Champagne Styles

VINTAGE, NON-VINTAGE AND PRESTIGE, OH MY! A GUIDE TO CHAMPAGNE STYLES

There are few things more intimidating than going to having drinks at your ‘connoisseur friend’s’ house. You know the one, that friend we all seem to have that likes to bring out the big guns in the form of the very finest Champagnes, then proceeds to show off their extensive knowledge of the category by speeding through comparisons of style, vintage and House. You leave feeling deflated and, let’s be honest, a bit belittled by the whole situation and you didn’t even like the Champagne they raved about anyway! explore DRINKS has your back with this helpful little guide to the range of Champagne styles, so next time you can stride into that party, confident you know the styles of Champagne you enjoy and you won’t be left high and dry on the conversation front!

WORDS KEN GARGETT

NON-VINTAGE

At its simplest, a non-vintage Champagne is a blend of two or more years, but there is, of course, far more to it than that.

The importance of this style is that it defines the House. Champagne lovers think of the elegance of Billecart-Salmon, the pristine freshness of Taittinger, the weight and power of Bollinger, the richness and complexity of Krug, and so on, not for their vintage wines but because this is the House style, reflected and repeated year after year in their non-vintage wines. Year after year, the non-vintage wine will be the same.

To achieve this desired result, the House will take the base wine – this is wine from the latest vintage – and add to it reserve wines from previous vintages. Remember also that these Houses do not have just one reserve wine from previous vintages, but will have many, representing different crus from all over the region. Throw in the added complication of the three different varieties, and it means that the Chef de Cave and his team will test potentially hundreds of combinations, before they finally have their blend.

Imagine that a vintage is cold and wet while the next one is hot and dry. In the first instance, the Chef de Cave must balance the cool/wet base wine with reserve wines to replicate the House style. The following year, they must do the same, but this time they start with a completely different wine. Good, bad or indifferent, each House is required by law to retain at least 15 per cent of each harvest for use as reserve wine.

Technically, non-vintage champagne must spend 15 months in the bottle before sale, 12 of those on lees. In practice, good Houses will often have their non-vintage Champagnes spend much longer on lees.

Finally, although many Houses insist that their non-vintage is at its peak on release, wines from the better Houses will age and improve, often for many years.

VINTAGE

Vintage Champagne is simple. The wine needs to be 100 per cent from the vintage named on the label. From a technical/regulatory perspective, a vintage

Champagne must spend three years on lees, but in practice, most top Houses will leave their vintage Champagnes on lees for considerably longer. A decade is not uncommon.

Vintage Champagnes are a way for the House to exhibit the wine from a year that they consider to be exceptionally good. In a vintage, one House may feel that their vineyards produced top-notch fruit, allowing the release of a vintage, while another does not. This often happens where one House favours of the use of, say Chardonnay, while another is known as a ‘Pinot House’. So, if the year suits Pinot over Chardonnay, we are likely to see the ‘Pinot House’ with a vintage release but not the other producer.

Perhaps a House may feel it needs the grapes for reserve wines and so eschews the opportunity to make a vintage. While we may regret missing the opportunity to see those vintages from a first class producer, we can take comfort in the fact that their nonvintage wines will continue to be stellar.

It is possible for a House to make a vintage wine but not name it as such, releasing it as a non-vintage. The reason is usually that the wine in question is a small production wine and a particular year may be special, resulting in the release of the wine with it being from a single vintage. However, the following year may not be so special and is made as a non-vintage. This would require the wine to be released as a non-vintage and could lead to confusion in the market. Better to maintain consistency.

We are seeing more and more vintage releases, partly because of the commercial value that is perceived from these, partly as winemaking, viticulture and technical expertise continue to improve, and partly because climate change is actually favouring these once marginal vineyards.

BLANC DE BLANCS

Simply, ‘white of white’, that is, in the case of Champagne, wine that is made from Chardonnay grapes only. Neither of the Pinots get a look-in. A very popular style, often ethereal and elegant, with great persistence of flavour. The better examples of Blanc de Blancs Champagne have the ability to age superbly over many years. The fruit for these wines is often sourced from vineyards from the Cote des Blancs, hardly surprising given the quality of Chardonnay from the region.

