The Champagne & Sparkling Wine World Championships 2014

The Champagne & Sparkling Wine World Championships 2014: The Trophy Winners

Tom Stevenson presents the results of the first Champagne & Sparkling Wine World Championships, which he created to provide consumers and trade with the definitive annual guide to the very best wines in their style

weak point of most wine 2. It is the only global competition in £500 or more. With such great but competitions is the absence which every judge present agrees all the hugely expensive Champagnes pouring Aof the very best wines. You will medals awarded. In bigger competitions, in, we began to wonder whether it would never see, for example, a Bordeaux first the more wines entered, the more be fair to pitch them against normally growth entered into any competition, judges are roped in, and the judging priced Champagnes and (in the latter but we had hoped that the “first growths” becomes a bit like pass the parcel, stages of the competition) other of Champagne would support the the degree of success depending on sparkling wines. On the other hand, Champagne & Sparkling Wine World whose table a wine lands on. At the we had to consider whether it would Championships and, from the trophy Champagne & Sparkling Wine World be fair to exclude any wine from a winners profiled here, it is clear that Championships, there is just one panel, process designed to find the very best. most have. The iconic likes of Dom and if needs be, we will go on tasting for To resolve this conundrum, we judged Pérignon Rosé, Dom Pérignon a month to ensure that we maintain this the deluxe Champagne cuvées separately Oenothèque (now P2), Louis Roederer unprecedented level of consistency in so that we not only discovered the best Cristal, or Louis Roederer Cristal Rosé the judging process. deluxe blanc de blancs, rosé and so on have not entered any other competition. 3. Only gold and silver medals are but also found the best regular blanc de recognized and publicized. On average, blancs, rosé, et al. Not to put our name on A competition with a difference 30 percent of wines entered into major the very best of 99 percent of each style A couple of other sparkling-wine competitions receive a bronze medal, of Champagne would have been a competitions have been attempted, but and approximately 25 percent are dereliction of duty. We then brought as soon as you examine the gold-medal “commended” or the equivalent. We the best of these two worlds together to winners, it is clear that most of even the believe that telling consumers most decide the World Champion Champagne second- and third-tier Champagnes did of the wines entered into a competition trophy, because to deny the best deluxe not enter, let alone the best of the best, are winners to one degree or another cuvées their place in the ultimate and you have to wonder how many of diminishes the value of those awards. Champagne taste-off would have been a the golds truly deserved their medals. We therefore consign the bronze medals mockery. Louis Roederer 2002 Cristal I wanted a competition where the medal and commended wines to the dustbin Rosé was the clear winner of the World winners are so richly endowed that the of shame along with the No Awards that Champion Champagne trophy in the opposite would happen: where no one other competitions put there. first year of our competition, but after 35 would wonder whether a modest or years of experiencing the extraordinary unknown gold winner deserved its An embarrassment of riches heights that the greatest “regular” medal but would consider the company This was such a successful approach that Champagnes can achieve, it should it is keeping and give it respect. To create we were humbled by the number of truly never be taken for granted that this title a competition like that, the Champagne iconic Champagnes being entered, but will always be won by a deluxe cuvée. & Sparkling Wine World Championships their presence soon became something We then repeated this process at the had to be special, and three features are of a problem—a gold-plated problem international trophy stage, removing the key to that: maybe, but a problem nonetheless. World Champion Deluxe Champagne 1. It is the only competition to be Deluxe cuvées generally command trophy winners from every World judged exclusively by Champagne and stratospherically high prices compared Champion taste-off by style but sparkling-wine specialists. I have tasted to the rest of Champagne and the even including World Champion Champagne thousands of Champagnes blind with less expensive sparkling wines from (whether deluxe or not) in the final both Essi Avellan MW and Tony Jordan, elsewhere, but the most iconic of those showdown for Supreme World and they are simply the best tasters in deluxe cuvées are in a different price Champion, which is our version of the business when it comes to fizz. league altogether, often retailing for Best in Show.

