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1、001 Cover Admired Champagne 2024.indd 1001 Cover Admired Champagne 2024.indd 127/02/2024 09:5227/02/2024 09:522024MOST ADMIRED CHAMPAGNES 2024DRINKS INTERNATIONAL 3Champagne Guru&Main ContributorGILES FALLOWFIELDManaging Editor SHAY WATERWORTHProduction Editor JAQ BAYLESEditorial AdministratorANGEL

2、AMBROSEArt Editor JAMES DOWNCommercial Director ROB CULLEN+44(0)1293 590043 Publisher JUSTIN SMITH+44(0)1293 590041 Managing DirectorRUSSELL DODD+44(0)1293 590052 Drinks InternationalJubilee House,56-58 Church Walk,Burgess Hill,West Sussex,RH15 9SNT:+44(0)1293 590040 F:+44(0)1293 Cover image:iS N No

3、w in its 11th year,The Worlds Most Admired Champagne Brands is fast becoming the most anticipated annual report for the category.Thanks to the knowledge and due diligence of our champagne expert Giles Fallowf eld,this supplement has become an authority for the sector.Consistency indicates accuracy a

4、nd strength when it comes to a voted poll,and this ranking is a showcase for this.Of course there are nuances and f uctuations but some brands are unwavering,most of all Louis Roederer.The independent house has now topped our list for the f f h year running,which is an unrivalled achievement within

5、the champagne trade.However,while its interesting to scroll through the ranking each year,the in-depth harvest report and newsworthy brand updates provided by Giles are truly to be admired.His knowledge,brand relationships and years of networking have made him one of champagnes most authoritative re

6、porters,which is ref ected in the growing strength of this supplement.SHAY WATERWORTHMANAGING EDITORCONTENTS6 HOW WE DID IT8 TOP 30 LISTING45 HARVEST REPORT54 THE LIST ISTOCK.COM/IGORR1003 Leader Admired Champagne 2024.indd 3003 Leader Admired Champagne 2024.indd 327/02/2024 09:5127/02/2024 09:516 D

7、RINKS INTERNATIONAL MOST ADMIRED CHAMPAGNES 20242024T The voting for the 11th edition of Drinks Internationals annual Most Admired Champagne Brands survey was conducted by a panel of industry experts.We polled leading sommeliers,retail buyers,wholesalers,bar managers,Masters of Wine,elite bartenders

8、 and specialist wine writers.Much like the other supplements in our Most Admired series,each academy member was asked to select the five brands they most admire in descending order.The voters were advised to consider:The quality and consistency of the brands champagne,paying particular attention to

9、its flagship non-vintage expression,but also focusing on the entire range.The strength of the branding and marketing.The price-to-quality ratio across the range does it justify its price point?How much they respect and admire the champagne house.How strong the brand is in relation to its peers withi

10、n the champagne sector.The brands featured on this list are all established,prestigious and widely available across the world.They have generally displayed high levels of consistent quality over a long period.However,our esteemed champagne expert Giles Fallowfield has identified the changes in the r

11、anking,which is affected by the quality of vintages,marketing initiatives and other global affairs.Read on for his in-depth harvest report and profile of each house in our prestigious list.WE POLLED LEADING SOMMELIERS,RETAIL BUYERS,WHOLESALERS,BAR MANAGERS,MASTERS OF WINE,ELITE BARTENDERS AND SPECIA

12、LIST WINE WRITERSISTOCK.COM/STOCKNSHARESThe methodology behind the voting systemHOW WE DID IT2024006 How Admired Champagne 2024.indd 6006 How Admired Champagne 2024.indd 627/02/2024 09:5227/02/2024 09:528 DRINKS INTERNATIONAL2024LOUIS-ROEDERER.COMT This is the 10th year I have overseen and written t

13、he Most Admired Champagne Brands report and,in the second half of that decade,one brand has been notably dominant.Watching the votes come in over the past two months or so,it is the first time since 2019 when Pol Roger topped the podium that the brand in question wasnt a runaway winner.But Roederer

14、has,quite remarkably,managed to win the voting poll for a fifth year on the trot.The mixture of experimentation and consistent reinvention,striving for excellence,clever and subtle marketing and,most importantly,top-quality wines across the range,has been successful yet again in seducing the voting

15、academy professionals.The desire for excellence tied in with a lust for experimentation and reinvention is,it seems,what drives head winemaker Jean-Baptiste Lcaillon.Bring up any of the important viticultural issues Champagne is facing and its likely Lcaillon will have been examining them,seeking so

16、lutions,and already putting in place a strategy to address them.With changing climate being the biggest challenge facing the Champenois today,Roederer has been at the forefront of addressing the myriad issues it is presenting each harvest.It was largely in response to the changing climate that Lcail

17、lon and chief executive Frdric Rouzaud introduced the multi-vintage cuve Collection 242 to replace the Brut Sans Anne(BSA)blend Brut Premier created by Rouzauds father,Jean-Claude.That new blend of 1986,with more reserve wine used,had itself been Rouzaud seniors solution to addressing the issue of c

18、reating a consistent and attractive BSA blend each year,given some of the acid,underripe fruit picked in sun-starved harvests of the 70s and early 80s.FURTHER DETAILInitially commentators were shown the new Collection 242 wine without an in-depth explanation of the trials which had helped create it.

19、However,last July,with a further two Collection blends 243 based on 2018 and 244 based on 2019 released,and three more blended in the cellar,Lcaillon went into greater detail about the trials and how he gradually moved this blend towards his goal.Lcaillon introduces his presentation,The Future of Ch

20、ampagne the Art of Blending,by saying:“We are the generation with the unique chance to rewrite the rules because the climate is changing so fast.We now have earlier harvests and get riper and healthier fruit.It used to be picked at around 9.5 potential alcohol,now we get 10.5-11.All the rules we lea

21、rned at school are irrelevant,we are having to relearn and question many things to create a champagne of freshness.To do this with a new multi-vintage blend we have lots of tools to help us.Two fermentations,malolactic or no malo,playing with the dosage,oak but first is the art of blending,its a ver

22、y strong tool for freshness,there is real resilience in multi-vintage blends.”Lcaillon talks us through the four experimental,unreleased cuves of Collection based on the 2013-2016 harvests,where he was in the process of adjusting the blend by playing with the percentage put though malolactic ferment

23、ation;the amount of oak fermentation;the percentage of the rserve perpetuelle in the blend;the proportion of oak rserve used and its age;plus the dosage level.This is,of course,after you have already selected the precise proportion and exact sourcing specific plots,not just crus of the grapes used,a

24、pproximately assembled as 40%Pinot Noir,40%Chardonnay and 20%Meunier.Over four years we see the proportion of the wines put though malo come down;some second pressing(taille)of Pinot Noir introduced;the oak fermentation increased from about 12-16%;the role of the rserve perpetuelle counterintuitivel

25、y an important source of freshness increased from 16%to around a third of the blend;and the age of the oak rserve element reduced from six to four years(gives a less oxidised style).Its a complicated picture to follow,even with Lcaillon as guide,but an insight into the decisions made and the many op

26、tions available.It took four harvest blends to make what he wanted and even then,with the 242 first release he feels theres not enough Pinot Noir taille or oak fermentation and the age of the oak rserve needs reducing.While they are not the same blends,as adjustments need making with every individua

27、l harvest,Lcaillon is happy with the proportion of elements in the blends for Collection 243 and 244.Thats not to say he wont look at,isnt already contemplating,introducing other elements.This is a perfectionist at work and hes experimenting with Roederers biggest-selling and arguably most important

28、 wine.Thats a big part of the reason it is still sitting at the top of the MACB pile.But the chasing pack is at least getting closer.ROEDERER HAS MANAGED TO WIN THE VOTING POLL FOR A FIFTH YEAR ON THE TROT1 LOUIS ROEDERER008 No1 Admired Champagne 2024.indd 8008 No1 Admired Champagne 2024.indd 827/02

29、/2024 09:5427/02/2024 09:54MOST ADMIRED CHAMPAGNES 20242024KRUG.COML Last year I speculated as to whether Krug could close the fairly large gap to properly challenge Roederers dominance of our Most Admired survey.It could hardly have come closer and was pushed into second slot by such a small margin

30、 it does look like we may see a change at the top in 2025.This year is the sixth time it has come second in the 11 years the Most Admired Champagne Brands survey has been running the top spot beckons.The Mot Hennessy stable of brands have all performed strongly in 2024,as will be revealed.What stand

31、s Krug in very good stead for the future in Champagne,where climate change has become the central issue,is that its most important wine,Grande Cuve,is first and foremost a multi-harvest blend.The reputation of Champagne as a wine-producing region was built on blending,as seasonal variations made ind

32、ividual harvests too erratic in terms of quality to build a sustained image,essential for establishing brand Champagne.One of the benefits of climate warming that has particularly helped Champagne,located as it is at the northern extreme of where grapes successfully ripen each year,is that vintage c

33、uves may more often be produced as it is easier to make good champagne from riper fruit.But conversely,its harder to preserve the freshness that styles designed to age for longer in the cellar,like Krug vintage wines,benefit from having.Thats not to denigrate vintage Krug.With sufficient cellar age,

34、these wines may reach a peak of complexity thats hard to surpass though in the modern era its often already attractive at or soon after release,as the richly fruity 2006 was,which is why the winemaking team,led by Julie Cavil,labelled it“capricious indulgence”.However,the real beneficiary in the Kru

35、g stable from the warming climate,or perhaps we should say erratic climate,given the recent mix of very wet,and hot,dry growing seasons(see our detailed 2023 harvest report on pages 45-52)is its No.1 Cuve,as Olivier Krug likes to refer to it,Grande Cuve.Krug is now on the 171st edition of this wine,

36、which is based on the 2015 harvest.From bud break to harvest it was the hottest vintage ever(since the CIVC started keeping records),even exceeding 2003 and 1976.It was also one of the driest.ENLIVENED BLENDSo,at Krug,where the reserve wine element always plays a significant part in the final blend,

37、Cavil was looking for some freshness to enliven the blend.“The Chardonnays and Meuniers of 2015 showed a bit of restraint,so we looked to fresher years from our reserve wine library,including the harvests of 2008,2013 and even 2014,to bring vivacity and tension to the blend,”she says.“In this 171 di

38、tion,you will also find Chardonnays from warmer and more capricious years,such as 2000 and 2006,that add patina and a toasty quality.“The exceptional Pinot Noirs of 2015 were complemented by around 30 other expressions to bring generosity,spice and structure.Finally,Meuniers were selected from four

39、harvest years to add an assertive quality and diversity to the final blend,”she notes.“In all,reserve wines from the houses extensive library made up 42%of the final blend,bringing the breadth and roundness so essential to each dition.The final composition in terms of grape varieties is 45%Pinot Noi

40、r,37%Chardonnay and 18%Meunier.Meuniers role in this new release,helping to provide freshness,or assertiveness as Cavil puts it,should not be underestimated.Unlike some other famous houses,Krug has always been a big advocate of the important role this surprisingly underrated variety plays in many of

41、 its blends.With warmer,drier harvests predicted to arrive more often than wet ones,its role is unlikely to decline in importance.In 2014,the base for the previous 170me dition of this wine,a harvest Cavil described as“an erratic year that oscillated between hot dry spells,and cool rainy periods”,th

42、e reserve wines that made up 45%of that blend were needed more to“bring the breadth and roundness”she sees as so essential to each such creation.Sometimes for a wine like Grande Cuve,it is almost better if the base harvest year is weaker and missing some desirable elements as the houses extensive re

