As we get older we may not get any wiser; but we do tend to like Champagne more. Age and experience teach us about the nuances of wine flavours and these are subtly shown in the base wines of well-made Champagnes. At the same time, our senses are perhaps not as keen as they once were so the rush of a Champagne’s bubbles across the palate piques our interest. The mousse shouldn’t be aggressive, and the gentle pressure and fine boules of a vintage Champagne (where all the grapes come from the same year) work well. But so can the qualities of a carefully crafted non-vintage blend, as I discovered recently at the 2015 Annual Champagne Tasting in London.This glorious event is organised by the resourceful Françoise Peretti, Director of the Champagne Bureau, which represents, in the UK, the Comité Interprofessionnel du Vin de Champagne, a body promoting the distinctiveness and quality of wines from the region.
Champagne often accompanies special occasions—a glass before dinner to get the party started, or a toast with dessert to seal the celebration. But each bottle is itself a celebration of the ingenious process that turns the slightly hard-edged, acidic wines from these northerly vineyards into rich, voluptuous creations. People still fail to reflect on the terroir or style of making in Champagnes as much as they do with other wines, so the tasting was an opportunity to sample the varied and distinctive wines available.
Beneath the chandeliers in a grand hall, 62 producers served their cuvées to around 800 contented guests. In the centre, recently disgorged vintages ranging from 2004 to 2008 were available for tasting. If ever one needed to be convinced that not all good Champagnes taste alike, this did the job.
Rather than fatigue the palate with the stamina-fuelled marathon of a professional buyer, I opted for close scrutiny of a few interesting bottles. First stop was the Drappier Brut Nature. Its yeasty aroma and perfectly ripe fruit produce a crisp, clean wine with none of the harsh acidity all too typical of zero dosage Champagnes (those that add no sweet liquor during bottle fermentation). No wincing here; just a fully satisfying drink that would be first on my list before dinner.
I moved on to one of the most reliable Champagnes, Joseph Perrier Cuvée Royale NV Brut: a wine full of flavour that people would do well to know better.
And then, the vintage Champagnes. The first of these was Pol Roger Brut Vintage 2004, perfectly poised between the easy luxury of gorgeous fruit and the firm seriousness of good acidity. Such balance is a mark of vintage Champagne, the tension and resolution between components that adds interest and produces balance, though some Champagnes go right to the edge. Chief among those is the bold and showy Bollinger La Grande Année 2005. Its aromas, signalling a good deal of Pinot Meunier, exploded out of the glass immediately capturing one’s attention. It was fresh and rich, with great depth: a glamourous wine not for the faint-hearted.
The grand finale was the remarkably beautiful Champagne Dom Ruinart 2004, from one of the oldest Champagne houses, with its distinctive thin-necked bottle. The nose was not as beguiling as the Pol Roger or as emphatic as the Bollinger, but on the palate it was utterly gorgeous. Just the right volume and pressure to fill the mouth, the perfect layering and levels of flavour to create complexity and harmony. I could have tasted other Champagnes after this, but why go on? Best to end on a high, as I did, and I left wanting more.
Champagne often accompanies special occasions—a glass before dinner to get the party started, or a toast with dessert to seal the celebration. But each bottle is itself a celebration of the ingenious process that turns the slightly hard-edged, acidic wines from these northerly vineyards into rich, voluptuous creations. People still fail to reflect on the terroir or style of making in Champagnes as much as they do with other wines, so the tasting was an opportunity to sample the varied and distinctive wines available.
Beneath the chandeliers in a grand hall, 62 producers served their cuvées to around 800 contented guests. In the centre, recently disgorged vintages ranging from 2004 to 2008 were available for tasting. If ever one needed to be convinced that not all good Champagnes taste alike, this did the job.
Rather than fatigue the palate with the stamina-fuelled marathon of a professional buyer, I opted for close scrutiny of a few interesting bottles. First stop was the Drappier Brut Nature. Its yeasty aroma and perfectly ripe fruit produce a crisp, clean wine with none of the harsh acidity all too typical of zero dosage Champagnes (those that add no sweet liquor during bottle fermentation). No wincing here; just a fully satisfying drink that would be first on my list before dinner.
I moved on to one of the most reliable Champagnes, Joseph Perrier Cuvée Royale NV Brut: a wine full of flavour that people would do well to know better.
And then, the vintage Champagnes. The first of these was Pol Roger Brut Vintage 2004, perfectly poised between the easy luxury of gorgeous fruit and the firm seriousness of good acidity. Such balance is a mark of vintage Champagne, the tension and resolution between components that adds interest and produces balance, though some Champagnes go right to the edge. Chief among those is the bold and showy Bollinger La Grande Année 2005. Its aromas, signalling a good deal of Pinot Meunier, exploded out of the glass immediately capturing one’s attention. It was fresh and rich, with great depth: a glamourous wine not for the faint-hearted.
The grand finale was the remarkably beautiful Champagne Dom Ruinart 2004, from one of the oldest Champagne houses, with its distinctive thin-necked bottle. The nose was not as beguiling as the Pol Roger or as emphatic as the Bollinger, but on the palate it was utterly gorgeous. Just the right volume and pressure to fill the mouth, the perfect layering and levels of flavour to create complexity and harmony. I could have tasted other Champagnes after this, but why go on? Best to end on a high, as I did, and I left wanting more.