Australian Blanc de Blancs Champagne Deluxe Magnum being aged on fine lees in Austrian oak for a few Blue Pyrenees Estate 2010 Midnight Cuvée Champagne Laurent-Perrier NV Grand Siècle months. A 1983 late-harvested Pinot Blanc is used (magnum) for dosage. Australian Blend Note | A medium-deep lemony color, this has very House of Arras NV Brut Elite C601 Champagne Deluxe Rosé stylish, still evolving, spicy-gunpowder aromas Champagne Louis Roederer 2002 Cristal Rosé that will go distinctly toasty with time. Lovely, Australian Non-Dosage promising, very rich and substantial palate, intense Este 2007 De Bortoli Wines Chilean Blanc de Noirs yet fresh and full of fruit that is firm and succulent, Miguel Torres Chile NV Cordillera Brut with a long, linear finish that is good and dry. Australian Rosé Dominique Portet NV Brut Rosé English NV Blanc de Blancs WORLD CHAMPION USA Wiston Estate NV Blanc de Blancs Australian Sparkling Red Roederer Estate NV Brut Sparkling Wine Grant Burge NV Shiraz Cabernet English Vintage Blanc de Blancs 12%, 12g (60% Chardonnay, 40% Pinot Noir) Nyetimber 2003 Blanc de Blancs (magnum) BEST IN CLASS Australian Vintage Rosé SUPREME WORLD CHAMPION WORLD CHAMPIONS House of Arras 2005 Rosé English Vintage Magnum Background | In 1987, the legendary Michel Nyetimber 2003 Blanc de Blancs (magnum) Salgues made history with the second release All the wines submitted were initially tasted and Austrian Vintage Blend WORLD CHAMPIONS BY ORIGIN from this venture when it became the first evaluated by origin and style. This ensured that each Champagne Louis Roederer 2002 Bründlmayer 2008 Brut (magnum) English Vintage sparkling wine of a standard equivalent not just wine’s medal potential was evaluated according to its Cristal Rosé 12%, 9g own typicity of provenance. Within each category of Digby Fine English 2009 Réserve Brut From the Best in Class, there was a taste-off for to Champagne but to good-quality Champagne. origin, the wines were assessed strictly by style—that Austrian Vintage Magnum the most outstanding wine to receive the World Being first to scale the heights is, of course, a is, all the brut nature together, all the blanc de blancs, Bründlmayer 2008 Brut (magnum) English Vintage Rosé Other trophies | World Champion Deluxe Rosé, Champion trophy for each country or appellation. unique achievement, but managing to stay at the rosé, et cetera. Where no gold medals were awarded, Hattingley Valley 2011 Rosé World Champion Champagne top as the competition increases in number and no wine of that style from that provenance could California Blend Background | I always think of Louis Roederer WORLD CHAMPION AUSTRALIA quality can be even harder—but Arnaud Weyrich, progress any further in the competition; but where Roederer Estate NV Brut Sparkling Wine Franciacorta NV Blend as the House of Terroirs. Its immaculate 240ha the current winemaker, manages that with ease. there were gold-medal winners, we grouped them Il Mosnel NV Brut (593-acre) estate is divided into six domaines, Interestingly, it is Roederer Estate’s entry-level Blue Pyrenees Estate 2010 Midnight together, demoted any that did not stand shoulder to California Rosé one for each category of wine (Domaine 1: cuvée that has won the World Champion trophy, Cuvée 12.5%, 7g (100% Chardonnay) shoulder with the rest, and chose the Best in Class. Caraccioli Cellars 2006 Brut Rosé Franciacorta Non Dosage Vintage; Domaine 2: Rosé; Domaine 3: Cristal but it’s secret is the restrained use of oak-aged Il Mosnel 2008 Rosé Pas Dosé Parosé Brut; Domaine 4: Blanc de Blancs; Domaine 5: reserve wine, which was the difference between Cap Classique Blanc de Blancs Brut Premier; and Domaine 6: Cristal Rosé). Background | This property in the Pyrenees region the first and second releases all those years ago. Graham Beck Wines 2009 Blanc de Blancs Franciacorta Vintage Rosé Each domaine is planted and farmed specifically of Western Victoria was formerly known as Avoca Note | Beautifully pale lemon in color, with a Il Mosnel 2008 Rosé Pas Dosé Parosé according to the style of Champagne to be and chosen in the 1960s when French winemakers stylish nose of delicate toasty notes floating over Cava Traditional Varieties crafted from its harvest. The size of Domaine 6 from Rémy Martin, the original owners, searched fresh white fruit and blossom. This is perfectly Gramona 2000 Enoteca Brut Nature Franciacorta Vintage Blend has not changed since it was selected in 1974 by for suitable site by overlaying gold-mining maps reflected on the palate, which is smooth and Ca’ del Bosco 2005 Cuvée Annamaria Clementi Jean-Claude Rouzaud, the current chairman and with wine maps. The idea was that they wanted creamy, with lovely interwoven toasty complexity. Cava Mixed Varieties (Traditional & International) (magnum) sixth-generation descendant of Nicolas Schreider to find deep gravel soil in a climate suitable The finish is long and the dosage well balanced. Freixenet NV Elyssia Gran Cuvée (who preceded his nephew, the eponymous Louis for viticulture, and since most gold had been Franciacorta Magnum Roederer). Rouzaud selected parcels in Aÿ, Avize, extracted from dried-up river beds, they searched WORLD CHAMPION CAP CLASSIQUE Cava Rosé Ca’ del Bosco 2005 Cuvée Annamaria Clementi and Le Mesnil-sur-Oger that are all on hard chalk, for locations that coincided with established Freixenet 2012 Cuvée de Prestige Trepat (magnum) in