43、serve cellar will comfortably provide them.While this is true in a weaker year like 2023 where there may be some dilution and depth and richness are required it is just as true in a sunny,dry year not short on concentration where freshness and vivacity are lacking.In the modern Champagne model,blend

44、ing and the wide use of reserve wines are both crucial elements and Krug is as well placed as any to take advantage of both.WHAT STANDS KRUG IN GOOD STEAD IS THAT ITS MOST IMPORTANT WINE,GRANDE CUVE,IS A MULTI-HARVEST BLEND2 KRUG009 No2 Admired Champagne 2024.indd 9009 No2 Admired Champagne 2024.ind

45、d 927/02/2024 09:5827/02/2024 09:5810 DRINKS INTERNATIONAL MOST ADMIRED CHAMPAGNES 20242024CHAMPAGNE-BOLLINGER.COMB Bollinger is,one feels,gathering new momentum in the Most Admired survey.It is the only brand other than Louis Roederer and Krug that has never been outside the top five places in the

46、11 years we have been producing this supplement.And its the brand that dominated the first five years of our survey with three first places.As this A-based house works steadily towards its bicentenary year in 2029,extensive plans are being developed to show off its rich legacy and the significant co

47、ntribution it has made in establishing brand Champagne.Once more its been an eventful past year with two significant launches.In March 2023 we saw the official launch of Bollinger RD 2008 in Paris,in the very grand surroundings of the 18th-century Htel de la Marine on the Place de la Concorde.Bollin

48、ger general manager Charles-Armand de Belenet dedicated the newly re-released wine to former head winemaker Gilles Desctes,who died tragically early at the age of 57 in January(2023)after a long illness.On what was a very emotional occasion,his successor as chef de cave,Denis Bunner,paid tribute to

49、his predecessor who had recruited him back in 2013,noting they had tasted the wine together six months previously and expected it to be seen as a“great vintage”,possibly in time as great as the legendary 1928.Recently disgorged 2008 was served in magnum and jeroboam,the former disgorged on 28 Octobe

50、r 2022,the latter on 17 November 2022.This prompted Bunner to note that the recently disgorged(RD)concept has evolved somewhat since it was first conceived by Madame Bollinger(with the 1952 vintage launched in 1961)and Bunner says he and Desctes agree that the wines need a minimum of three months po

51、st disgorgement“before they find back the Bollinger taste”.He says the oxygen that gets into the bottle at the moment of disgorgement takes 12 months to be entirely consumed.WORTH THE WAITLast autumn Bollinger launched the fourth incarnation of its Pinot Noir series PN AYC18,a project which was init

52、iated by Desctes in 2020 and launched with one of the best Zoom presentations done by any champagne house during lockdown,run by Bunner and Charles-Armand de Belenet.After two Verzenay-based versions from 2015 and 2016,a very important cru for the house where it has its second largest area of vineya

53、rd holdings,followed by Tauxires 2017 last year(Bollingers third most important cru in terms of its ownership),we get to the much-anticipated home cru of A with a 2018 base.It was worth the wait.Given that when the whole project was started,they already knew they had this very impressive wine in the

54、 cellar,its understandable it took four years to get to A.And its rather nice that while the majority some 47%of this wine is from A,the two other crus that feature most prominently in the blend are Tauxires and Verzenay(both 21%)with a dash of Avenay(11%).There is also 50%reserve wine,half from vat

55、s from the two previous 2017 and 2018 harvests,the rest from the magnum-aged reserve wines from 2009.The issue of putting a single named cru on the labels of these wines,when in fact each of them is a blend of at least four different crus,was something that was brought up at the original PN VZ15 lau

56、nch.But from the outset Bunner(then deputy cellarmaster)said the“blend”may include some older wine taken from the houses reserve magnums.That initial PN VZ15 cuve had reserve wine from A,Bouzy and Tauxires,in descending order,the oldest from 2009.This approach makes good sense when you consider that

57、 blending is Bollingers forte and keeping as it does more than 800,000 magnums of reserve wine all held separately,cru by cru,year by year,does give the winemaking team the opportunity to add some age,depth and aromatic intensity to this cuve,so why wouldnt they use it to make a more interesting and

58、 complex wine?These magnums are given a very slight second fermentation,or“prise de mousse”,before being sealed with a cork,and this“micro-champagnisation”helps stabilise the aromas of the wines for all the years they will spend in the cellar.The main role they play is to make the multi-vintage Spec

59、ial Cuve blend that little bit more special.They are used like spices would be in a top chefs kitchen to add pizzaz.And drinking a bottle of this wine over Christmas that has spent a little extra time on the cork,Im delighted to report its on very fine form and that pizzaz is clearly evident.AS IT W

60、ORKS TOWARDS ITS BICENTENARY,EXTENSIVE PLANS ARE BEING DEVELOPED TO SHOW OFF ITS RICH LEGACY3 BOLLINGER010 No3 Admired Champagne 2024.indd 10010 No3 Admired Champagne 2024.indd 1027/02/2024 10:0027/02/2024 10:0012 DRINKS INTERNATIONAL MOST ADMIRED CHAMPAGNES 20242024CHAMPAGNE-BILLECART.FRA Another b

61、rand in the ascendency in the Most Admired Champagne Brands ranking,Billecart has risen to its highest position since our 2018 survey when it was also fourth.And for the record,its never been lower than seventh in the placings.As we noted last year,chief executive Mathieu Roland-Billecart has inject

62、ed an impressive amount of energy into his role running the house and talks very openly about its objectives and his plans to achieve them.Last May he was in London to give a presentation on where the brand has got to so far in his mini revolution of the business model.This included some radical cha

63、nges to how the flagship Brut Rserve blend is produced,with effect from the 2018 base blend that we got a sneak preview of.This tasting was also the opportunity for Roland-Billecart to launch the superb Nicolas Franois 2008.He started by giving us an insight into how this house works.It is still ver

64、y much a family business with three generations involved in the tasting room,from his great uncle Jean Roland-Billecart(now a centenarian)to Antoine and Franois,his two uncles who each in turn ran the business before him.The tasting panel is completed by winemaker Florent Nys and vineyard director D

65、enis Ble.Nearly all the grapes are sourced from vineyards in grands and premiers crus within 20km of the houses Mareuil-sur-A base.“We farm about 100h of vineyard ourselves,manage another 100ha and buy in grapes from a similar area,”says Roland-Billecart.Always looking to make improvements to the wa

66、y things are run,its the Brut Rserve hes most recently put under the spotlight.“Thats what we felt we could do the most with,”he says,“and one of the things we are doing is giving it an extra year of ageing before release.”That has been achieved partly by introducing another simpler,more youthful NV

67、 blend called Inspiration 1818,a one-third of each variety blend,first made based on the 2018 harvest,but only available in certain limited markets that dont take the Brut Rserve.“Its not designed as a second wine.”One of the main ways hes sought to upgrade the Brut Rserve is by changing the sourcin

68、g of the Meunier,which has always been an important element in the blend.“We have spent a considerable amount of time to examine the particular sort of Meunier that suits our style and we have decided to end contracts for around 50ha of vineyard in the Marne valley and re-centre on Damery and Venteu

69、il on the right bank and Leuvrigny and Festigny on the left bank.Its not because of the inherent quality,but more about the alignment of having the best terroirs that suit our vinification style with a continuous objective to create ever more exceptional wines.”THREE-WAY BLENDHe concedes that this i

70、nvolved some very difficult conversations with the producers who had been supplying grapes to Billecart,but such hard decisions are necessary in the quest for improving the Brut Rserve blend.The new blend has 45%from the 2018 harvest base,plus a large 55%rserve wine,kept in tank and oak casks,the ol

71、dest of which is from 2006.Some 4%is barrel fermented.The three-way blend remains about 40-45%Meunier but may,he thinks,go to 30-35%of this variety.With this 2018-based blend,Roland-Billecart says:“We are at 30 months ageing on lees,but we will go to 42 months by the 2020 harvest base.”In the soon-t

72、o-be released 2019-based version,the reserve wine element rises to 62%and the portion vinified in oak increases to 7.6%,as the wine evolves towards his goal.Hes proud that the non-vintage blends get the time they need to shine before going on sale and notes at that time(in May 2023)the Brut Ros was

73、on 2018 base,the oak fermented sous-bois on 2017 base and the Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru had a 2016 harvest base.The benefit of suitably long ageing time enables the 2008 Nicolas Franois one of three vintaged prestige cuves made,all named after the houses founders(the other two being Elisabeth Salmon

74、 Ros and Louis Salmon for the Blancs de Blancs)to really shine on release.While theres still a certain leanness and tension you might expect from this harvest,helped by the 17%vinified in 400-litre Burgundy barrels,its tamed and textural complexity is building.We get an idea of the sheer ageability

75、of these wines with the 2002 vintage that we try afterwards,which has 19%oak fermentation in the blend and,because of its power and intensity,benefited from being bottled in 2004 not 2003.That has been done again with the 2018 vintage,Roland-Billecart reveals,giving an idea of what is expected from

76、that wine.But the star of a really impressive Nicolas Franois line-up is the 1998 that barely saw any oak fermentation.NEARLY ALL THE GRAPES ARE SOURCED FROM VINEYARDS IN GRANDS AND PREMIERS CRUS WITHIN 20KM OF MAREUIL-SUR-A4 BILLECART-SALMON012 No4 Admired Champagne 2024.indd 12012 No4 Admired Cham

77、pagne 2024.indd 1227/02/2024 10:0227/02/2024 10:0214 DRINKS INTERNATIONAL MOST ADMIRED CHAMPAGNES 20242024POLROGER.COMA After surprisingly dropping to seventh place last year in the Most Admired survey,its lowest position by far since 2015,the first year I reorganised the whole process,Pol Roger has

78、 bounced back strongly.In the seven years prior to 2023 its place in the hierarchy has been consistently strong,first to fourth,nothing lower.This is a still family-run house where consistency of style and quality is mixed with old-school charm and discretion that nearly all wine professionals admir

79、e.But now,with the final part of the massive,Covid-elongated rebuilding programme complete,Pol Roger really can look forward with renewed confidence.Patrick Noyelle,the previous chief executive(who retired in 2013)and the first outside the family to run this traditional house,had the difficult job o

80、f persuading the family that some change was necessary to slightly update the brand image while losing none of those core values of family and tradition.If Noyelle was originally responsible for turning round the companys financial fortunes and beginning the important investment in winemaking,curren

81、t chief executive Laurent dHarcourt has been overseeing the next few steps in that process of updating at the companys home in the centre of Epernays Avenue de Champagne.Hes been there nearly two decades now,the past 10 years at the helm,and some fairly radical changes on the wine front are coming t

82、hrough under his calm and undemonstrative leadership.Thanks to dHarcourt,Pol Roger introduced a disgorgement date for its vintage champagne releases in the summer of 2019,but initially this was only put on the outside of the carton carrying six bottles.Now however,with the very smart new disgorgemen

83、t line in place and already working when I visited last October,it has taken the significant step(for a fairly conservative house)of putting this information(year and month)on the back label of every champagne bottle that leaves Epernay.For dHarcourt this may have been quite tricky to get the family

84、 to agree to and he concedes:“At first we thought it was too much,confusing for some consumers.”But I and many other champagne lovers will be delighted to hear this news and see it only as a very positive step.For a start,it immediately emphasises the extra ageing in Pol Rogers deep,cool cellars som

