1) Non - Vintage Champagne Brut. A great classic on no account to be missed. A Champagne for all occasions.
A multi - faceted Champagne. -Non-Vintage Champagne Brut is to Champagne what the little black dress or white blouse is to a wardrobe: a great, absolutely essential classic. The item that goes with you everywhere, that goes with everything. But bear in mind, it’s by no means an unsophisticated choice! As a blended wine, there’s an infinite field of possibilities. Non-Vintage Champagne Brut can also be a monovarietal wine, in which only one type of vine is used in its production. The winemaker’s choice in terms of grape varieties and maturation time will ensure that each wine is absolutely unique.
- Each grape variety brings its own note, its own touch. As regards chardonnay, we’d be looking for liveliness, minerality and notes of citrus fruits and white flowers. With pinot noir, it would be body, structure, red fruits and such flowers as violets and roses. As for meunier, it provides fruity notes, roundness, and notes of apples, pears and yellow fruits. Wines made from white grape varieties will bring freshness, while those made from black grape varieties will bring roundness, an unctuous, indulgent side for meunier, and body and power for pinot noir. The magic of blending lies in the combination of different aromas which sometimes bring out new, wholly unexpected notes: spices, truffle, light tobacco, etc.
- Grape varieties aren’t all there is to it, though. The aromas that each of them confers on the wine are complemented by those provided by vinification. Some vintages contain up to 50% reserve wines.
- The length of the maturation time also significantly influences the aromas to be found in it. In the early stages of maturity, from 3 to 10 years, notes of brioche, viennoiserie, ripe, stewed and crystallised fruits (figs and dates), dried flowers, dried fruit and nuts (almonds, hazelnuts and raisins), light tobacco, wax, honey and milk caramel will make their appearance, sometimes with vanilla and liquorice notes (characteristic of wines matured in wooden containers). Older wines, known as “vins de plénitude” (10 or more years old) evolve over time, providing notes ranging from fruit pastes (quince in particular) to gingerbread, and aromas that may include undergrowth and grilled or torrefied notes (toast, rusks, mocha, coffee and cocoa).
The term "Brut" refers to the dosage, i.e. the addition of a slightly sweet touch (the dosage liqueur) at the end of the vinification process. A Brut Champagne contains less than 12 grams of sugar per litre. Over 90% of Champagne wines result from the "Brut" dosage.
Tones to the eye: Green Yellow / Lemon Yellow
On the nose:
Complex - Various families of aromas come across: fruity (fresh, dried, etc.), floral, spicy, etc.
Fruity - Citrus, red or yellow fruits, whether fresh or candied, may come to the fore.
Floral - This encompasses notes of white flowers, lime blossom, rose and violet for example.
Spicy - This profile includes notes of vanilla, pepper and cinnamon.
Brioche - The brioche notes refer to the aromas and flavours of baked pastries (tarts, sweet buns, butter).
On the palate:
Consensual: This is a crowd-pleasing wine, straightforward to understand and pair.
Fresh: The acidity is well integrated and pleasant, giving a sensation of freshness.
Balanced: A wine is balanced when its acidity, sweetness and body are all in harmony.
Structured: Each element (aromas, acidity, body) is easy to identify and balanced.
Gourmet: The intense aromas and flavours appeal to the senses and feel deliciously tempting.
An explosive pairing:
Vegetable tempura. Vegetarian cuisine doesn’t mean boring, above all when the vegetables concerned are cooked tempura-style and accompanied by Champagne.
For what sort of occasions? : Intimate occasions - This wine will turn any aperitif among friends into a great occasion. Great occasions - This consensual wine is always a safe bet. The perfect partner when it comes to meals at major get-togethers: baptisms, weddings, etc.
2) Vintage Champagne. An exceptional Champagne
The prestige that a year brings. A Champagne to make the best years all the better
When a year deserves to be exalted, when a harvest reveals a typicity worth preserving, a Vintage Champagne is produced. A Vintage Champagne can be of any type. The choice is up to the winemaker and the winemaker alone. To mark its characteristics, it will spend at least 36 months in the cellar and often a good deal longer.
A Vintage Champagne is a wine of great character that carries its year’s markers within it. These are prestigious wines,usually reserved for special occasions. But they can also be enjoyed during aperitifs with friends, in discovery of new, more pronounced aromas, such as undergrowth, gingerbread, dried fruit, coffee, cocoa and raisins.
Tones to the eye: Golden Yellow / Old Gold
On the nose:
Empyrematic: Toasted (bread, biscotte) and roasted (coffee, cocoa) flavours and aromas can be noted.