perfectly wind-sheltered locations and totally vineyards. They found only two such overlaps in Graham Beck Wines 2009 Blanc de planted with massal-selection vines. Every year all of Australia: one in Pemberton, but that was Blancs 12%, 6g (100% Chardonnay) Champagne NV Blend New Zealand Blend these parcels produce fruit of the highest phenolic the back of beyond back then; the other in Avoca, Champagne Pommery NV Brut Royal (magnum) Akarua 2010 Vintage Brut ripeness in the Roederer estate, yet approximately now known as the Pyrenees. Midnight Cuvée is 50 percent will be culled in the strict selection so called because the grapes are hand-harvested Background | This blanc de blancs is the signature Champagne NV Blanc de Blancs Other Italian process. (Declassified blocks prior to harvest at night under lights, when the temperature has cuvée of Graham Beck’s Cap Classique range and, Champagne Ruinart NV Blanc de Blancs Tenuta Scarpa Colombi NV Roberto Colombi go to the reserve wines, declassified wines at dropped and the wines are fresher and crisper. in my opinion, the flagship of all cap classiques in Blanc de Blancs Brut assemblage end up in the vintage rosé, the 2008 Note | This is a really smart, approachable blanc South Africa, so I was both happy and relieved to Champagne NV Magnum of which won a gold medal.) It is not just the de blancs, with excellent acids to ensure the see we had chosen this for the World Champion Champagne Pommery NV Brut Royal (magnum) Prosecco Brut high ripeness of the grapes produced that is key freshness remains for the long term. Medium- trophy. Quite how winemaker Pieter Ferreira Bisol NV Crede (magnum) here, but also the balance, which provides the deep, beautiful, and star-bright, developing lemon produces this year on year from Robertson’s flat, Champagne NV Rosé fruit with its exceptional freshness and finesse. color. Crisp, acidic palate, really good structure, hot vineyards is something of a miracle. Half the Acknowledgments Champagne Charles Heidsieck NV Rosé Réserve Prosecco Dry Rouzaud also changed the winemaking process, linear, with some textural creaminess on the finish. wines undergo first fermentation in small oak We are extremely grateful to Plumpton College Nino Franco 2013 Valdobbiadene Primo Franco abandoning traditional maceration on the press, pièces (the Champenois 205-liter barriques), half Wine Centre for providing the perfect venue for Champagne Vintage Blend which has an oxidative tendency, and introducing WORLD CHAMPION AUSTRIA in stainless steel. The pièces are mostly all well our judging. Part of the University of Brighton, Champagne Les Pionniers 2004 Brut Prosecco Extra Dry a week-long cold soak that is still unique in used, with only 7 percent new added each year. Plumpton College is the only educational facility Tenuta Ca’ Bolani NV Prosecco Champagne (see my A la Volée column, WFW Note | Lovely deep lemon color. A stylish, yeast- in Europe offering a BSc in viticulture and Bründlmayer 2008 Brut (magnum) enology in the English language, and naturally Champagne Vintage Blanc de Blancs 37, p.50). As from 2011, Domaine 6 has been complexed, restrained, yet creamy-opulent nose, 12.5%, 8.7g (40% Chardonnay, 30% Pinot enough, it specializes in sparkling wine. We Champagne De Castelnau 2002 Blanc de Blancs Prosecco Magnum converted to 100 percent biodynamic farming. with rich and round creamy fruit on the palate. Noir, 10% Pinot Gris, 10% Pinot Blanc, 10% are also hugely indebted to Riedel for supplying Bisol NV Crede (magnum) Note | Very pale, light-bronze color. Incredible A tasty, immensely satisfying cap classique that their Vinum Chianti glasses, which are ideal for Grüner Veltliner) tasting Champagne and other sparkling wines. Champagne Vintage Rosé aged complexity of aroma, super-stylish, spicy, glides to a good brut finish. Smart winemaking. Champagne Charles Heidsieck 1999 Rosé Southeastern Europe and elegant. This is an extraordinary wine, Tasting venue: Plumpton College Wine Centre Millésime Aleksandrovic 2009 Trijumf Chardonnay absolutely exquisite in its balance of concentration Background | Few people know that Willi WORLD CHAMPION CAVA Judges: Tom Stevenson, Essi Avellan MW, and and acidity. Sweet, rich, and velvet-smooth on Bründlmayer’s wife Edwige grew up in Paris, where Dr Tony Jordan Champagne Deluxe Blend Trentodoc Vintage Blanc de Blancs the palate, yet so long, linear, and lingering. her favorite tipple was Champagne. When she Associate judge: George Markus Gramona 2000 Enoteca Brut Nature Completion steward: Amanda Regan Champagne Dom Pérignon 1996 Oenothèque Ferrari 2007 Perlé Very much alive, it is succulent and refined, with a moved to Langenlois, this was Willi’s motivation to 12.5%, 2.5g (75% Xarel-lo, 25% Macabeo) Logistics and pouring: Karl Franz, crisp dry finish. A sheer pleasure to drink—sorry, start production of his own sparkling wine, which Sensible Wine Services Champagne Deluxe Blanc de Blancs Trentodoc Vintage Rosé taste! To say this has great finesse would be a he has made since 1989. Fermented in stainless Tasting glasses: Riedel 6416/15 aka Vinum Chianti Champagne Dom Ruinart 2002 Blanc de Blancs Rotari 2010 Alperegis Rosé Millesimato huge understatement. steel, where it undergoes a full malolactic before Background | John Radford, the late Spanish wine