It is believed that the term ‘Blanc de Blancs’ was coined by Eugene-Aime Salon, when he founded his eponymous House, a House which even today only makes vintage Blanc de Blancs and nothing else. It is a far more popular style than the much rarer Blanc de Noirs.

For many years, Blanc de Blancs was considered by many, especially Americans, as the finest Champagne of all. Unquestionably, they can be brilliant, but it is not automatic that they exceed all others. It is believed that this came about because in Ian Fleming’s James Bond books, 007 was often seen drinking Taittinger’s ‘Comte de Champagne’, leading many readers to assume that, as Bond would touch nothing but the best, it meant this style was superior to all others. Whether a true story or not, there is no doubt that great Blanc de Blancs is one of the most exciting styles of Champagne.

BLANC DE NOIRS

Much rarer than the far more popular Blanc de Blancs, Blanc de Noirs (‘white of black’) is Champagne made from Pinot Noir and/ or Pinot Meunier. In some cases, it comes bout because small growers simply have no choice, their vineyards being one or the other or both, sans Chardonnay. They tend to be richer in style and weightier than most and often have a slightly deeper colour.

One of the reasons that Blanc de Noirs is so rare is that most of them are a little clumsy, often lacking the finesse the region is so famous for. They are, however, often ideally suited to richer foods, such as meat and game dishes and even those featuring truffles and mushrooms.

NON-DOSAGE

Non-dosage Champagne is a bone dry style. At the time of disgorgement, after the second fermentation, the wine is topped up by the addition of what is known as the liqueur d’expedition. This is necessary as a small volume is lost when the dead yeast cells are removed at disgorgement. Traditionally, the liqueur d’expedition includes a small amount of sugar but, if the Chef de Cave wants to make a completely dry style, that can be omitted and the bottle is simply topped up with wine.

The style is known by a number of names – sans sucre, non-dosage, brut nature, ultra brut, brut integral, brut zero and brut sauvage being some of them. Most authorities work on the notion that the wine must have zero grams dosage for inclusion in this category. Others find zero to six grams acceptable for wines labelled ‘Extra Brut’.

This style tends to come in and out of fashion and lately, it is very much ‘flavour of the month’. Two possible reasons for this are that many consumers claim that they want to drink dry and also, no added sugar means that the wine holds a lower level of calories. While there are some very fine examples, in general, the problem with non-dosage Champagnes is that they, like all wines, must be in balance. And very often, this style struggles to attain the requisite balance. Dosage, even a small amount, will assist in balancing the high acidity that most sparkling wines have and need.

There is another advantage of a little sugar – it helps cover any cracks in the wine. Those without that benefit are left naked, with any tiny fault fully exposed. They are, however, wines that do benefit from bottle age.

This style has been around for a long time, even if often there were only a few practitioners at times. Laurent-Perrier was offering a sans-sucre Champagne as far back as 1889.

HIGH DOSAGE

The standard Brut Champagne sits at around 6 to 12 grams/litre of dosage. Only a decade or two ago, most Champagnes were more likely to range from 10 to 15 grams. The trend to drier styles, and especially improved winemaking techniques, have seen the averages drop. Undoubtedly, the wines are better for it. We have previously looked at the current ‘flavour of the month’, non-dosage Champagne, but there are also consumers, admittedly fewer and fewer, who openly embrace the sweeter styles. Many years ago, almost all Champagne was much, much sweeter than it is today. The turning point came when Madame Pommery decided to take the plunge and made her 1874 vintage in a much drier style for the London market, where it was a smash hit (it would still have been sweet to today’s palates but nothing like what was the norm of the day). So famous was this individual wine that it was even referenced in songs of the day.

