The Sparkling Wine and Champagne Tasting Bench

Champagne and Sparkling

THE FESTIVE SEASON IS HERE. IT IS OFFICIALLY TIME TO CRACK OPEN THE BUBBLY. IN A TIME WHERE THERE ARE SO MANY OPTIONS, FINDING THE PERFECT BOTTLE TO CELEBRATE A LONG YEAR IS HARDER THAN EVER. WHILE PROSECCO, FROM AUSTRALIA AND ITALY, IS RISING FAST, THE CLASSIC BOTTLEFERMENTED SPARKLING WINES MADE FROM CHARDONNAY, PINOT NOIR AND PINOT MEUNIER, ARE STILL THE DOMINANT LOCAL STYLE AND ARE THE WINES THAT REPRESENT THE PEAK OF SPARKLING, PARTICULARLY CHAMPAGNE.

This year the news has not been positive for the Champenois. Globally Champagne sales were down 1.8% in 2018 including Australia, however, in the same period the USA, Japan, China, Canada and Mexico grew well showing Champagne has not lost its lustre. We analysed how the current Champagne releases shape up, both from a quality and value perspective, compared to other wines from around the globe.

The world is slowly catching up to Champagne in quality. Tasmania is one of the global hotspots where the stocks of sparkling wine are on the rise. Our tasting showed Tasmania as producing some stunning wines. Other regions that stood out were Northern Italy and England. There is little doubt that the changing weather patterns around the world are having long-standing effects on sparkling wines.

It is important to acknowledge here that our sparkling wine tasting included both super-premium wines and cheaper styles for low key celebrations. Sparkling wine cocktails are another regular feature of the festive season such as blending cassis or peach juice with a crisp sparkling wine to make a Kir Royale or Bellini.

The Drinks Trade panel of experts spent a morning tasting 90 sparkling wines. Our tasting looked at bottle-fermented wines made from Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier and others similar in style, such as Spanish Cava. Procecco will be tasted in 2020. We judged wines on quality with an eye on drinkability for everyday consumers.

THE PANEL

Drinks Trade is fortunate enough to attract some of the very best tasting talent in the country; the Champagne and Sparkling tasting panel was no exception. Arras chief winemaker and Australian sparkling royalty Ed Carr once more joined the panel before jetting across to London to accept the award for Best Australian Sparkling Wine’ trophy along with ‘Best In Category Australian Classic Blend NV’ at the 2019 Champagne & Sparkling Wine World Championships. All wines are tasted blind. • Travis Fuller | Pernod Ricard • Ed Carr | Arras • Angus Hughson | Winepilot • Laurent Valy | Lanson • MJ Van Vuuren | Moët Hennessy • Nick Barlow | 100 Proof • Thibault Caumont | Vintec • Sarah Linhart | The Wine Collective • Michael Hatcher | Consultant • Michael McIntosh | Accolade Wines • Scott McWilliam | McWilliams Wines • Courtney Tate | Negotiants

THE TASTING

Wines were broken up into categories based on vintage or non-vintage styles and origins with two separate classes for rosé. We used an adaptation of The Wine Advocate 100-point scale as follows: • 96 - 100 | Extraordinary • 90 - 95 | Outstanding • 80 - 89 | Above average to very good • 70 - 79 | Average

THE VERDICT

There were three clear findings from the tasting. While Louis Roederer and Pol Roger performed well as expected, so did Nicolas Feuillatte, Perrier Jouet and Vranken-Pommery. Overall the quality of Vranken-Pommery Australia was particularly outstanding across all imported categories winning awards for non-vintage Champagne, rosê Champagne, the international brut sparkling from England, and two awards for Vintage Champagne.

Despite the reputation of the premium sparkling wines there is also exceptional value to be found around $20 and below. The winning Australian non-vintage, the Highgate Brut, retails for $20 per bottle, while another strong performer was Calabria’s Richland Sparkling, with a retail price of $10 per bottle. De Bortoli’s La Boheme Brut and Rosé both scored well again showing the exceptional value of these wines.

Another pleasing result was seeing some stalwart Australian wine producers continuing to push the quality boundaries with some outstanding vintage wines. Older vintages of Jansz, Arras and Bream Creek all retained their freshness with, in some cases, extraordinary fruit complexity.

AUSTRALIA NV

STORM BAY BRUT 90 Points A bright and fresh style with great balance of youthful citrus fruits plus nutty autolytic complexity. It is crisp with a fine bead and has good concentration of fruit.

CALABRIA RICHLAND 89 Points A surprise packet for the price that showed real elegance and fruit concentration. Generous apple and floral fruits were well balanced with fresh acidity plus a long fine finish.

JANSZ BRUT 92 Points A classic Tasmanian Brut with its super elegant just-ripe citrus fruits superbly integrated with fine French pastry complexity. Light in body yet also surprisingly powerful. It is a finer, aperitif style.