authority, will be looking down from el paraíso glass bottles, Digby Fine English is a relatively so after we discovered the winner of this trophy WORLD CHAMPIONS BY STYLE Ruinart itself, but cannot guarantee what happens own-label production from their famous brand laughing his head off. He would never have new English sparkling-wine venture owned by and realized the connection, I removed Jordan’s to it once it has left his control. If you want to taste name. Not that this particular producer should believed that I could devise a competition that Trevor Clough and Jason Humphries. This is the score, but Akarua still came out the clear winner. The Best in Class winners from all over the world were it in the same pristine condition we did, avoid worry—the Non-Vintage Les Pionniers can be very would result in the highest Spanish sparkling-wine first English sparkling wine to achieve such a The grapes are estate grown in Bannockburn, a grouped together within their own style to decide any bottles that are on display, always purchase good, but the Vintage Les Pionniers has always honors going to a Cava produced from traditional high level of critical success using the equivalent subregion of Central Otago, where 2010 was a each of these World Champion trophies. bottles that have never left their presentation box, been not just very good but outstandingly good. grape varieties. Although I have always rated business model of what the Champenois call a top vintage for both Pinot Noir and sparkling wine. and keep it stored in the same box in a cool dark When I was chair of the Champagne panel at Cavas from Gramona and have long considered négociant-manipulant, which sources its grapes (The next equally top vintage for both types of WORLD CHAMPION NON-DOSAGE place until you want to drink it. the Decanter World Wine Awards, we regularly Xarel-lo to be the best of Cava’s three traditional from privately owned vineyards far and wide wine will be 2013.) Eighty percent of this wine Note | A youthful, gunpowdery-mineral nose, with gave the Vintage Les Pionniers a gold medal, and floral and lemon-tart notes. Linear, driven palate, varieties, it is true that I have been generally (in this instance, Kent, Sussex and Hampshire). was fermented in stainless-steel vats, the rest Il Mosnel 2008 Rosé Pas Dosé Parosé, I would have laid money on the 2004 getting a super lean and fresh, yet texturally creamy, with a disparaging about the potential of all three grapes. Winemaker Dermot Sugrue—who started his in French barriques (two to five years old), and Franciacorta DOCG gold at the Champagne & Sparkling Wine World Furthermore, I have seldom enjoyed Cavas with career at Nyetimber but now runs Wiston Estate, although a pure vintage in construction, the base succulent and fruity on the finish. Championships, but World Champion Vintage any age on them and brut nature is not exactly the winner of Best in Class English NV Blanc de wine used for the dosage contained reserves of Blend? No, I would not have put money on that. my favorite style. However, I have heard Gene Blancs—produces this mini-masterpiece using between two and four years’ age. See World Champions by Origin WORLD CHAMPION NV ROSÉ World Champion Supermarket Champagne, yes; Krupa play a mean “Drum Boogie” with just two stainless steel, no oak, and only partial malolactic. Note | A bright, medium-deep lemon color; with and World Champion Greatest Value Champagne, WORLD CHAMPION NV BRUT BLEND matchsticks and a matchbox, so I am prepared He also produced a limited edition of 220 fresh fruity aromas mellowed by nutty highlights Champagne Charles Heidsieck NV Rosé probably. Its toughest hurdle was Best in Class to accept that a silk purse can sometimes be magnums of the same wine, which are being pre- from the Chardonnay and pencil shavings from Champagne Vintage Bland, where it just edged Réserve 12%, 11.2g (35% Chardonnay, made from a sow’s ear. What else can explain this sold for delivery in May 2015. the Pinot Noir, plus some autolytic notes for out 2000 Charles Heidsieck and 2007 Louis Champagne Pommery NV Brut Royal 45% Pinot Noir, 20% Meunier) 14-year-old brut nature other than the gifted hands Note | Pale lemon in color, with a delicate, very complexity. Intense, evolved, mellow palate, with Roederer. How? Well, I suppose it is all down to (magnum) 12.5%, 8.5g (One third each of Jaume Gramona? promising, yeast-complexed, orchard-fruit aromas fine, long, linear fruit that is nicely taut on the the art and skill of making a high-quality own-label of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Meunier) Note | This is indeed exceptional for a 14-year- gently supported by pretty gunpowder notes palate, leading to a good brut finish, supported Background | From the most award-winning so that it is à point as soon as it is released and old Cava. Its medium-deep, bright lemon color is for added complexity. Light in weight, long and by a lovely fluffy mousse. More for immediate Champagne maker on the planet, Charles remains that way. There will come a time when younger and fresher looking than many Cavas half elegant in flavor, this has a finely tuned palate that pleasure than long-term keeping. Background | Having been blown away by the Heidsieck Rosé Réserve includes 20 percent of both 2000 Charles Heidsieck and 2007 Louis its age. It has sweet, enticingly restrained, spice- is neat and well crafted, with a perfectly balanced 2007-based magnum on a visit to the cellars in reserve wines of up to eight years