After we move from the Brut Nature category of zero dosage and accepting that a wine dubbed ‘Extra Brut’ can have up to six grams, we come to the very popular category of ‘Brut’, which can cover any Champagne with residual sweetness of 12 grams/litre or less. It is worth noting that, although we all differ, the average level of sweetness that can first be perceived by humans is considered to be around four grams/litre. Anything below that would seem to be effectively completely dry to most people. Even at four to six grams, many will struggle to identify much sweetness in a wine. At 12 grams, the wine will certainly be on the drier side.

The next category is ‘Extra-Sec’, 12 to 17 grams/litre. We are moving to the off-dry styles here. ‘Sec’ is 17 to 32 grams and, while not overly sweet, especially if well balanced, will certainly be noticeably so. ‘Demi-Sec’ is 33 to 50 grams and will definitely be sweet, while anything above 50 grams/litre is called ‘Doux’ and will be seriously sweet.

PRESTIGE CHAMPAGNE

The best of the best. Call them flagships, cuvee de prestige, luxury, de luxe or just simply great Champagnes, these are the pinnacles.

They usually consist of material from Grand Cru vineyards and will have had extended time on lees. Their packaging makes them the birds of paradise of the wine world. What is inevitable is that these are the most expensive wines the region has to offer. Flagship wines are usually vintage wines but not always – Laurent-Perrier’s ‘Grand Siecle’ is just one non-vintage example. These wines should be the best on offer from any producer, though that is not always so, as personal taste always plays a role in preferences.

These days, most Houses will offer a flagship – some will offer alternatives, such as PerrierJouet with three different Belle Epoque releases (the original, Rosé and Blanc de Blancs), while others offer none at all, relying solely on their range. That normally applies to smaller Houses or growers who simply do not have the resources, but a House such as Krug also claims not to make a flagship wine, though some might argue that they have several, with the various Clos releases and their Rosé.

A prestige Champagne might usually be a vintage wine but it is not compulsory. They can also be non-vintage, come from a Clos or other single vineyard, be a Rosé or late disgorged style, be Blanc de Blancs or Blanc de Noirs – it is entirely up to each House. The most important criteria is that they be the very best the House can offer.

ROSÉ CHAMPAGNE

In simplest terms, this is Champagne with a pink hue. French AOC regulations forbid the addition of red wine to white in order to make rosé, whether sparkling or still, with one exception – the region of Champagne. Hence, winemakers here have the option of the more traditional method of skin contact – wine gets its colour from spending time the skins of grapes as almost all grapes have clear juice; the amount of colour depending on the length of time the wine is in contact with its skins, though certain grapes, and Pinot Noir is one of them, have less intense colour in their skins than most – or from the addition of a small amount of red wine.

The colour can vary enormously. Some will be the merest pale pink, onion skin or partridge’s eye – hardly deeper than a normal wine, which has a little age. Others can be almost neon pink or even deep red – look to the rosés from Houses such as Jacquesson and Piper Heidsieck for examples of this latter style. The decision rests with the House.

However, most Houses utilise the method of adding red wine. The advantage of this method is that it enables more consistency of colour over the years and, providing one has quality red wine (which must, of course, come from the region), it is probably an easier way to proceed, though producers might not acknowledge that. The addition of red wine is usually between 6 and 20 per cent, depending on the style and colour required by the House. The red wine usually comes from Bouzy or another suitable Pinot Noir producing village in the region.

Rosé Champagnes can work brilliantly with dishes such as game, lamb, truffles, duck and so on, but are rarely given the opportunity. Many have been condemned to being matched with desserts. One assumes that this is based purely on colour, as there is no reason they would work better with a dessert than any other champagne, which does not have an elevated level of sweetness.

Finally, there is a perception is that Rosé Champagne must be drunk quickly and not aged. As they can be slightly softer, with a smidge less acidity than Blanc de Blancs, they can give an impression of being drinknow wines. Again, this will come down to the style the House desires, but in general, Rosé Champagne can age well, some exceptionally so. Rosé Champagne is as serious, and can be as exciting, as any style.