Complex: Various families of aromas come across: fruity (fresh, dried, etc.), floral, spicy, etc.
Fruity:Citrus, red or yellow fruits, whether fresh or candied, may come to the fore.
Spicy: This profile includes notes of vanilla, pepper and cinnamon.
Evolved: Tertiary aromas are dominant: dried fruits, nuts, spices, toast.
On the palate:
Complex: Various families of flavours come across: fruity (fresh, dried, etc.), floral, spicy, etc.
Intense: The concentrated aromas and flavours mean they are easily perceptible.
Expressive: The aromas and flavours are rich, forthcoming and easily detectable.
Ample: The profile is dense and generous, with a full and lingering sensation on the palate.
An explosive pairing:
gambas, caper and garlic butter. The character of the gambas, further exalted by capers and garlic, is in many ways reminiscent of that to be found in a Vintage Champagne.
For what sort of occasions? Intimate occasions: Reunions with old friends. Great occasions: To celebrate the arrival of a newborn, it’s the ideal Champagne to mark the occasion!
3) Champagne Blanc de Blancs. A Champagne all finesse and lightness.
A Champagne made with white grapes
The term "Blanc de Blancs" designates wines in which there are no black grape varieties. One or more white grape varieties such as Chardonnay, of course, but also Arbane, Petit Meslier, Pinot Blanc or Pinot Gris are included in the blend.
This style of Champagne is light to taste and all about finesse. They’re bright, refreshing wines, whose liveliness comes as a pleasant surprise to palate and taste buds. They’re expressions of the chalky terroirsresponsible for their creation. They’re also typified by a sensation that’s hard to describe, referred to as "minerality".
How do you identify it? There are aromas of gunflint on the nose. Other notes evocative of minerality include stone, graphite, chalk, flint, oysters and shells.
It manifests itself on the palate in a combination of two sensations: acidity and salinity. Such Champagne wines are marked by a balance between citrus acidity and light mellowness. As they age, they take on a creamy, velvety texture.
These wines have notes of white flowers (hawthorn, honeysuckle, linden, acacia, jasmine and orange blossom), citrus fruits (grapefruit, lemon) and exotic fruits (lychee, pineapple) as well as apples, pears and spices (aniseed, ginger) and even mint notes. When older, they take on notes of dried fruit, hazelnuts, almonds, ripe apples, honey and wax.
As for Champagne’s other wines, maturity provides them with notes of brioche, fresh butter, biscuit dough and toast.
Tones to the eye: Green Yellow / Lemon Yellow
On the nose:
Floral - This encompasses notes of white flowers, lime blossom, rose and violet for example.
Mineral -Minerality is expressed in the bouquet (chalky aromas) or on the palate (saline notes reminiscent of the sea).
Fruity - Citrus, red or yellow fruits, whether fresh or candied, may come to the fore.
An explosive pairing
Scallop ceviche, cucumber sorbet. The finesse of scallops and the elegance of Blanc de Blancs.
For what sort of occasions?: Intimate occasions -The perfect Champagne for an elegant, truly sophisticated dinner for two. Great occasions - To celebrate the New Year.
4 ) Champagne Rosé. Elegance and diversity.
A vibrantly coloured, sophisticated Champagne. A Champagne made two ways
Champagne Rosé can be produced in two ways . Blended Rosés are obtained by mixing white wines with 5 to 20% of red wines. Macerated Rosés are obtained by macerating the juice of black grapes in their skins for 36 hours. “Saignée” Rosé is macerated for a shorter time (between 8 and 12 hours).
Very much in fashion these days, such wines can range from soft to deep pink and from very light to full-bodied. They can develop aromas around notes of freshness(citrus fruits and wild strawberries) or, in contrast, aromas that are smoother and more powerful (ripe yellow fruits and small red fruits) or complex, associating fruity notes (wild berries) with notes of undergrowth.
The palate can be structured, powerful and full-bodied, or more aerial. As they age, their aromas express all the richness of dried fruits and spices, with the oldest even displaying toasty notes.
Tones to the eye: Soft pink - Salmon pink - Raspberry pink - Strawberry pink
On the nose:
Complex: Various families of aromas come across: fruity (fresh, dried, etc.), floral, spicy, etc.
Spicy: This profile includes notes of vanilla, pepper and cinnamon.
Fruity (red fruits): Citrus, red or yellow fruits, whether fresh or candied, may come to the fore.
Empyreumatic: Toasted (bread, biscotte) and roasted (coffee, cocoa) flavours and aromas can be noted.
On the palate:
Gourmet: The intense aromas and flavours appeal to the senses and feel deliciously tempting.