of age. Compare Roederer will blow away the 2004 Les Pionniers, complexed fruit aromas, followed by firm, strong, dosage and toasty complexity on the finish. Very WORLD CHAMPION PROSECCO June 2013, I urged Thierry Gasco, the chef de cave, this to the 40 percent of reserve wines of up but it is always going to be an outstanding vital fruit on the palate. Full of life. Long, tight, and dry finish. A seriously complex, amazingly sleek, to enter the magnum version to see how my fellow to ten years used for the Brut Réserve, and it Champagne, despite its fantasy label. Unlike so dry, but nicely lingering fruit on the finish. and very smartly made sparkling wine of the judges and I would rate it under blind conditions— clearly illustrates that chef de cave Thierry Roset many own-label Champagnes, its strength lies in Nino Franco 2013 Valdobbiadene Primo highest and most pristine order. and we were all blown away! Pommery’s Non- is looking for a fresher, fruitier emphasis in the its superior construction, with components from Franco 10.5%, 27g (100% Glera) WORLD CHAMPION CHAMPAGNE Vintage magnums spend four years on yeast rosé. However, the addition of 5–6 percent of Le Mesnil-sur-Oger adding class, longevity, and WORLD CHAMPION FRANCIACORTA compared to three years for its 75cl bottles. We six- to seven-year-old red wine is quite mature minerality to the rest of this cuvée’s Chardonnay, Background | Named for the son of the founder tasted the 2008-based blend, which contained for coloration, considering that most producers which comes from the southern part of the Champagne Louis Roederer 2002 Primo Franco, who has run the company since 31 percent of reserve wines (15 percent of the opt for as youthful red as possible, but it is rather Sézanne region. Equally, it is the Pinot Noir from Cristal Rosé Il Mosnel 2008 Rosé Pas Dosé Parosé, 1982, this Prosecco comes from selected lots of 2007-based blend, plus individual grands crus clever, since a red wine of this age has already Aÿ and Ambonnay that adds backbone to the rest Franciacorta DOCG 12.5%, 2.5g (70% Pinot the highest-grown grapes in the family estate. going back a further four years) and was disgorged softened, dropping virtually all the sediment it will of this variety, which is sourced mainly from Les Noir, 30 % Chardonnay) See Supreme World Champion It does not undergo any malolactic, and of all the in the second quarter of 2013. ever drop. This makes it a far more stable colorant, Riceys and the Epernay area, while the Meunier cuvées in the Nino Franco range, it most closely Note | A lovely, seamless mix of pure fruit and while any mellowness contributed by such a small is exclusively from the premier cru of Rilly-la- WORLD CHAMPION CHILE Background | This stunning Franciacorta, reflects the technological advances that Primo has beautifully, toasty-perfumed aromas, tight with component will be merely textural, contributing to Montagne. The 2004 Les Pionniers is as much disgorged almost one year earlier, is proof positive introduced to the firm’s winemaking regime. bright acidity on the finish, rendering it smooth the creamy mid-palate mouthfeel. The red wine is a tribute to the winemaking skill of the Piper- that non-dosage sparkling wines do not have Note | Super-bright, very pale lemon color, with yet surprisingly linear and crisp on the palate. quite complex, consisting of Verzy and Verzenay Heidsieck and Charles Heidsieck winemaking Miguel Torres Chile NV Cordillera Brut to be oxidative, and it strongly suggests that fresh, peppery-spicy and floral aromas, and white Subdued and classy, long and layered, with a (for the slow maturation, elegance, and mineral team, under the direction of Régis Camus, as is 12%, 8.6g (100% Pinot Noir) sunnier regions are more suitable for this style fruits on the palate. Promising, good intensity soft velvety finish. Cannot decide whether to notes), Ambonnay (adding a richness that is the Charles Heidsieck NV Rosé Réserve. Between than Champagne. Parosé is largely made from and length. Attractive, vibrant, and balanced drink or keep! typical of all Charles Heidsieck blends), Bouzy and these two Champagnes, they have racked up no Background | From the Curicó Valley south of free-run Pinot Noir grapes grown in the Giardino sweetness on the finish. Top Prosecco. Aÿ (for intensity), and Les Riceys (for sunshine fewer than four World Champion trophies—more Santiago, the birth of this sparkling wine dates vineyard next to the Barzanò family home, as WORLD CHAMPION NV BLANC DE and concentration). than any other producer. back to the early 1980s, when Miguel Torres was depicted on the label. The base wine is fermented WORLD CHAMPION TRENTODOC BLANCS Note | Gloriously pale, almost blanc de noirs Note | Deep lemon-gold color, gorgeously toasty, flying to Chile three or four times a year with Lan exclusively in 225-liter barriques, where the wine color, with delicate bronze reflections. Beautifully honeyed, rich, and ripe, evolved aromas, with Chile airline. “In those days, just after taking off, rests for approximately five months. Despite this developed fruit aromas, very fine and graceful, elegant touches of apricot, pencil shavings, yeast Ferrari 2007 Perlé 12.5%, 6g Champagne Ruinart NV Blanc de Blancs they would serve a Chilean sparkling wine to all oak contact and the fact that the barriques are with a lovely underlying toastiness. A time- extract, and spice beautifully