85、e of the deepest and coolest in the region that the Brut Rserve gets on its lees and post disgorgement,before release.The current blend is based on the 2018 harvest,so if you open a bottle today it will have already had four years in bottle.BREAKING NEWSAs with any really well-made Brut sans Anne bl

86、end,give it another 12 months or so in your cellar if you have one thats cool,dark and free of vibration and it will become even more delicious.Many modern houses dont,of course,have a proper cellar(or one that doesnt have some central heating pipes running through it,ruining its wine storage potent

87、ial),and if they are vintage champagne fans,they will be pleased to hear the other major breaking news from the house.As part of its 175th anniversary celebrations in 2024,Pol is going to start re-releasing some vintage wines of two decades or more age.This is a more significant development in the c

88、ase of Pol,because vintage champagne represents around one quarter of its business as opposed to the Champenois average of around 8%.Plus,Pol has a reputation for making vintage champagne that ages exceptionally well:a bottle of 1921 tasted on this same visit underlined that emphatically.Part of the

89、 logic for this development,according to dHarcourt,is the“programme allows us to give the opportunity to people who dont have a cellar at home to try wine originally shipped 10 to 12 years ago that has been given extra age in our cellars in perfect conditions”.The first six such Vinothque wines 2002

90、 Brut Vintage;2000 Brut Vintage and 2000 Blanc de Blancs Vintage;1999 Brut Ros Vintage plus the 1999 and 1998 vintages of Cuve Sir Winston Churchill are all the original disgorgements and will have the date of that disgorgement and other salient details printed on the back labels.“We are only talkin

91、g hundreds of bottles,not thousands,available for the whole world,”says dHarcourt.He sees 10 years extra age for straight vintage,and more like a dozen for Churchill,as the optimal time for the wines to show considerable additional textural complexity and development or,as he puts,it“power and fresh

92、ness in perfect harmony”.The release of Vinothque coincides with the formal opening this month of the refurbished Pol Roger production facility in Epernay.As dHarcourt says,the house has“future-proofed”the site.And with the wine developments,it has hopefully future-proofed success in our Most Admire

93、d survey too.SOME FAIRLY RADICAL CHANGES ON THE WINE FRONT ARE COMING THROUGH5 POL ROGER014 No5 Admired Champagne 2024.indd 14014 No5 Admired Champagne 2024.indd 1427/02/2024 10:0227/02/2024 10:0216 DRINKS INTERNATIONAL MOST ADMIRED CHAMPAGNES 202420242024DOM PRIGNONDOMPERIGNON.COMDom Prignon,as you

94、 might expect,is another paragon of consistency and sixth place this year in the Most Admired list matches the three previous years result.With a golden period of harvests approaching in the second decade of the new millennium,making this wine every year as previous chef de cave Richard Geoffroy set

95、 out to do isnt quite the challenge it was,say,in the 50s or 80s,when only four or five versions were released.In the noughties we only saw the disastrous 2001,and the dodgy for Pinot Noir 2007,omitted.In the following decade,the mixed bag year that was 2011 may be the only vintage missing,although

96、many people put it ahead of 2010,which had botrytis problems,and Dom Prignon has already released.If only the best Pinot Noir was kept,2010 could be very decent.Winemaker Vincent Chaperon,who took over from Geoffroy at the start of 2019(after working closely with him for 13 years),says of 2010:“Part

97、 of the harvest simply had to be sacrificed in ordered to save the best parcels to make a Dom Prignon vintage.”The 2012 vintage was widely lauded across the whole Champagne appellation,so much so that 2013 inevitably started in its shadow.But the plaudits have been coming thick and fast with the rel

98、ease of wines from other top producers,and distinguished palates such as Mots own experienced winemaker Benot Gouez rated it above 2012 from the outset.After a hot,dry summer,it rained for two weeks in September,cooling things down and with botrytis threatening,so some people starting picking.But as

99、 Chaperon says,“the trick was to wait for the lovely weather at the end of September and in early October”.It was the latest harvest we have seen for quite a while and the cooler evening weather during picking seems to have helped the wines cling on to a freshness and liveliness,with grapefruit citr

100、us notes in evidence,but not lacking intensity thanks to July and August sunshine.6 6CHARLES HEIDSIECKCHARLESHEIDSIECK.COMSo far in this years league table all the top six brands have held on to or improved on their 2023 positions.Charles Heidsieck,which has had a top five place in the past six Most

101、 Admired Champagne Brands supplements,with second in 2020 its best performance,has slipped back ever so slightly.Last year saw the brands experienced winemaker,Cyril Brun,leave Champagne for a plum job in Trentodoc,working for Ferrari,a move that surprised most people in Champagne as hed only been a

102、t Charles eight years and seemed to love the job.Replacing such a personable,experienced winemaker was obviously always going to be a challenge for brand owner EPI.But on the basis of one meeting so far last April,only weeks into the job his replacement as cheffe de cave Elise Losfelt,who joined fro

103、m Benot Gouezs team at Mot,has all the credentials to do so,she just needs the time to settle in.As with all new winemakers in Champagne she will have to put up with presenting Bruns wines for the rest of this decade,given even her first 2022 Brut Rserve blend wont be in the market until well into 2

104、026,and her first vintage well into the next decade.Shes not short on confidence and told our small group of commentators when we met up to taste the lovely new 2013 vintage Ros,“Cyril let me do all the blends from the 2022 harvest”,as she arrived to work with him for one month,just as he was doing

105、them.They discussed what reserve wines should be used in which of their fine Brut Rserve blends LAST YEAR SAW THE BRANDS EXPERIENCED WINEMAKER,CYRIL BRUN,LEAVE CHAMPAGNE Brut,Ros and Blanc de Blancs and she says,for example,an oak-aged Oger Chardonnay he wanted in the Blanc de Blancs,she preferred i

106、n the Brut Rserve“as it charged the creamy texture and it lacked the elegance for the former”.Her view held sway but,given the success of the brand rebuilding under EPI,noticeable changes in style are unlikely in the short term.7 7PHOTO:GILES FALLOWFIELDELISE LOSFELT WITH CHIEF EXECUTIVE STEPHEN LER

107、OUX 016 No6-7 Admired Champagne 2024.indd 16016 No6-7 Admired Champagne 2024.indd 1627/02/2024 10:1227/02/2024 10:1218 DRINKS INTERNATIONALMOST ADMIRED CHAMPAGNES 202420242024TAITTINGERTAITTINGER.COMTaittinger is another famous,family-run business in Champagne that has performed consistently well in

108、 our Most Admired survey it has never been outside the top 10 brands.One of its great strengths,particularly important at a time when grape prices continue to rise at a frightening speed,is its considerable vineyard ownership that covers some 288ha,making it the third largest domaine in the appellat

109、ion.Theres a lot going on at the house currently,with the renovation of the historic cellars on the outskirts of Reims,where theres a grouping of the f nest,deep chalk crayres(including Ruinart,Veuve Clicquot and Pommery)on land that used to be outside the ancient town walls.They are due for complet

110、ion and reopening later in 2024.The range of wines at the house remains unchanged and,given the very large vineyard resource available to winemaker Alexandre Ponnavoy,who has had the keys to the cellar door since 2018,we might perhaps expect to see something happening in the premium brut-sans anne m

111、arket here too.It is true that in the premium multi-vintage sector the house already has three of erings in the shape of the Grands Crus Prlude,the sweeter(sec)Nocturne that has a 17.5gm dosage and is now also available in a pink version both designed for late-night drinking plus the single vineyard

112、 Folies de la Marquetterie in Pierry just outside Epernay,but theres surely room for more innovation.Champagne purists might argue that protecting production of prestige line Comtes de Champagne should remain the priority,and tasting the latest 2013 release its hard to argue with that logic.Made fro

113、m f ve top Cte des Blancs Grands Crus Avize,Chouilly,Cramant,Mesnil-sur-Oger and Oger where the family has enviably large vineyard holdings,Comte 2013 nicely captures the freshness,concentration,and vibrancy of this vintage.The long f nish shows what you will be missing if you dont have another bott

114、le(at least)tucked away for future contemplation.9 9RUINARTRUINART.COM“Theres a lot going on at the house currently,with the renovation of the historic cellars on the outskirts of Reims”8 8Ruinart is another LVMH brand that continues to perform very strongly under the dual stewardship of the two Frd

115、rics,chief executive Dufour and head winemaker Panaotis.While sadly in the UK market we dont get the chance to see what Panaotis is doing with the latest Ruinart straight vintage releases from the house currently 2016 at last years spectacular Frieze London contemporary art show,it was good to be re

116、acquainted with R de Ruinart,the non-vintage of ering,which I always think of in connection with the recently closed Le Gavroche restaurant,where it was the favourite f zz of Silvano Giraldin,its best-known maitre-d who worked there for 37 years.With all the attention that premium multi-vintages are

117、 getting from other top houses,when Panaotis told assembled sommeliers at the Ruinart Challenge in June 2022 there would be a new cuve in 2023,it sounded like Ruinart might produce something in this sector.In November this proved to be the case,with experimental Blanc Singulier vintage 2017 revealed

118、,which Panaotis says is“the result of ref ection starting in 2015 and was designed as a witness to the climatic variations that we observe each year in the vines”.A Blanc de Blancs style that he says has a“dif erent aromatic prof le,with aromas of candied lemon and exotic fruits”,it highlights the s

119、hortening growing season,earlier ripening and diminishing acidity in the Champagne vineyard.Blanc Singulier was“ref ned”with the 2018 harvest and launched,but only initially for the on-trade,in France and the US.While its based on 2018 fruit,sourced from Chardonnay vineyards in the Cte des Blancs,Mo

120、ntagne de Reims,Coteaux dpernay and Szannais,it also has 20%reserve wine from a perpetual reserve,half of which is kept in oak casks to add complexity and its non-dose.The good news is we hear Singulier Edition 19 will also come to the UK.Further evidence that its the multi-vintage sector of the mar

121、ket where the most interesting developments are taking place in Champagne at the moment.018 No8-9 Admired Champagne 2024.indd 18018 No8-9 Admired Champagne 2024.indd 1827/02/2024 10:1127/02/2024 10:1120 DRINKS INTERNATIONAL MOST ADMIRED CHAMPAGNES 202420242024LAURENT-PERRIERLAURENT-PERRIER.COMHaving

122、 made the wise decision to put more emphasis on its under-valued,but high-quality prestige line Grand Sicle,and deciding to be much more open about how it is made,Laurent-Perrier hasnt looked back.Secrecy has no place in the modern world of winemaking,consumers just think you have something to hide.

