Dizy [next door] fared much but generally good with proper have got remarkably close to better with almost no botrytis sorting and attention, at least in that level, with the provisional in les Terres Rouges [single our area.” figure for the 2017 average yield vineyard in Dizy], where Asked what the chances of 10,057kg/ha just released by PINOT NOIR we farm 6ha, but in the Aÿ of vintage champagne were, the Comité. WAS VARIABLE, vineyards of Vauzelle Terme he says: “Clos des Goisses For Jean-Hervé Chiquet at BUT GENERALLY and Le Léon, at least half the certainly, and perhaps some Champagne Jacquesson, in GOOD WITH fruit was rotten. Potentially, two Chardonnay. Pinot Noir-based the village of Dizy, with the PROPER SORTING of our single vineyards could be cuvées unlikely, except some exception of some severe spring considered for vintaging, but it’s select plots, possibly.” frosts, especially in Côte des too early to say.” On the harvest overall he Blancs, “the weather conditions at picking. In Avize/Oiry, the Henriot’s Fresnet says: says: “Certainly not a general were almost perfect for vine problem was almost entirely due “We reached 10,300kg/ha catastrophe like 1984, although growing until mid-August, when to spring frosts. with selection, in spite of rot a large part of it is mediocre. But temperatures and humidity “It’s true that Chardonnay problems for black grapes. don’t let critics and journalists started to increase”. appears to have fared best, This is partly because we have kill it. Some very good grapes He continues: “Storms but difficult to explain,” says little Meunier, which was have been taken in, and most followed by some semi- Chiquet. “The differences may hit by frost and rot. Charles producers have plenty of ‘Réserve tropical conditions were have been due to the precise Philipponnat, of the eponymous Individuelle’ to play with. perfect to develop botrytis. The moment of the rainfall, related house in Mareuil-sur-Aÿ, says it For Eznack and most other accumulated quantities of rain to the ripening stage of the reached “about 9,000kg/ha on winemakers we spoke to: “It were significant and the effect fruits.” Average ripeness was average, more than we expected is too early to make definitive of this was increased by the higher on Chardonnay at 11.55° considering the heavy sorting statements about the quality very high humidity. We were far with “generally good-looking we had to do”. of the wines, but this harvest from reaching the maximum fruit”. Pinot Noir was more In terms of quality, “is 2017 is reminiscent of 2010. Years permitted yield. variable, averaging 11.05° and a disastrous crop?” Eznack ending in 7 do not tend to make “We got around 5,900kg/ha while “some fruit was superb, asks. “No, because not all grape great vintages in Champagne: in Dizy/Aÿ and 5,300kg/ha in some was terrible”. Meuniers varieties and areas were affected 1987, 1997, 2007, 2017. But years Avize/Oiry. The losses in Aÿ/ were generally OK (averaging [by botrytis]. Chardonnay, for ending in an 8 are outstanding. Dizy were half due to spring 10.45°). instance, produced beautifully 1988, 1998, 2008. frosts and half to severe selection For Jacquesson, while its ripe, healthy clusters and “Roll on 2018!”
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THE LIST
1 LOUIS ROEDERER UP 3 2 POL ROGER UP 2 3 CHARLES HEIDSIECK UP 4 4 BILLECART-SALMON UP 1 5 KRUG DOWN 3 6 BOLLINGER DOWN 5 7 TAITTINGER UP 2 8 JACQUESSON UP 4 9 RUINART DOWN 1 10 DOM PÉRIGNON DOWN 4 11 SALON NON-MOVER 12 GOSSET DOWN 2 13 HENRIOT NON-MOVER 14 VEUVE CLICQUOT UP 1 15 DEUTZ UP 3 16 LAURENT-PERRIER UP 1 17 ALFRED GRATIEN UP 12 18 BRUNO PAILLARD RE-ENTRY 19 PHILIPPONNAT UP 8 20 GH MUMM UP 3 21 PERRIER-JOUËT DOWN 5 22 VEUVE-FOURNY NEW ENTRY 23 MAILLY GRAND CRU NEW ENTRY 24 PIPER HEIDSIECK RE-ENTRY 25 HENRI GIRAUD NEW ENTRY 26 MOËT & CHANDON DOWN 7 27 CANARD-DUCHÊNE DOWN 3 28 NICOLAS FEUILLATTE DOWN 3 29 DE CASTELNAU NEW ENTRY 30 ALAIN THIÉNOT DOWN 4
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