mirrored on the (100% Chardonnay) 12%, 9g (100% Chardonnay) the passengers, and I can assure you that it was a minimum of once used, thus fairly new, there mellowed palate showing powerful, yeast- palate. Amazingly rich and layered. Super-smooth almost undrinkable—at least for anyone who was is very little if any trace of oak in the aromatics complexed fruit that is rich, round, and velvety, palate and the softest of mousses, with a highly used to better European products. That is why I or palate of this wine, merely the textural Background | This was the first vintaged sparkling Background | We tasted the 2010-based cuvée, with a long, silky, sweet finish. Outstanding concentrated, intense, long finish that is velvety decided to make something better myself. Initially smoothness of micro-oxidation. This absence wine produced by Ferrari, and it quickly led to two which included 27 percent of reserve wine (two balance! and caressing. Superb balance. we used Chardonnay, but after a while we realized of any oakiness is one of Parosé’s most compelling other Perlé cuvées: Perlé Rosé and Perlé Nero (a thirds from 2009, one third from 2008) and that Pinot Noir had a much better potential.” attributes. Only 10 percent of the wine undergoes blanc de noirs). Created in 1971 by Mauro Lunelli, was disgorged in October 2013. This is possibly WORLD CHAMPION VINTAGE BLEND WORLD CHAMPION VINTAGE BLANC Note | Pretty smart stuff. Bright pale-lemon color; malolactic fermentation. who originally named the wine Ferrari Brut de Brut; the most widely blended blanc de blancs on the DE BLANCS market, being sourced from the Côte des Blancs fresh and fragrant aromas of sweet red fruit and Note | Bronzed, pale-peach color. Lovely, delicate, he changed this in 1983 to Ferrari Perlé, which Champagne Les Pionniers 2004 Brut candy, with an underlying toastiness. Crisp and bright Pinot fruit aromas and flavors, very smooth was a name that had been used by Giulio Ferrari, (Vertus, Bergères-lès-Vertus, and Grauves), 12%, 11g (39% Chardonnay, 46% Pinot Noir, Champagne De Castelnau 2002 Blanc bright fruit on the palate. It might not be hugely and clean on the palate, with a long, crisp finish the founder, in the early 1900s. The Perlé name the Montagne de Reims (Villers-Marmery, 15% Meunier) de Blancs 12.5%, 10.4g (100% Chardonnay) complex, but it is lingering and delightful. that is not at all austere. is a shortened form of the German term Perlend Trépail, Taissy and Rilly-la-Montagne), Massif Wein (later Perlwein), a reminder that Trento was de Saint-Thierry to the west of Reims, Mont WORLD CHAMPION ENGLAND WORLD CHAMPION NEW ZEALAND part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire when Giulio Berru to the east of Reims, the Sézannais, and Background | The Co-op’s own-brand Background | Produced by Coopérative Régionale Ferrari established this company in 1902. Vitry-le-François. Its clear glass bottle is one of Champagne! This is possibly the most amazing des Vins de Champagne (CRVC), which was the Note | The medium-deep lemon color gives the simplest and most beautiful on the market, result of the entire competition. Prior to the original creative force behind the Jacquart brand Digby Fine English 2009 Réserve Brut Akarua 2010 Vintage Brut 13%, 6g away its seven years, but it tastes and smells but it should carry a government warning acquisition of Piper-Heidsieck and Charles prior to the formation of Alliance Champagne. 12%, 8g (65% Chardonnay, 17.5% Pinot Noir, (49% Chardonnay, 51% Pinot Noir) much younger. Overt, soft, ripe, white-fruit because just 60 minutes under artificial lighting Heidsieck by Christopher Descours (EPI Group) Jacquart won heaps of gold and silver medals at 17.5% Meunier) aromas, with hints of toasty and pastry complexity or daylight in any clear glass bottle will generate in 2011, the name of the producer on the Les the Decanter World Wine Awards, particularly in Background | This is only the second sparkling coming through. Crisp palate, smooth texture, the DMDS “light-struck” aroma that will ruin a Pionniers label was P&C Heidsieck, but this its early years. However, CRVC severed all ties Background | Named after Sir Kenelm Digby, wine that Akarua has produced, and it is the first with mellow yet fresh and perky Chardonnay Champagne. Chef de cave Fred Panaiotis has gone was changed in February 2012 to Compagnie with Jacquart in 2006, since when De Castelnau a colorful 17th-century pirate and philosopher vintaged sparkling wine. Although produced by fruit. Refined mousse, long length, and a finely to extraordinary lengths to ensure this cuvée is Champenoise in line with the policy of most has become its primary focus, and from the who was also involved in the elaboration of strong winemaker Matt Connel, Tony Jordan consults, balanced dosage. protected throughout its production and aging at grande marque houses that want to distance any spellbinding performance of its 2002 Blanc de