ROSÉ (NON-CHAMPAGNE)

DE BORTOLI LA BOHEME 91 Points Quite a serious rosé style for a bargain price this is elegant with detailed, complex fruits, including a touch of French pastry complexity. The wine finishes dry, crisp and well balanced. DE BORTOLI LA BOHEME BRUT 88 Points A reserved sparkling wine that is a real crowd pleaser with its juicy subtle lemon rind fruits well matched by toasty complexity and zesty acidity.

FREYCINET RADENTI BRUT 90 Points A rich, powerful and impressive sparkling wine that shows layer after layer of finely detailed praline complexity underpinned by bright, fresh Tasmanian fruit. Very classy.

ROTARI 2013 91 Points A delicate and understated sparkling wine that stood out for its savoury aromatics and delicacy of fruits. Crisp, lightbodied and juicy, it is a very food-friendly style. SIDEWOOD PINOT CHARDONNAY 88 Points Lots to love in this wine with its creamy mousse, and multiple layers of doughy autolytic complexity well-matched by fresh youthful fruits. It finishes long and finely balanced.

HIGHGATE BRUT 93 Points Universally praised by all judges and the undisputed winner. This wine is a picture of elegance showing subtle detailed floral fruits wellmatched by brioche complexity, finishing fine and long.

ARRAS 2009 93 Points The standout wine in the class showing power, complexity and finesse with many layers of pretty and savoury fruits beautifully balanced on a long and elegant palate.

CHAMPAGNE NV

POL ROGER 94 Points A powerful Champagnestyle showing layers of Pinot Noir red fruits. The wine is crisp, but also round and rich for Champagne with good structure and balanced dosage.

NICOLAS FEUILATTE 91 Points A very impressive wine with intense fruit and brioche yeast ageing complexity. It follows with precision on the palate and good acid structure that is well balanced.

POMMERY BRUT ROYAL 94 Points A fresh and lifted Champagnestyle showing generous raspberry and lychee fruits. It shows good palate power and richness driven by sherbety acidity making for a crowdpleasing style.

CHAMPAGNE ROSÉ

MOËT & CHANDON NV 94 Points Mid salmon colour and aromatically complex with savoury mushroom and toast plus bright red fruits complexity. Beautifully pitched with a crisp and concentrated palate. It finishes with finesse and length. ` POMMERY NV 95 Points Hard to fault this wine, which is pale salmon in colour. It is made in a fuller-bodied style with layers of Pinot Noir red fruits well matched by pastry and toast. Creamy in texture, it finishes with power and poise. VEUVE CLICQUOT NV 93 Points A shy and understated rosé with floral, wild raspberry and toasted brioche complexity. Dry and juicy, it is surprisingly concentrated and finishes with supreme length.

LOUIS ROEDERER 93 Points A very attractive and complex Champagnestyle showing layered fruits with toast and oyster shell complexity. The fruit is youthful, lifted and bright which is exceptionally balanced with mouthwatering acidity. PERRIER JOUET 90 Points An aperitif style showing youthful freshness and bracing acidity. On the medium-bodied palate, there are subtle fruits of fennel and citrus with a bright and long finish.

INTERNATIONAL SPARKLING

PETIT CORDON NZ NV 88 Points An elegant, tight and aciddriven sparkling wine with wellintegrated delicate fruits and French pastry complexity. The palate is taut and concentrated with significant fruit length. POMMERY ENGLAND NV 92 Points Very Champagne-like with complex oyster shell, mushroom and toast complexity. The high acid line drives an intense palate that is also fine and detailed making for an impressive English bubbly.

AUSTRALIAN VINTAGE

BREAM CREEK BRUT 2012 87 Points A highly complex vintage sparkling with many layers of praline complexity plus lychee fruits. Dry, rich and aciddriven, it shows a good blend of power and finesse. JANSZ BRUT 2011 89 Points Immediately attractive and balanced without showing its age, this wine has great drive of red fruits with both exceptional elegance and complexity all driven by laser-like acidity.

JANSZ BRUT 2014 87 Points This wine is drinking beautifully thanks to its combination of youthful fruit and layers of aged nutty complexity. The wine is bright and quite rich on the palate all kept in check by zesty acidity.

CHAMPAGNE VINTAGE

POL ROGER VINTAGE 2012 93 Points A classic vintage Champagne with outstanding complexity combined with brooding power. Despite its age the wine is still brimming with youthful vitality promising ageing potential. POMMERY GRAND CRU ROYAL 2006 94 Points A very reserved and crisp style showing both power and refinement. Toasty aged influences and a touch of tropical fruit provide impressive complexity on a crisp palate.

ARRAS BDB 2009 93 Points A hugely complex wine showing mushroom, gunflint and toasty complexity still beautifully balanced with fresh acidity. It also shows exceptional persistence and elegance to finish.

VRANKEN DIAMANT BLEU BDB 2007 95 Points Superb from start to finish with exceptionally complex pastry and citrus fruits leading to a bright, fresh and silky palate finishing with extraordinary length.