123、And when the secret about how it is made in this case a blend of three fine harvests with different attributes can be turned into a marketable and attractive story,it would be foolish not to broadcast it as widely as possible.Giving each wine an Itration number for every new release since April 2019

124、 added another layer of interest and made these wines more comparable and collectable,while opening another opportunity to keep stock back and sell a second older release of each wine with more cellar age,at a considerably higher price.It also brought in interest from the Bordeaux-watching critics,w

125、hich has made a wider wine-drinking audience understand a little more about the value that top champagne represents.You are buying wine that has been aged for you in near perfect cellar conditions for many years,often as long as a decade,as against just bottled first growth Bordeaux and grand cru Bu

126、rgundy that might take more than a decade cellaring at your expense before it is ready.So while I may have mixed feelings about critics making Laurent Perriers Grand Sicle Iteration 26,a blend of 2012,2008 and 2007,their wine of the year and awarding it 100 points,I can see this may have a positive

127、influence on the brands reputation,but what will they score it when it gets better over time?1111PERRIER-JOUTPERRIER-JOUET.COMThis in the highest position Perrier-Jout has achieved in the 11 years of the Most Admired Champagne Brands survey.It has not been placed better than 16th in the past four.Wh

128、at is the secret of its success?As with other brands that regularly score well with our international voting panel,it is a combination of making decent wine;putting on interesting tastings to show journalists and the trade what you are doing;in short,creating interest around the brand.Having the mar

129、keting power of the Pernod Ricard business is also clearly a help if you harness that clout to good effect and can see that celebrated champagne marques have more to bring to the table than simple profits.They cant match the sheer profitability of the strongest spirit brands because production costs

130、 are so much higher.But as a calling card,a magnum of Perrier-Jout Belle poque from a great past vintage easily trumps a bottle of Scotch or gin,especially if it is consumed in an antique flute in the Art Nouveau temple that is the Maison Belle poque on Champagnes seriously spruced up Avenue de Cham

131、pagne.The house is greatly helped by having the experienced chef de cave Sverine Frerson to call on,now that she has settled comfortably into her role with six of the most exciting harvests you could imagine 2018-2023 already under her belt.And while we will still have to wait six years or more to t

132、aste the first fruits of her labours although she was there to blend the 2018 wines working hand in hand with her predecessor Herv Deschamps,2020 was her first solo vintage she has already shown she can bring her own personality to bear.Simply by playing with dosage for the limited-edition 2013 blen

133、d using a special dosage liqueur,from the legendary Bourons-Leroi plot in Cramant vineyard,aged in oak casks she introduced another dimension to the wine.And there is much more to come.1010HAVING THE MARKETING POWER OF THE PERNOD RICARD BUSINESS IS CLEARLY A HELP 020 No10-11 Admired Champagne 2024.i

134、ndd 20020 No10-11 Admired Champagne 2024.indd 2027/02/2024 10:1327/02/2024 10:13MOST ADMIRED CHAMPAGNES 2024 DRINKS INTERNATIONAL 23 20242024JACQUESSONCHAMPAGNEJACQUESSON.COMI met up with Jean Garandeau,Jacquessons managing director since September 2022,at the winery in Dizy in the second week of th

135、e 2023 harvest.He commutes four hours by train from Bordeaux to Champagne three days a week(more at harvest time)since Artmis Domaines,owned by the Pinault family,bought the house from the Chiquet brothers Jean-Herv and Laurent last year.He shows me round while they are in full-on harvest mode as th

136、ey started picking the day before(11 September)with grapes arriving,presses being filled and forklift trucks whizzing about.Hes very hands on and involved in devising the picking schedule,which is tricky to do in 2023.He clearly spent a lot of time working with the Chiquet brothers,during and since

137、the 2022 harvest when,he says:“You could make a plan for the order of picking at the start of the week and not have to change it at all.But this year that is quite impossible,you must be flexible and present in the vineyard.”He shows me a new pneumatic Coquard press that Artemis paid for and install

138、ed last year and which offers the flexibility of crushing loads as small as 1,000kg(rather than the standard 4,000kg minimum),giving a flexibility that is particularly handy given the lack of homogeneity in the 2023 harvest.It turns out he has worked for Krug in the past,a nice link given the histor

139、ic connection between the two brands.We taste the entire range together,which I havent done in situ with Jean-Herv for a number of years now.He knows the wines well and I find them in very impressive form.Cuve 746,based on the 2018 harvest,disgorged in September 2022 one year earlier,is singing,a re

140、al delight,showing that solar years suit the Jacquesson style well.Jacquesson lovers can rest assured the wines are still in good hands.1212DRAPPIERCHAMPAGNE-DRAPPIER.COM1313Drappier has risen still further up the Most Admired table and retains the accolade of being the highest placed of all the sma

141、ller,family-run business in our annual survey.Its great to see the wider recognition the high-quality wines are now getting at this admirably run operation based in the Cte des Bars village of Urville.Michel Drappiers hard work over many years is bearing fruit and his daughter Charline and two sons

142、Hugo and Antoine are now fully hands-on in helping run different aspects of the business.Drappier is a skilled exponent of Champagnes four more obscure white grape varieties:Petit Meslier,Arbanne,Pinot Vrai(Blanc)and Fromenteau(alias Pinot Gris).Last March(2023)Michel and Hugo presented a workshop o

143、n these varieties that feature in their wines,such as Quattuor,which has all three plus Chardonnay in equal proportions;Clarevallis,an organically certified champagne with Blanc Vrai joining Chardonnay,Pinot Noir and Meunier in the blend;and Trop men faut!,a zero-dosage Fromenteau.While most in the

144、audience will not have tasted these before,this was not just a presentation of new wines,but a demonstration that some of the more far-sighted vignerons in the appellation are looking into the future,given the warming climate.Starting with varieties the region already knows may prove a better soluti

145、on to planting things like Voltis,although Drappier,who has always been at the forefront of experimentation has some of that too.Charline Drappier feels that the role of Blanc Vrai(Pinot Blanc),Petit Meslier and Arbanne may become more significant in the context of climate change as later-ripening v

146、arieties with higher acidity may have a wider blending role.A massal selection of Fromenteau was planted in Drappiers Grande Sendre vineyard from which its prestige cuve is made as long ago as 2010,reflecting its confidence in this variety.On a personal note,the Brut Nature Ros from Les Riceys was t

147、he most memorable pink champagne I had all year.PHOTO:GILES FALLOWFIELDJEAN GARANDEAU023 No12-13 Admired Champagne 2024.indd 23023 No12-13 Admired Champagne 2024.indd 2327/02/2024 10:1527/02/2024 10:15MOST ADMIRED CHAMPAGNES 2024 DRINKS INTERNATIONAL 25 20242024VEUVE CLICQUOTVEUVECLICQUOT.COMThe pow

148、erhouse that is Veuve Clicquot has improved its standing in the Most Admired Champagne Brands league table following its 250th anniversary year in 2023.One of the highlights of last spring was tasting the latest 2015 La Grande Dame(LGD)vintage and interviewing head winemaker Didier Mariotti when he

149、came to London in March to present it with other impressive wines.At the launch tasting he confirmed that the 2015 vintage follows the new approach laid down by his predecessor,Dominique Demarville,with the 2008 release being Pinot Noir dominant.“Since 2008,Dominique moved the blend from being 60%to

150、 90%Pinot Noir and that is the case for both the 2012 and this 2015 wine that follows.In doing this,he changed the grape supply sources using different villages to those preferred in the past,”says Mariotti.“Here with the 2015 the emphasis is on elegance and purity of expression with a lot of energy

151、.Maturity yes,but its not about roundness and fruitiness.”The ros version of LGD tends to be released one or two years later than its white counterpart,and we tasted the impressive 2012 in tandem with the white 2015 last year.But as Clicquot didnt make any of this prestige line,white or pink in 2013

152、 and 2014,the next LGD ros from 2015 is being launched this spring by Mariotti.A few years ago I spent time tasting red wine samples made in Clicquots Burgundy-like red wine facility in Bouzy with Demarville and Cyril Brun(before he went to Charles Heidsieck),and they were already very impressive.Cl

153、icquot realised earlier than most that for decent pink champagne at every level,the red wine portion needed to be quality material.Clicquots ross,especially vintage reserve and LGD,were ahead of the pack.Mariottis declared focus at the moment is,however,Clicquots considerable collection of reserve w

154、ine and making advances in how that is kept,and it seems likely a new cuve will emerge from these studies in tune with Champagnes wider brut-sans-anne focus.1414PHILIPPONNATPHILIPPONNAT.COM1515I had the pleasure of sampling the full Philipponnat range twice last year,at the J&B champagne tasting and

155、 then in November at the Champagne Show.Its great to see that,following the celebrations for its 500th anniversary in 2022,which brought its wines to a wider audience,the quality of all its cuves is exemplary at the moment.As you would expect with someone like Charles Philipponnat running the busine

156、ss,there is an emphasis at this Mareuil-sur-A-based house on the winemaking and great attention to detail.This work starts,first and foremost,with the brut-sans-anne blends,which benefit enormously from the substantial reserve wine element that makes use of a perpetual reserve,bringing many differen

157、t facets to the blend.With the glorious Clos des Goisses wines and I use the word wine advisedly understandably grabbing a lot of the headlines,these NV wines havent had the attention they deserve,but there are very positive signs that is changing.The current Brut Rserve is based on the 2019 harvest

158、 with 34%of the blend from the perpetual reserve barrels,disgorged in February 2023;the non-dose version is 2018-based,both showing a very attractive textural richness and concentration.The ros,with 7%red wine from the Clos des Goisses vineyard and over 12 months on the cork,is a delight.Like his La

159、nson-BCC boss Bruno Paillard,Charles appreciates the importance of long post-disgorgement ageing on the cork for the wines to show at their best,and on giving the consumer all the tools in the detailed back labels to help them make informed decisions about when to open their wines.Philipponnat champ

160、ions Pinot Noir-dominant blends and its premier and grand cru-based 2016 Blanc de Noirs,all from vineyards close by the winery,is a luxurious,luscious,ripe,velvety textured wine,with a low extra brut dosage and enough freshness on the finish to keep you coming back for more.And the 2014 vintage of C

161、los des Goisses is coming soon,devotees will be pleased to hear.025 No14-15 Admired Champagne 2024.indd 25025 No14-15 Admired Champagne 2024.indd 2527/02/2024 10:1627/02/2024 10:1626 DRINKS INTERNATIONAL MOST ADMIRED CHAMPAGNES 202420242024MOT&CHANDONMOET.COMIt is always exciting when brand leader M

162、ot sets a new course and last year it launched a prestige cuve called Collection Impriale Cration No.1,which effectively replaces the discontinued MC111.Its an assemblage of seven different vintages with the base,the vibrantly fresh 2013 Grand Vintage aged in stainless steel tanks,accounting for 42.