Blancs, it is obviously on the right track. It was have more than 53 percent tartaric acid and Note | A medium-deep lemon color. Highly stylish, Note | Full of freshness and fun, this pale-pink rosé the great contribution that Zanella has made of blending) and the two most recent previous disgorged in February 2013, and the grapes for this thus are ripe, contrary to popular myth. In 1996, gunpowder-complexed nose, with a lovely lemony has delicate, fragrant fruity/floral aromas and is to Franciacorta. Cuvée Annamaria Clementi is vintages declared by Laurent-Perrier as reserves. Vintage mainly came from Le Mesnil-sur-Oger on however, the grapes averaged 10.3%, which touch, very pure and mineral. Super-tight and lean, really delightful to drink, with its crisp, fruit-driven vinified exclusively in barriques, where the wine At the time of the competition, the bottles were the Côte des Blancs, Villedommange on the Petit would normally be described as super-vintage yet round and creamy. Very dry, with a long and style and light, fresh, dry finish. remains on its lees for six months after the first 2002-based but the magnums were 1999-based, Montagne between the Ardre and Vesle valleys to ripe, but the grapes had a whopping 15.4 grams driven finish. Obviously great, but it desperately fermentation. After bottling, this cuvée remains in and the magnums we tasted were disgorged in the west of Reims, Berru and Nogent l’Abesse on of total acidity (expressed as tartaric acid) and needs more time to show its true finesse. WORLD CHAMPION NV MAGNUM contact with its yeast for at least seven years (the September 2013. The older vintages are kept in Mont de Berru to the east of Reims, and Verzenay were not technically ripe. Even so, at 47.5 percent magnums we tasted were disgorged in 2013) and small stainless-steel vats, each holding a varietal in the Montagne de Reims. tartaric acid, it was not far off the mythical 50/50 WORLD CHAMPION DELUXE ROSÉ is disgorged in the absence of oxygen by a unique base wine from a different village: Chardonnay Champagne Pommery NV Brut Royal Note | Its beautiful, star-bright, lemon-green ripeness level. Richard Geoffroy is certain that, system designed and patented by Ca’ del Bosco. from Avize, Chouilly, Cramant, Le Mesnil, Oger, (magnum) color is appetizing in itself. Delicate, fine, yeast- given the same conditions, he would have waited Champagne Louis Roederer 2002 Another unique feature of this winery is that all Oiry, and Tour-sur-Marne; and Pinot Noir from complexed aromas mingle with lemon meringue a little longer before picking, but as it is, he had to Cristal Rosé grapes are washed and dried three times. Ambonnay, Bouzy, Louvois, Mailly, Tour-sur- and slowly evolved, deftly balanced sweet notes make a concerted effort to avoid the oxidatively See World Champions by Style Note | A bright, medium-deep, lemon-straw Marne, Verzenay, and Verzy. Although the bottle of toast. Pristine, elegant, long, linear palate, with prone hyper-concentrated Pinot Noir that ruined color, this stylish, smart, super-complex sparkling design was chosen for historic and aesthetic crisp acids and the silky softness and finesse so many other 1996s, and with the sublime quality See Supreme World Champion WORLD CHAMPION VINTAGE wine offers a smooth and arresting aroma reasons, its long, narrow neck also guards against of a high-gloss, creamy mousse. So pure and of Dom Pérignon 1996 Oenothèque (disgorged MAGNUM with just the right level of underlying smooth oxidation, contributing to this Champagne’s pleasurable. High class. in July 2008), it is very hard to imagine how he WORLD CHAMPION SPARKLING RED toastiness. Mellow yet fresh with a good weight graceful aging. All bottles are sealed with a cork could have made a better wine. Geoffroy says, “I WINE of yeast-complexed Chardonnay fruit on the for the second fermentation and kept at least Ca’ del Bosco 2005 Cuvée Annamaria WORLD CHAMPION VINTAGE ROSÉ cannot see that P3 1996 will be ready for release palate, followed by finely tuned Pinot Noir pencil seven years on yeast. They have to be riddled Clementi (magnum) 12.5%, 3.5g (55% before 2030–35, and that includes three years’ shavings. Long, elegant, and definitively dry, yet and disgorged manually. The difference between Grant Burge NV Shiraz Cabernet 14%, Chardonnay, 25% Pinot Blanc, 20% Pinot Noir) post-disgorgement aging. This vintage is surely with satisfying impression of sweetness on the bottles and magnums has to be tasted to be Hattingley Valley 2011 Rosé 12%, 10g 25.75g (62% Shiraz, 37% Cabernet Sauvignon) bound to live forever!” finish. So smooth, so complete: sublime! believed—not just because they are probably (Meunier, Pinot Noir, and Pinot Noir Précoce) Note | Lovely, super-bright, lemon-green color, Background | Ca’ del Bosco was founded in different blends, but because the magnums are with superbly toasty, yeast-complexed minerality Background | The Shiraz was sourced from the 1968 by Maurizio Zanella. He made his first WORLD CHAMPION DELUXE always smoother, more complete and satisfying. Background | Owner Simon Robinson had always melting into sweet gunpowder on the nose. Barossa and Eden Valleys, while most of the sparkling wine in 1976 and, in 1989, named this MAGNUM Note | Super-bright, medium-deep lemon color. told Emma Rice, his bright, young, über-talented Extremely complex aromas of nuts, honey, and Cabernet Sauvignon was grown in Grant Burge’s special cuvée for his mother. She passed away in Slowly evolved, fine, and delicate nose, with winemaker, not to make a rosé. Apparently he blossom. Very distinctive. Long, superbly linear own Barossa vineyards. Both varieties were 2014 but would have been very proud that her complex gunpowder and coffee aromas that are Champagne Laurent-Perrier NV Grand did not consider rosé to be a serious wine. How fruit kept fresh and lively by a laser-like