Fresh: The acidity is well integrated and pleasant, giving a sensation of freshness.
Light or full-bodied: An unassuming profile, where fruity and floral notes balance harmoniously with the acidity.
Vinous: Here, the wine’s character and substance prevail over its effervescence.
An explosive pairing:
An excellent roast fowl. An outstanding fowl accompanied by a Champagne Rosé: Nothing else is required to create a true gourmet experience.
For what sort of occasions? Intimate occasions: a summer aperitif by the swimming pool. Great occasions: a marriage proposal.
5) Champagne Blanc de Noirs. Punch and body. A full-bodied, heady Champagne
A Champagne produced from black grapes
The name "Blanc de Noirs" refers to a Champagne made from black grape varieti alone such as Pinot Noir and/or Meunier. Their flesh, and therefore the juice that will give its colour to the future Champagne wine, is white. During thepressing stage, contact between juice and skins is limited to the minimum in order to avoid colouring.
These Champagne wines give an impression of power, density and structure. They generally have more body than wines that include white grapes in their blend. They also have what’s known as "vinosity". A vinous Champagne is a wine with a powerful body. The term refers to the sensation of heat on the palate. In this regard, these Champagnes contrast with other lighter, more aerial wines.
Pinot Noir and Meunier produce notes of white and yellow fruits (peaches, apricots and plums), as well as red fruits (strawberries, raspberries and cherries) and even black fruits (blackberries and blueberries), citrus fruits (mandarins and oranges), exotic fruits (mangos and passion fruit), floral touches (roses, peonies and violets) and sometimes spices (cinnamon and cloves). When older, they develop notes of coffee, cocoa, prunes, and sometimes leather. They’ll also include aromas of brioche, fresh butter, biscuit dough or toast.
Tones to the eye: Golden Yellow, Lemon Yellow
On the nose:
Fruity: Citrus, red or yellow fruits, whether fresh or candied, may come to the fore.
Complex: Various families of aromas come across: fruity (fresh, dried, etc.), floral, spicy, etc.
Floral: This encompasses notes of white flowers, lime blossom, rose and violet for example.
Spicy: This profile includes notes of vanilla, pepper and cinnamon.
On the palate:
Vinous: Here, the wine’s character and substance prevail over its effervescence.
Full-bodied: A wine’s full-bodied side is associated with a sense of density and roundness on the palate.
Structured: Each element (aromas, acidity, body) is easy to identify and balanced.
Dense: A wine’s density is experienced through its aromatic wealth and volume on the palate.
An explosive pairing:
Crisp roast suckling pig. The succulence of pork goes perfectly with the power of Champagne Blanc de Noirs.
For what sort of occasions? Intimate occasions: a dinner with your loved ones, where a heart-warming family dish is served. Great occasions:Great occasions: Christmas Eve, when it enhances meat dishes, roasts, stews...
6) Champagne Demi-sec to Doux. Champagnes for pure gourmet pleasure.
Smooth, delicate Champagne wines
The great majority of Champagne wines are produced with a dosage that brings their sugar level to less than 12 grams per litre, placing them in the "Brut" category. However, there are wines in which the sugar content is higher, between 17 and 32 grams of sugar per litre for a dry Champagne, between 32 and 50 grams for a demi-sec, and over 50 grams for a sweet wine.
Such wines may not be the most common but they’re still well worth discovering.
They’re rounder, more indulgent, providing fruity notes that are very sweet on the palate. They can bring rather interesting associations with certain dishes, including sweet and sour recipes.
- Tones to the eye: Green Yellow / Lemon Yellow
On the nose:
- Fruity: Citrus, red or yellow fruits, whether fresh or candied, may come to the fore.
- Spicy: This profile includes notes of vanilla, pepper and cinnamon.
On the palate:
- Expressive: The aromas and flavours are rich, forthcoming and easily detectable.
- Round: The wine is imbued with a certain suppleness and finesse.
- Doux: How sweet the wine tastes comes from its sugar content (naturally occurring and/or added).
- Gourmet: The intense aromas and flavours appeal to the senses and feel deliciously tempting.
- Full- bodied: A wine’s full-bodied side is associated with a sense of density and roundness on the palate.
An explosive pairing:
Strawberry and pistachio tart. The sweetness of these wines is especially well suited to desserts, and goes perfectly with pistachio.
For what sort of occasions? Intimate occasions: Tea-time with friends, with delicate financier cakes and pastries further enhanced by the Champagne’s sweetness. Great occasions: as an Easter lunch comes to a close, to accompany desserts at the end of the meal