163、5%of the blend.This is complemented by five older Grand Vintages that have all been aged on 50hl oak casks that between them make up another 42.5%of the blend.Speaking at a pre-release tasting on 28 June last year,chef de cave Benot Gouez(pictured)described the attributes of these five vintages as:“

164、The very complete 2012;the powerful 2010;the fine tenson of 2008;the richness and power of the full-bodied 2006,plus the vinous and lively 2000.”Gouez says:“The wine is then topped out with 15%of the 2004 vintage aged in bottle on its lees.”Launched partly to celebrate the 280th anniversary of the h

165、ouse,the idea is that there will be a new release of this wine every two years up to the 300th anniversary so it will,says Gouez,“work as a countdown to that celebration”.But he notes that in future,it doesnt have to be a seven-harvest blend,“future versions might be six or eight.”The wine,a 50/50 C

166、hardonnay Pinot blend,was not given any dosage at all and is thus the first Brut Nature champagne that Mot has released.Gouez explains:“Before I was convinced such a wine needed some dosage,essentially to assure its ageing potential.But I found that the no dosage versions of this wine to be the true

167、st.”He qualified this by saying“but maybe some dosage would make it better still”.Referring to its predecessor MC111,the last blend based on the very specific 2003 vintage,Gouez says“the result was a little too heavy for the Mot style.Here were looking more for freshness,fruitiness,and lightness.”Bl

168、ending remains at the heart of Mots operations.1717BRUNO PAILLARDCHAMPAGNEBRUNOPAILLARD.COM1616At the Champagne Show in November,it was great to revisit two exciting new wines from Bruno Paillard that made a big impression on first tasting,just to check my initial impressions were sound.Only a coupl

169、e of months earlier Id tasted the first new cuve from this house for a while,the multi-vintage Blanc de Noirs Grand Cru based on the 2018 harvest,with Alice Paillard.This is based on four grands crus Pinot Noirs sites in the Montagne de Reims Verzenay,Mailly,Verzy and Bouzy the first three of which

170、have a predominantly northern orientation and are thus somewhat cooler.Reacquaintance confirmed this,with the wine showing a lovely fresh zing,real depth and a chewy intensity,no doubt helped by 15-20%of the blend coming from aged barrels.Disgorged in November 2022 with just 3gm/l dosage,this had no

171、w had a full 12 months to absorb the oxygen taken up at the point of disgorgement and for such precise wines,things like that count.Spying the new-to-the-UK-market Cuve 72 which is aged for 36 months on its lees and then 36 months post-disgorgement months I wanted to set my palate by first trying th

172、e current flagship Premire Cuve blend.This itself is 2018 harvest based,and disgorged in October 2021,so by the time I taste,its had 24 months on the cork hardly a brief period and massively beneficial to such an elegant,fine-tuned wine,lending such good textural complexity.Im barely expecting much

173、difference with Cuve 72.There is one,of course,for while the 45%Pinot Noir,33%Chardonnay and 22%Meunier blend is the same in both,plus reserve wine from a solera that dates to 1985,the 36 months on the cork is a“minimum”.It gets much longer,but you know how much time because it gives the precise dis

174、gorgement date.Now toasty,spicy richness leaps out of the glass and envelopes you.My first impressions were true.PHOTO:GILES FALLOWFIELD026 No16-17 Admired Champagne 2024.indd 26026 No16-17 Admired Champagne 2024.indd 2627/02/2024 10:1727/02/2024 10:1730 DRINKS INTERNATIONAL MOST ADMIRED CHAMPAGNES

175、20242024HENRIOTCHAMPAGNE-HENRIOT.COM2024RARERARE-CHAMPAGNE.COMBecoming chef de cave of a prestige cuve,you know it is going to be a long wait before you can talk about your own wines.This is the lot of Emilien Boutillat,winemaker for both Piper Heidsieck(taking over from Sverine Frerson when she lef

176、t to join Perrier-Jout five years ago)and Rare,which he also took responsibility for when Rgis Camus retired in March 2022.It will probably be near another decade before Rare 2022 is released.Rare in its white version was originally made,of course,to celebrate the then“unusually warm and sunny”1976

177、harvest.Today,warm,sunny,and early harvests have almost become the norm and one suspects that Rare could have been made in 2015,18-20,and 22,possibly even 2023;although there are no plans to change the brands name to Quite Rare.Rare Ros warrants the name more readily.Launched with the 2007,followed

178、by 2008,there is a gap of four years and then another two further vintages come almost together in 2012 and 2014,released last year.When he created this cuve,Camus was adamant that there would not be a set recipe for producing it and that both the proportion of Chardonnay to Pinot Noir and the crus

179、used to make the blend would vary according to the harvest particularities.The 2014 is a 60/40 blend,with the Pinot Noir portion including 18%red wine from Les Riceys in the Cte des Bars.This is a quite a high amount of red wine for a prestige pink which many believe,falsely I would say,should be pa

180、le like Provenal ros,to be considered any good.The incumbent chef de cave does,of course,exert influence on any release they handle in the shape of the dosage they select and Boutillat has brought his taste to bear on the 2014 pink by lightening the colour,adding some Villers Marmery Chardonnay in t

181、he dosage liquor.We do not know if this is for reasons of good taste or good taste,but it certainly tastes good.19191818It was another eventful year at Henriot.It quickly became clear that Artmis Domaines did not want to extend its involvement in Champagne beyond the ownership of Jacquesson(see page

182、 23)and back in March it opened negotiations for the sale of the brand to Terroirs&Vignerons de Champagne(TEVC),the largest co-operative group that produces the Feuillatte,Castelnau and Abele brands.The purchase of Henriot was completed at the end of September 2023 with the new management team heade

183、d by TEVCs chief executive Christophe Juarez as general manager and chef de cave and director of vineyards Alice Ttienne his deputy.The management team was strengthened with former Vinexpo chief Guillaume Deglise,who has worked at both Bollinger and Laurent-Perrier in the past,appointed as Henriots(

184、and TEVCs)managing director in mid-January(2024).The purchase of Henriot includes grape supply contracts for around 144ha of vines,half of which are located in grands crus and premiers crus vineyards,38ha under long-term lease,plus Henriots wine inventory of several million bottles.Theres also the e

185、legant Les Aulnois property in Pierry,just down the road from Feuillattes base in Chouilly,bought by the late Joseph Henriot in order to entertain the houses clients and trade customers.I visited Henriot in June last year,when the previous management team,including Ttienne,underlined the premium qua

186、lities of the house to an international group of journalists invited to see the work in the vineyards and taste treasures from the Henriot cellar.The pre-dinner tasting included a vertical of prestige Cuve Hemera,created with the 2005 vintage by the late Laurent Fresnet,followed by some wonderful ol

187、der vintages of Cuve des Enchanteleurs,its predecessor,including such gems as 1964.Cuve 38,only available in magnum from an all-grands crus solera created by Joseph Henriot and Fresnet,made a notable appearance as the aperitif.With super wines like these one hopes Henriots future success is assured.

188、WITH SUPER WINES LIKE THESE ONE HOPES HENRIOTS FUTURE SUCCESS IS ASSURED030 No18-19 Admired Champagne 2024.indd 30030 No18-19 Admired Champagne 2024.indd 3027/02/2024 10:1927/02/2024 10:1932 DRINKS INTERNATIONAL MOST ADMIRED CHAMPAGNES 202420242024DEUTZCHAMPAGNE-DEUTZ.COMIf a champagne can be modest

189、 and understated,this is it.And the same epithet could easily be applied to its long-serving winemaker who has just gone past the two-decade mark at the house,Michel Davesne(below).It was great to say hello to him during what his last harvest at this elegant maison,tucked away in the back streets of

190、 A.Watching him get deeply involved in the organisation in the mid-harvest rush of grapes,I am sure it will be a bit of a wrench not to be involved next year,when Caroline Latrive fully takes charge.The Deutz wines continue to excite and impress in equal measure,thanks in no small part to Davesnes w

191、ork here.His wide experience and willingly shared expertise are a loss to the appellation as well the team at Deutz.But thanks to their good working relationship we can be pretty confident that Latrives will be a safe pair of hands for fans of Deutzs wines.Perhaps we will see more innovation followi

192、ng in the steps of the notable two single vineyard Pinot Noir expressions Hommage William Deutz La Cte Glacire and Hommage William Deutz Meurtet from two vineyard blocks in the grand cru of A that sit almost immediately above the winery.There could be a longer-aged,later-released version of Brut Cla

193、ssic put on the market to show this is a wine that will develop in an interesting way for those who would enjoy something with more mouthfeel and richness.A potentially great contrast to what is a textbook version of a non-vintage cuve,showing pristine freshness with grapefruit citrus flavours givin

194、g way to a mid-palate boasting biscuity notes and texture,plus a satisfying,crisp,well-defined finish.A terrific bottle of 2006 Cuve William Deutz in which the two A Pinots of Meurtet and La Cte Glacire feature significantly was so well enjoyed that 2009 Cuve William Deutz made the cut on Christmas

195、Day en famille.Happily,there are more of Davesnes wines in the cellar.2020TELMONTCHAMPAGNE-TELMONT.COM2121It is quite a while since we have had a new Most Admired entry in mid-table.This previously family-owned business based in the premier cru village of Damery to the west of pernay was ripe for ou

196、tside investment and the kind of distribution an international company can offer.And there has been extensive investment on the site by new owner Rmy Cointreau,which bought majority control in October 2020.Rmy sold its own champagne division,which included Charles and Piper Heidsieck,to French luxur

197、y goods group EPI for 412m in 2011 but has been attracted back into Champagne by the lure of selling a more niche,premium product with green credentials and“significant”potential for growth,particularly in international markets.Today 72%of the Telmont estates 24.5ha are certified organic or in the p

198、rocess of conversion with the aim of 100%by 2025,while for the 56.5 ha of contracted vineyards they buy in grapes from,Rmy Cointreau is supporting a move towards conversion to organic viticulture and currently 39%are certified or in conversion.Bertrand Lhpital,whose family founded the business in 19

199、12,remains as cellar master and head of viticulture,while Ludovic du Plessis,formerly director of Cognac house Louis XIII runs the business.One clever innovation involves the complete change in the packaging for the Rserve Brut with the front label carrying all the details that a modern,top growers

200、champagne might carry:the harvest base year,2018 currently;details of the reserve wines in the blend;precise cepage blend;dosage and disgorgement date.All this is backed up by the very decent quality of the wines.A bottle of its 2013 Blanc de Blancs,one of 8,230 bottles,disgorged in 2022 just tasted

201、,was delightfully rich and texturally silky,showing skilled winemaking.Gift boxes have been ditched and the brand uses the lightest 800gm bottles made by Verallia from 87%recycled green glass.Sales have seen double digit growth and havent been hindered by the involvement of and investment in the bra

202、nd by Leonardo DiCaprio.PHOTO:GILES FALLOWFIELD032 No20-21 Admired Champagne 2024.indd 32032 No20-21 Admired Champagne 2024.indd 3227/02/2024 10:1927/02/2024 10:1934 DRINKS INTERNATIONAL MOST ADMIRED CHAMPAGNES 202420242024GOSSETCHAMPAGNE-GOSSET.COMThis year marks a welcome return by this,the oldest

203、 wine house in Champagne,founded in A in 1584,over four centuries ago.While 17 generations of the founding Gosset family ran the house until 1993,since then the Renaud Cointreau family has owned it.When you have to buy in your grape supplies and the price is rising steadily,you have to sell your win

204、e at a good price.Gosset has always had a good presence in the top end of the on-trade where its savoury champagnes of strong character have long had an enthusiastic following.Chef de cave since May 2016 and now also general manager,Odilon de Varine(pictured)uses his wide experience he took over at

205、Gosset after stints at both Henriot and Deutz in the sourcing of grapes,the majority of which come from vineyards fairly close to the winery now centrally located in Epernay,the house leaving its cramped premises in A back in 2009.He and his team do advise the growers they work closely with about ma

206、naging their vineyards and the increasingly crucial timing of picking,given the recent harvest weather extremes.But de Varine likes the fact that their wide spread of producers gives him a good choice of material to work with.And for him,the more variable 2023 harvest is preferable to a hot,evenly m

207、ature crop as it gives him better blending options.“Blending is key for a ngoce in Champagne,where we are trying to produce a consistent taste and style.”To produce that consistency of style and especially to keep the trademark freshness in the blends,he is having to use more and more Chardonnay.“Pe

208、ople think of us as a Pinot Noir-dominant house,”he says,“but 50%of what we buy is Chardonnay and a lot of this material is coming from Montagne de Reims vineyards,including Verzy,Bouzy and Ambonnay,not well known for white grapes,as well as crus in this part of the vineyard,like Trpail and Villers-

209、Marmery,that are.”2323GH MUMMMUMM.COM2222It is a tribute to Mumms highly rated and disarmingly modest winemaker Laurent Fresnet,who sadly died early in 2023,that Mumm has moved significantly up the standings in the Most Admired table.His all too brief tenure as head winemaker saw many positive thing