acidity. crushed and fermented separately and left on talented son had been honored with this World refined and fine-tuned but will be even more Siècle (magnum) 12%, 9.6g very Champenois! Then, in 2011, a trade customer Classic, lean structure yet delightfully expansive skins a short time, pumped over three times a Champion trophy. Cuvée Annamaria Clementi is sensational in five years or so, when all the (55% Chardonnay, 45% Pinot Noir) asked him why Hattingley did not have a rosé, on the finish. So gracefully poised. Pure class! day, and finished their first fermentation in old for me the best and most consistent brut-style gunpowdery fruit has turned deliciously toasty. considering how popular the style was and the puncheons of French and American oak, where sparkling wine produced in alI of Italy. No one, Incredibly complex palate. Layer upon layer of premium it commanded. In all innocence, he asked WORLD CHAMPION DELUXE BLANC they were aged for 15–18 months. After blending, not even Ca’ del Bosco’s own competitors, would Background | Always a pure grand cru blend of elegant, fleshy, fresh fruit, long and linear, with Emma why she had not made one, conveniently DE BLANCS the wine underwent a second fermentation in deny the extraordinary quality of this wine or three vintages, with the current year (at the time plenty of potential left. forgetting that it was his strict instruction. So, she bottle, where it remained on yeast 18 months made this rosé, but with most of the 2011 grapes before being disgorged and a 1996 Vintage Port- Dom Ruinart 2002 Blanc de Blancs pressed and fermenting away, she was able to style fortified wine added for dosage. 12.5%, 6.5g (100% Chardonnay) make only a relatively small amount. The secret of Note | Strong, vinous, raspberry aromas, with Emma’s rosé is the Pinot Noir Précoce, which, as bright, bold fruit flavors that are sweet, ripe, round, its name suggests, ripens earlier than other Pinots. Background | The Dom Ruinart 2002 we tasted and well balanced, with some yeast-complexed In the English climate, it ripens several weeks was disgorged more than two years earlier, in aromas and silky tannins adding length to the before most Pinot Noir clones and gives plenty March 2012, and it needed every day of that finish, which is gently lifted by a velvety mousse. of color with heaps of fresh red fruit. Among the post-disgorgement aging to achieve the level finished wines, some Pinot Noir Précoce had of quality we experienced. A point of difference OTHER WORLD CHAMPIONS been fermented and had a considerable amount for Dom Ruinart Blanc de Blancs is that up to of color. However, it was such a small volume one third of the Chardonnay grapes are from WORLD CHAMPION SUPERMARKET that the amount of white wine already produced the Montagne de Reims grands crus of Sillery CHAMPAGNE from Meunier and Pinot Noir that could be added and Puisieulx primarily, but also Verzenay and without removing all the color was extremely Mailly. In 2002, these grapes accounted for limited—thus, only 2,000 bottles were produced. 28 percent of the blend. Sillery was once very Champagne Les Pionniers 2004 Brut Note | Pale peach color, with elegant and delicate famous, but only for still wine, never for sparkling fresh apricots on the nose, and fresh, zesty fruit Champagne, while Puisieulx has never been See World Champions by Style for some, floating on a fine, silky mousse. Long, with a nicely famous for anything! Their vineyards are, however, it is not a secret anymore balanced finish that does not appear too sweet. contiguous with the lower slopes of Verzenay, WORLD CHAMPION GREATEST VALUE and planted with Chardonnay rather than the CHAMPAGNE WORLD CHAMPION DELUXE BRUT Pinot Noir for which the Montagne de Reims BLEND is famed, Sillery and Puisieulx come into their own, contributing an almost Burgundian weight Champagne Les Pionniers 2004 Brut and structure. According to Fred Panaiotis, the Dom Pérignon 1996 Oenothèque 12.5%, current chef de cave, 2002 was “a vintage that had See World Champions by Style 6.5% (50% Chardonnay, 50% Pinot Noir) everything in balance and didn’t miss anything.” I would just add that it was a vintage that, rarely WORLD CHAMPION GREATEST VALUE Background | After Dom Pérignon 1996 for Champagne, shriveled the grapes toward the SPARKLING WINE Oenothèque had been entered into our end of the ripening, and it is the concentration competition, the range of late-released Dom from this passerillage that both demands long Where terroir is revived Pérignon vintages was replaced by P2, but the post-disgorgement aging and will repay further Freixenet 2012 Cuvée de Prestige Trepat if we deem it necessary, we return to traditional techniques, working the ground using natural 1996 Oenothèque remains available. Although cellaring in the future. It was the very last vintage 12%, 9g (100% Trépat) methods, hoeing manually and ploughing with draft horses. 1996 was one of the greatest vintages of the produced by one of Ruinart’s legendary chefs de 20th century and produced some magnificent caves, François Barrot. As Panaiotis says, “I can Background | Trépat has traditionally been used to www.philipponnat.com Champagnes, it was also atypical. In Champagne, only hope that I’ll finish my career on such a color rosado Cava but never as a pure varietal until grapes average 9.5% of potential alcohol and high note!” Freixenet produced this cuvée in 1998.