210、s happen and the hope is the momentum he has set in train will continue.Brand owner Pernod Ricard has respectfully taken its time to appoint a new winemaker and the experienced Yann Munier does not take up the position until early April of this year.Munier is a third-generation winemaker from Vitry-

211、le-Franois,south east of Chalon and like Fresnet before him,helps run his own family estate which supplies various ngociants with grapes,including Mumm.His experience includes two spells working at the COVAMA co-operative,which produces the Pannier brand.As with his legacy at Henriot,Fresnets wines

212、made from the 2019-2022 harvests he only arrived at the house in January 2020 but in time to oversee the 2019 blends will be what dominate the brands sales over the next few years.It will be particularly interesting to see what Fresnet produced under the RSRV range with the vintage Blanc de Blancs f

213、rom Cramant vineyards and the Blanc de Noirs from Verzenay,a Pinot Noir grand cru he knew intimately well,the style of which he said was changing due to the warm summers,shorter growing season,and earlier harvests.Tasting the 2021 vins clairs with Fresnet in April 2022 was very educational as he exp

214、lained how difficult it was to decide which wines to put into the reserve for the future blends.For the 2021 Cordon Rouge blend he used more grand cru juice as no vintage wines were made,only the more limited production RSRV Blanc de Blancs and Blanc de Noirs with just 4,000 cases of the latter.I su

215、spect when Munier gets the cellar keys he will find Fresnet has left everything in very good order.NEW CELLAR MASTER YANN MUNIERPHOTO:GILES FALLOWFIELDPHOTO:GILES FALLOWFIELD034 No22-23 Admired Champagne 2024.indd 34034 No22-23 Admired Champagne 2024.indd 3427/02/2024 10:2127/02/2024 10:2136 DRINKS

216、INTERNATIONAL MOST ADMIRED CHAMPAGNES 202420242024PIPER-HEIDSIECKPIPER-HEIDSIECK.COMPiper Heidsiecks milien Boutillat is the only winemaker who works on producing different brands that each have a separate Most Admired entry as he also has responsibility for Rare.However,his main role in the five ye

217、ars hes been at Piper is in raising the profile of that bigger-volume brand and drawing more attention to the excellent wines it is turning out at all levels.The main method of doing this recently has been through the excellent quality of the longer-aged,brut-sans-anne Essentiel wines Brut and Blanc

218、 de Blancs styles.I have been very impressed by the quality of these two cuves from the outset and believe they have greatly reduced the quality imbalance between the two EPI marques Piper and Charles,with all the details given about the wines make-up now going further than Charles used to do in the

219、 days of mis en cave.These wines are also proving to be something of a hit in the mature markets they are firmly aimed at by EPI,where the transparency of the labels and quality on the liquid inside is winning the brand new friends.So a brand extension in producing an Esssentiel Blanc de Noirs blend

220、 last year for the first time is entirely logical and welcome.Based on the 2019 harvest,it is the first such creation entirely crafted by Boutillat,who arrived at the house in 2018.A two-way blend of Pinot Noir and Meunier(80/20),the latter all coming from VDC-certified vineyards,thus underlining th

221、e houses commitment to moving all its grower suppliers to VDC certification by 2025.Ripe fruit as you might expect from the warm,high-quality 2019 harvest,is kept fresh by careful cru selection and an extra brut dosage.A sneak preview of the up-and-coming 2018,the first straight vintage offering tha

222、t Boutillat has made at the house and another warm sunny year,really impresses too,and will be enthusiastically received when it is released later in the spring.2525LANSONLANSON.COMOnly re-styled as Le Black Label in 2022,Lanson has changed the name of its big-selling Brut NV champagne to Le Black C

223、reation.It is not a change of direction in terms of the liquid inside,but in this latest 257th edition,Lanson is drawing attention to the fact that each such blend is based on one single harvest,in this case 2017,and those harvests can and do vary year to year in character.By also including the numb

224、er of the blend,a reference to how many times it has been made since Lanson was founded back in 1760,it is also highlighting the long history of the house.This move is in line with current trends in Champagne,where many of the major houses have sought ways to revalue their brut-sans-anne blends in t

225、he face of increased competition from inside and outside the appellation.Chief executive Franois Van Aal also sees it as a move towards greater transparency.Lanson has long been at the forefront of providing detailed information about each blend the proportion of reserve wine,dosage and is the only

226、large-volume brand to give the precise disgorgement dates,which allows interested consumers to make a more informed decision about when they open any bottle.The edition number,like Jacquesson,Krug and Roederer give,also highlights the fact that this release is longer aged than many competitors produ

227、cts,being 2017 harvest based,which makes up 55%of the blend.The other 45%come from Lansons collection of rserve wines,adding depth and complexity.Partly because the wines mostly do not go through the softening influence of malolactic fermentation and so retain a citrus fresh taste for longer,they ca

228、n be cellared further,as chef de cave Herv Dantan ably demonstrated when he brought previous versions of the Black Label blend to London.These included blends 244,which has a 2004 harvest base,219 with a 1979 base,and blend 200 from the 1960 harvest.All impressive,the 1979 was an extraordinary wine

229、showing great complexity and remarkable freshness.LANSON HAS LONG BEEN AT THE FOREFRONT OF PROVIDING DETAILED INFORMATION ABOUT EACH BLENDMILIEN BOUTILLATPHOTO:GILES FALLOWFIELD2424036 No24-25 Admired Champagne 2024.indd 36036 No24-25 Admired Champagne 2024.indd 3627/02/2024 10:2227/02/2024 10:2238

230、DRINKS INTERNATIONAL MOST ADMIRED CHAMPAGNES 20242024ALFRED GRATIENALFREDGRATIEN.COM2024POMMERYCHAMPAGNEPOMMERY.COMThe Vranken-Pommery Monopole group was able to buck the trend in 2023 with turnover of the companys champagne activities increasing 1%to reach 290.7m,while after a very strong recovery

231、in 2022,volume in the champagne market as a whole fell back 8.2%.This is mainly thanks to its focus on premium sectors and particularly the large range of Pommery champagnes.Attracted by the success of and consumer demand in and outside Japan for the Pommery Y by Yoshiki cuve,specially created in a

232、collaboration with Japanese rockstar Yoshiki,this wine is now exclusively listed in Selfridges with a retail price of 175,alongside the 2005 vintage of prestige cuve Louise(190.99)and Grand Cru 2009 vintage.The brand continues to be extremely active and last December cellarmaster Clment Pierlot intr

233、oduced a special anniversary edition of what was the first brut style of champagne to be marketed back in 1874,appropriately called Cuve 150.Made in a limited edition of 10,000 bottles,it is,says Pierlot:“A champagne that pays tribute to the genius of Madame Pommery and the houses flagship grape var

234、iety,Chardonnay,mainly made from the 2016 vintage.We decided not to produce vintage wines from this harvest,but instead dedicated the best vats,including Chardonnay from Clos Pompadour in the heart of the domain,which brings complexity and texture to the blend.”As well as Cte des Blancs grands crus

235、Chouilly,Avize,Oger and Cramant,the blend also features Chardonnay from Montagne de Reims crus Verzy and Verzenay,more readily associated with Pinot Noir to add“a distinctive and racy note”,he says.More significantly in terms of the longer-term development of the brand at the just-completed Paris Vi

236、nexpo wine show in February,it introduced new wines dedicated to gastronomy a Brut,Blanc de Blancs,Blanc de Noirs,and a Ros under the Apanage 1874 range.In doing this Pommery joins other leading brands in their efforts to revalorise and add excitement to the brut-sans-anne market that is so vital fo

237、r brand Champagne.26262727Looking in my cellar pre-Christmas I decided we needed a treat to lift the spirits,a vintage wine with some bottle age from a year of reputation.I am lucky enough to have a few options,but in the end it was a toss-up between 1979 Palmer or 1996 Alfred Gratien.The advantage

238、of these two wines,however good my own cellar conditions,is that they had been aged in situ at Palmer and Gratien,being brought to SW20 relatively recently in their life span,so were both pretty certain to be in tip-top form.I have a connection with both houses going back many years,Alfred Gratien b

239、eing one of those I visited several years before this wine was made,on my first ever business trip to the region.The 1996 Alfred Gratien was the first of three older vintages of Gratien along with 1997 and 1998 originally released three years ago under the Memory Collection that celebrated 30 years

240、at the house for cellarmaster Nicolas Jaeger.The 1996 is a 65%Chardonnay,18%Pinot Noir,17%Meunier blend,disgorged in February 2020 with a dosage of 6gm/l.Its true to the five key elements of the Gratien style in that it shows generosity,elegance,rich texture,unique minerality and colour,plus mouth-w

241、atering freshness,especially the last named.We all know that 1996 was a one-off with the highest acidity levels and potential alcohol of any recent crop,but it was hard to believe,bar the rich golden colour,that this was a champagne of 27 years of age.Checking,I note the 1996 has been replaced by 19

242、99,with the other two vintages ongoing.There is also an exciting reference to Cuve 565,“a champagne for collectors”bottled in 2012 and based on five unnamed vintages.I have not tried it yet,but hope to very soon,as it sounds very much my sort of champagne.IT WAS HARD TO BELIEVE THAT THIS WAS A CHAMP

243、AGNE OF 27 YEARS OF AGE038 No26-27 Admired Champagne 2024.indd 38038 No26-27 Admired Champagne 2024.indd 3827/02/2024 10:2327/02/2024 10:23MOST ADMIRED CHAMPAGNES 2024 DRINKS INTERNATIONAL 41 20242024VEUVE-FOURNYCHAMPAGNE-VEUVE-FOURNY.COMI had the pleasure of visiting Veuve Fourny in the village of

244、Vertus during the second week of the 2023 harvest for a long overdue catch-up with Charles-Henry who,with his brother Emmanuel,runs this widely admired,small-scale outfit.Their model in building up a business based on the high quality of their champagnes is one many try to emulate today.Their wines

245、are very much sought after by discerning consumers looking for something authentic.We had a long discussion about the changes the warming climate has brought to Champagne.Charles has the knowledge and 30 years-plus experience to be a sanguine observer.At nearly 550ha,with a large majority of the lan

246、d planted to Chardonnay,Vertus is the second largest cru in all Champagne after Les Riceys in the Cte des Bars,and covers a number of different terroirs,with varying soil types and aspects.The Fournys,fifth-generation Champenois,farm 30 different lieux-dits spread across the village,the vines,grafte

247、d by massal selection by their grandfather Albert from 1930 onwards,have an average age of over 40 years and are naturally low yielding.For Charles,2011 was the first year of climate change “picked in August the grapes had no taste at all,”he says.“It was the start of moving from an acidic freshness

248、 to saline or mineral freshness.“Forty years ago,the wines needed quite a high dosage,they remained acidic even after the second fermentation and two years in the cellar.For the past 10 years,dosage has hardly been necessary at all.But we prefer the quality of the champagne we are getting now,even i

249、f the change in the weather is not so good generally,for us in Champagne it is perfect.And this year we reached phenolic ripeness at a lower level of potential alcohol.”We taste a few wines from the range together and they are singing,a delight.Great with lunch,but also good to dwell over as more an

250、d more nuances of flavour and texture emerge.2828PALMER&COCHAMPAGNE-PALMER.FRFor the moment,the 1979 Palmer remains in the cellar,a treat to look forward to for leisurely consumption deux.Palmer is rightly famous for its stock of older vintages sold under its gold label Collection series and for hav

251、ing many in the larger formats in which they particularly shine.They are all fermented in those larger bottles too right up to the 15-litre Nebuchadnezzar they dont use transavage,so there is no loss of fizz or flavour risked.In line with Champagnes move towards greater transparency at the just-fini

252、shed Vinexpo in Paris,Palmer relaunched its high class brut-sans-anne offering with a new name Brut Champagne La Reserve and new look.Partly aimed at emphasising the importance of,and how it manages,the reserve element used in the blend,the back label will now give detailed information with the prec

253、ise grape mix,the harvest base year,the proportion of the rserve used and the years that is from in the case of the new 2018 harvest-based blend,22%from 2017,2016 and 2015.This supersedes the bottle ID code created in 2020 and goes further in mentioning the years selected for the reserve wines.As Pa

254、lmers Franois Demouy notes,“making it easier for wine merchants and sommeliers to tell customers the story of our wines,without requiring access to the internet”.Another influence is the use of some wine from a Chardonnay solera in the dosage to add spice to the blend,in much the same way as a top c

255、hef might use spice to lift a dish.And further complexity is achieved each spring when the new Brut blend is completed.Part of that is kept back in reserve to make future such blends,helping to conserve the Palmer style year on year.As winemaker Xavier Berdin explains:“Its an everlasting blend,the o

256、ld wine educating the new,the young wine feeding the old.The principle is simple but requires great rigour in winemaking.”2929ITS AN EVERLASTING BLEND,THE OLD WINE EDUCATING THE NEW,THE YOUNG WINE FEEDING THE OLD 041 No28-29 Admired Champagne 2024.indd 41041 No28-29 Admired Champagne 2024.indd 4127/

257、02/2024 15:5127/02/2024 15:51MOST ADMIRED CHAMPAGNES 2024 DRINKS INTERNATIONAL 43 20242024AYALACHAMPAGNE-AYALA.FRIt is good to report all the hard work done at Ayala over the past few years has borne fruit and it now joins sister brand Bollinger in our Top 30 brands for the first time.When I started

258、 writing about Champagne quite a few years ago,Ayala was fairly widely distributed in the UK on-trade and that strength has been renewed by UK agents Mentzendorff since Bollinger bought the house in 2005,providing much-needed investment from the outset.One of the early ways Ayala sought to attract a

259、ttention from the trade was by producing non-dose versions of its cuves,the lack of sugar demonstrating how well the wines were being made.It also put a date of disgorgement on labels at a time when very few ngociant houses did.Today there are fewer non-dose wines and director general Hadrien Moufla

260、rd,appointed back in 2012,has built a new young team and made significant further investment in the housess winemaking facilities on the edge of the grand cru village of A.While sister brand Bollinger is all about Pinot Noir,Ayala champions Chardonnay,which is the dominant variety used in most of it

261、s cuves.In early 2023 the percentage of this variety in its standard-bearing Brut Majeur,was increased from 45-55%at the same time as a new signature bottle shape was adopted.Top of the tree in terms of pure Chardonnay expression is Ayalas vintage Blanc de Blancs style,which needs time to really sho

262、w at its best,as anyone who looked at the make-up of the grand cru Cte des Blancs sites featured in the blend(Le Mesnil,Chouilly and Cramant)should probably realise.I have happily consumed a few glasses at the annual(and excellent)Female Chef of the Year presentation which Ayala co-sponsors,first wo

263、n by Angela Hartnett in 2018 an event I am happy to have helped set up a few years back.Ayala is a very welcome addition to our Most Admired brands.30=30=LALLIERCHAMPAGNE-LALLIER.COMI met up again with Lalliers experienced winemaker,Dominique Demarville,at its Oger winery during the 2023 harvest.He

264、notes that it has been a much more challenging year than 2022 but expresses confidence that,with the large crop and careful sorting,there is good material to be had,especially Chardonnay.He shows me pictures of some Meunier picked earlier in the week in the premier cru of Cuis,with large amounts of

265、rotten fruit on the ground,but very healthy grapes in the picking baskets.We walk round the vat room,where he has already installed Burgundy barrels and some from local tonnellerie Jrme Viard.He is buying 20 large foudres soon too.Fermentation is around 90%in stainless steel,with 10%in oak.We taste

266、together several final blends of 2022 in tank,which are seriously impressive,including wine made from that same Cuis Terre des Basses Vignes plot planted in 1961,which he intends to elaborate as a single varietal,single vintage,single vineyard wine.We also sampled the prestige line Ouvrage,a 50/50 C

267、hardonay/Pinot Noir blend made from the two best parcels of the year in Oger and A,which has great depth,complexity and texture already.Clearly there are very exciting wines from Demarville and Lallier in the pipeline,but in October we meet up again,this time in Paris,to celebrate and taste his firs

268、t=ever Lallier cuve:Rflexion R.020 which is based on the fine 2020 harvest,the year he was installed as cellarmaster and general manager.We taste it in bottle,magnum and jeroboam with heavenly dishes prepared by Gregory Marchand,chef of Michelin-starred institution Frenchie.This all happens at a the

269、med dinner in LHtel des Italiens,the majestic Haussmann building in the heart of Paris,in the rotunda designed by Gustave Eiffel.This and the welcome by Christophe Prat,managing director French icons at Campari,gives an idea of the ambition for the brand.30=30=HADRIAN MOUFLARD043 No30-30 Admired Cha

270、mpagne 2024.indd 43043 No30-30 Admired Champagne 2024.indd 4327/02/2024 10:2627/02/2024 10:26MOST ADMIRED CHAMPAGNES 2024 DRINKS INTERNATIONAL 45 2024champagne guru giles fallowfield presents his annual deep dive into how the harvest panned outHARVEST REPORTJ Just as we start thinking Champagnes har

271、vests are mostly going to be very dry,hot and early,with yields in the vineyard gradually,but steadily,falling,the changing climate comes up with yet another twist.Rain,lots of it,in the spring between March and mid-April and then again from July to mid-August,more than made up for the winter defici

272、t that was put in the region of 100mm.This partly explains the biggest bunches of grapes Champagne ISTOCK.COM/PIXELRAINSTUDIOhas ever seen,plus a record yield,even higher than that reached in 2007 and 2008.For the moment the jury is still out on how much the inevitable dilution this caused particula

273、rly in black varieties downgraded the overall harvest.Importantly,for those who may worry that modern champagne is becoming rather more alcoholic than the 12.5%abv every label declares,against the recent trend,it was a year in which aromatic ripeness was reached at a lower level of potential alcohol

274、.With summery warm weather setting in during the second half of May,following a cool,fairly wet April which resulted in quite slow vegetal growth compared to recent years,vineyard growth suddenly accelerated thanks also to the well-hydrated soils.Flowering was fast and efficient,with Chardonnay hitt

275、ing its full stride by 10 June,Pinot Noir three days later and Meunier by 15 June similar dates to the average for full flowering over the past decade.Dry,sunny conditions in this 045-052 Harvest Report Admired Champagne 2024.indd 45045-052 Harvest Report Admired Champagne 2024.indd 4527/02/2024 15:

276、4627/02/2024 15:4646 DRINKS INTERNATIONAL MOST ADMIRED CHAMPAGNES 20242024“The record cluster weights are also worth noting,”he adds.“They were due to a combination of perfect flowering,aided by a record pollen count,and weather conditions that combined heat without excess and constant humidity,whic

277、h were conducive to good vine nutrition and therefore high berry weights of 1.6gm instead of 1.3-1.4gm.These extra-large clusters,particularly on the Meunier and Pinot Noir,have favoured aromatic maturity over sugar accumulation,which is the opposite of the trend we have seen in recent years.”After

278、the wet and humid weather in the latter parts of July and much of August,botrytis looked like developing into a big problem,but the very warm,dry weather at the end of August and start of September improved this situation considerably,largely keeping rot in check.Although several people have mention

279、ed some plots most badly affected by rot were left completely unpicked.Selection in the vineyard by the pickers was particularly important this year with the large bunches and abundant crop making the jobs of harvesters much easier.This was because they could afford to entirely avoid and discard rot

280、ten bunches,as there were plenty of large,healthy ones.This also enabled them to work more quickly and,as they are paid by the kilo,helped boost their earnings.However,set against this,the very high temperatures of 35C and more in week one(2-10 September)made the work much harder and potentially dan

281、gerous,with four deaths reported in local paper LUnion as related to the stiflingly hot weather in the vineyard that first week.QUALITY:CHARDONNAY STAR OF THE CROP For Sverine Frerson,Perrier-Jout head winemaker:“Its another THE AGRONOMIC YIELD WAS VERY LARGE FOR BLACK GRAPES,WITH REPORTS OF OVER 20

282、,000KG/HA IN SOME CRUSperiod meant pollination was very efficient,so the potential for a bumper crop was there at the outset.Just how large it was going to be wasnt so predictable,but it always looked like being well over the permitted usable yield set at 11,400kg/ha,in line with the CIVCs predictio

283、ns of short-term demand for champagne.However,it wasnt just the overall large volume of the crop.What was unusual was the size of berries and bunches,which were simply huge in many cases.The region recorded the highest grape weights ever and the heaviest bunches,even above 2005;this is particularly

284、true of Pinot Noir.The average weight of bunches in 2005,the previous record level,was 180gm,but in 2023 it is more like 220gm.“Ive seen one bunch over 800gm for Pinot Noir and over 200gm for Meunier.Ive never seen that before,”Odilon de Varine at Gosset tells me during a visit there in the second w

285、eek of the harvest.The agronomic yield was very large indeed for black grapes,with reports of over 20,000kg/ha in some crus.Potential alcohol levels are generally lower than in 2022,but phenolic/aromatic ripeness was achieved more easily at a lower level of sugar ripeness.The weather in Champagne fr

286、om the start of July until mid-August was in stark contrast to that in 2022,when it was very sunny and warm.“Cool,wet,oceanic conditions prevailed from early July until mid-August,with particularly heavy rainfall in August,”says Jean-Baptiste Lcaillon,chef de cave at Louis Roederer,noting the consid

287、erable lack of sunshine.“The scorching,continental summer predicted by the weather forecasters,which was setting in across the south of France,did not reach the Champagne region.“At the start of August,the weather was dull and rainy.We had 78mm of rain in July and 92mm in August which,together with

288、the lack of sunshine 50 hours less on average in July and 80 hours fewer in August brought on vegetative growth,resulting in unusual berry growth and a delay in the start of the ripening process.“But although vraison was late in coming,we were still two or three days ahead of the 10-year average,”sa

289、ys Lcaillon.PHOTO:GILES FALLOWFIELD045-052 Harvest Report Admired Champagne 2024.indd 46045-052 Harvest Report Admired Champagne 2024.indd 4627/02/2024 15:4627/02/2024 15:4648 DRINKS INTERNATIONAL MOST ADMIRED CHAMPAGNES 20242024year for the Chardonnay grape variety,which is a real opportunity for u

290、s.We were among the first to start picking with our Chardonnay in the Cte des Blancs on Sunday 3 September.This was made possible thanks to our daily monitoring of maturity and tasting of berries in our plots to assess the optimum picking path.”While it is clear that Chardonnay is the pick of the cr

291、op,Pinot Noir is also decent if selection is good,while Meunier is the most vulnerable to disease and the more difficult of the three varieties in 2023.For Charles Fourny,who runs Veuve Fourny in Vertus with his brother Emmanuel:“Chardonnay should be king of the year and with Pinot Noir we can expec

292、t a good result after sorting,but its too early to talk about whether its vintage worthy or not.”“This 2023 harvest is more challenging than last years 2022,”says Lallier director general and chef de caves Dominique Demarville.“The yield is very big;the weather was a little bit cold and humid in mos

293、t of August,but in the last week of ripening and the first week of picking it has been very hot and dry.Not too good for the people picking,but its helped the quality a lot.“Theres some damage due to botrytis,mainly on the Meunier with a little bit on the Pinot Noir,but the Chardonnay,most of which

294、is already picked(by 14 September,the day I was in Oger),is very nice.Its the success of the year with a good level of ripening,no botrytis,and a good level of yield.“The high level of yield for the Pinot allows us to leave all the damaged,rotten fruit and still reach a good level of yield.Im very c

295、onfident because the pickers are doing a very good job.We lost at least 20%of the grapes here in La Terre des Basses Vignes(Cuis)but with the high yields as much as 18,000-19,000kg/ha for Pinot Noir we can leave 25-30%of the crop on the ground and still easily reach the appellation level of around 1

296、2-13,000kgs/ha,”adds Demarville.“This year the quality of the pickers is very important.”Herv Dantan,chef de cave at Lanson,concurs.“The key is selection.With the rain and the problems with rot,some black grapes exploded.You had to select,select and select again to have a healthy crop of black grape

297、s.But this was relatively easy because of the size of the harvest.The Chardonnay was all good from Montgueux in the south to the Vitryat,Szannais and Montagne de Reims crus.Its back to the kind of vintage we had in the 80s,with very nice fruit flavours.Not high levels of concentration,but that doesn

298、t mean its not good.“Black grapes are a bit more sensitive to large volumes than Chardonnay,”says Dantan.“Physiological and aromatic ripeness were well ahead of potential alcohol:at the start of the harvest,the berries tasted very good and had a remarkable freshness and aromatic ripeness.“While the

299、Chardonnay grapes were magnificent and adapted to these climatic conditions without too much difficulty,the black grape varieties(Pinot Noir and Meunier),suffered more and required greater attention.As a result of the heavy rainfall,the grapes grew larger than ever.The volume of water also contribut

300、ed to the development of botrytis and,in some cases,acid rot due to the hot weather.“These conditions made it difficult to choose ideal harvest dates and the dilemma we faced for 2023 was how to achieve the optimum degree of ripeness while controlling the health of the harvest.We were grateful to ha

301、ve a record yield,which enabled us to carry out a rigorous elimination process of the black grape varieties,allowing us to select only the best bunches,”says Dantan.GOOD VINE HEALTHFor Lcaillon,the Chardonnays behaved fairly“normally”compared with the past 15 years and the good health of the vines m

302、eant the picking of some plots could be pushed back,awaiting further maturity.With the Meunier only 6%of Roederers estate “the health of the grapes was deteriorating faster than the maturity was increasing,so we decided to pick them quickly and prioritise good health”.Pinot Noirs were evolving in ye

303、t another direction,he notes.“Their behaviour was fairly classic,reminiscent of the balances seen in the 1980s and 1990s.Ripening was progressing very differently from one plot to the next.In fact,the influence of the terroirs was amplified here,and the plots all reacted differently depending on the

304、 soil and grape load.“Because nature was generous with the weight of the grapes,it was relatively easy for the pickers to sort strictly and quickly in the vineyard,discarding bunches with any evidence of rot.”Yields were up at Roederer too.“Despite extensive sorting at harvest time,leaving all the b

305、unches affected by botrytis or acid rot,or of insufficient ripeness,on the ground,our final yield was 16,618kg/ha,which is remarkable considering our use of organic growing,”says Lcaillon.At Champagne Deutz in A the winemaking team of Michel Davesne,who is officially retiring after the 2023 harvest,

306、and his successor Caroline Latrive decided to pick early to get the healthiest possible grapes,staring with Chardonnay on Wednesday 6 September.Unusually yields were lower in Chardonnay than Pinot Noir so it was easier to get ripe.For Jean Garandeau,managing director at Jacquesson since September 20

307、22,planning THE KEY IS SELECTION.WITH THE RAIN AND THE PROBLEMS WITH ROT,SOME BLACK GRAPES EXPLODEDPHOTO:GILES FALLOWFIELDHERV DANTAN045-052 Harvest Report Admired Champagne 2024.indd 48045-052 Harvest Report Admired Champagne 2024.indd 4827/02/2024 15:4627/02/2024 15:4650 DRINKS INTERNATIONAL MOST

308、ADMIRED CHAMPAGNES 20242024the right picking circuit has been challenging.He has been commuting to Champagne from Bordeaux since Artmis Domaines,owned by the Pinault family,bought the Dizy-based house in 2022.Hes spent a lot of time working with the Chiquet brothers,Jean-Herv and Laurent,during and

309、since the 2022 harvest,when he says:“You could make a plan for the order of picking at the start of the week and not have to change it at all.But this year thats quite impossible,you must be flexible and present in the vineyard.“Theres been no clear order in which the grapes are picked,making it ver

310、y complicated,with the best order difficult to plan.In terms of rot,Chardonnay was the least affected,with Pinot Noir there was a bit more,but it was not a 2017.It wasnt a 2022 either in terms of either intensity or potential alcohol and ripeness levels,”says Garandeau.“We didnt have the same homoge

311、nous level as in 2022.The heat at the end of August was intense,we rarely see temperatures over 35C for five or six days at the end of August,start of September.”Speaking to Michel Drappier,whose family business in based in Urville in the Cte des Bars,the day after its harvest ended(22 September),he

312、 says its been the most hectic 15 days of harvesting hes experienced and the largest volume of grapes they have ever pressed.Yields were in the region of 21,000kg/ha in their own,largely organically certified estate.“It was almost a double crop.”The problem was finding enough tankers to transport th

313、e juice and enough tanks to store it with everything full in just two days in a“very concentrated period of pressing”.In fact,he says:“Well never really know how big the harvest was and whether it was a record or not,as with some plots of Pinot Noir and Meunier they left up to 50%of the grapes on th

314、e vineyard floor.“Chardonnay was a surprise we had a beautiful and large crop,and it tasted like grand cru Chablis,”he says.“We had less disease with the organic fruit because we are careful and sprayed more often with copper and sulphur,but only very small amounts each time.And the quality was even

315、 better than the conventionally grown fruit.We were scared of a mildew attack like in 2020 or 2016 but we are more confident with the organic than the conventional approach where there was more evidence of odium.”He puts the high yield down almost entirely to the successful flowering and the success

316、ful ripening to the fact that,with very low yields in 2022,21 and 20,the vines had more energy to feed that big crop.Comparing 2023 with the previous highly successful 2022 harvest,Demarville says:“Last year it was almost too easy.Everything was good and we will certainly be making some vintage wine

317、s.It was very dry in July and August,we never worked with a higher level of sugar to get a good phenolic flavour in the grapes.This year 2023 is more of a normal year because the grapes have ripened earlier aromatically speaking in the cycle than in 2022,if you look at the lower level of the sugar.“

318、We know in hot years like 2022 and 2019 you cant just look at the sugar,you must look at the level you get good phenolic balance.This year for Meunier 9-9.5 is a good level,while for Pinot Noir its 10.It was a balance between achieving the preferred sugar level,while monitoring and keeping at bay th

319、e onset of botrytis.You had to be in the field to see what a good level was,some parcels were destroyed by botrytis before they reached 8.5 potential the lowest potential alcohol level at which the Cahier des Charges allows grapes in Champagne to be picked.”Demarville considers that,in general,until

320、 now global warming has been largely beneficial for Champagne,and he thinks that will continue to be the case for the next few years.“When I started working as winemaker,the first four harvests 91-94 were very challenging years,with botrytis pressure on grapes struggling to mature at lower temperatu

321、res in late September and early October.In late September,its hard to get grapes to ripen any further.In four of the past five years,weve had exceptional harvests and currently all the extensive reserve wines held by producers are top quality as a result.”NEW CONDITIONSFor Charles Fourny:“Champagne

322、is changing and we are faced with new conditions.We have passed from an acidic freshness to a saline or mineral freshness.Forty years ago,the wines were still quite acid even after a second fermentation,and with two years in the cellar needed quite a high dosage.For the past 10 years dosage was hard

323、ly necessary.”Mathieu Roland-Billecart at Billecart-Salmon says:“Chardonnay was by far the star of the year universally in the grands crus of the Cte des Blancs,in Sezanne and in Vitryat.The thicker skin of the Chardonnay coped better with the unusual weather pattern,if we can say unusual about any

324、weather pattern now in Champagne.I tasted the grapes and some of the must at pressing and Im very confident with Chardonnay.“The harvest was also different sequentially in that all three main sectors of vineyards started at around the same time and at the beginning there was an element of firefighti

325、ng.The experience of an older generation where they expect to always pick this village first and end with that one no longer works.To cope we need to have a much bigger picking team.We picked over a period of 16 days,which is a long time,but you need this to be much more flexible.Each year we have t

326、o adapt to find the right balance,often working with riper fruit,but our degree of influence is limited as nature CHARDONNAY WAS A SURPRISE WE HAD A BEAUTIFUL AND LARGE CROP,AND IT TASTED LIKE GRAND CRU CHABLISHARVEST AT JACQUESSONPHOTO:GILES FALLOWFIELD045-052 Harvest Report Admired Champagne 2024.

327、indd 50045-052 Harvest Report Admired Champagne 2024.indd 5027/02/2024 15:4627/02/2024 15:4652 DRINKS INTERNATIONAL MOST ADMIRED CHAMPAGNES 20242024decides ultimately.Adaptability is the key.”Roederer too went for a much larger picking team to cope with the fine and ambitious line it had to tread be

328、tween“the maturity required and the grapes health,with a desire to push the maturity as far as possible”,says Lcaillon.“In the run-up to the harvest,the situation was looking precarious and we decided to increase the number of pickers by 30%to more than 800,to allow us to respond quickly and careful

329、ly eliminate the green and rotten grapes in certain plots of Meunier and Pinot Noir.“We knew that our harvest logistics would also be decisive in the success of the vintage.“We needed to be responsive,efficient and nimble at every stage,from picking to pressing,in our transport logistics and in the

330、reception of the juices in the winery.“The high temperatures during the first week of harvest created yet another challenge,requiring us to be particularly vigilant to avoid any starts of fermentation,”Lcaillon adds.Odilon de Varine at Gosset is quite confident with the 2023 harvest because it gives

331、 the possibility of the choice that he wants to blend with he doesnt want uniformity.“Its more interesting than a hot,even harvest,”he says.ELEGANT WINESDantan sees the 2023 harvest as“similar to the harvests in the 80s and 90s that we are no longer used to.This year we are back to levels of ripenes

332、s which had been forgotten after the last few hot vintages Chardonnays at an average of 10.18 and Pinot Noir and Meunier at 9.3 but that creates fine,elegant wines.This vintage underlines the particularity of our Champagne vineyards,which are subject to both oceanic and continental climatic influenc

333、es,with rain and hot weather coming together in August.As for the wines,the 2023 Chardonnays from all the crus stand out for their exceptional quality,a quality that has been confirmed during the first tastings at the end of alcoholic fermentation.The next tastings should give us a better idea of the quality of the Pinot Noir and Meunier wines,and we expect more variability there.For Perrier-Jouts