It’s that time of year! We wanted to share 10 of our very favorite bottles of champagne with you below, sorted by price for your convenience:
Henriet Bazin, Champagne, Blanc de Blancs 1er Cru Villers Marmery - Henriet-Bazin is a small grower and producer located on the eastern edge of the Montagne de Reims, in Villers-Marmery. Villers-Marmery is largely east-facing with a shockingly pure white, crushed chalk soil that is planted almost exclusively to Chardonnay. When Marie-Noelle Ledru's importer asked her where they could find another quality source in the Montagne de Reims, Ledru did not hesitate before naming her neighbor … also named Marie-Noelle! Marie-Noelle Henriet-Rainon is the fifth generation of vigneron in the family who has taken responsibilities over from her father (Daniel Henriet) who remains active at the domain to this day. The Blanc de Blancs 1er Cru is crafted from vineyards that have been in the Henriet-Bazin family holdings since 1890, currently planted to 25–50-year-old Chardonnay vines on average, growing in nearly pure chalk with a fine silt topsoil. For this 2020 release, 70% of the input is hand-harvested fruit from the 2020 vintage, with the remainder made up of a collection of reserve wines from 1968-2019. This wine ages for 3 years on its lees, and is a Brut champagne with 7g/L of dosage.
Jean Velut, Lumiere et Craie Blanc de Blancs Brut - Montgueux is a lonely island, a raised bed of Turonian limestone that's isolated from traditional Champagne production centers, which was long a secret source of richer Chardonnay for the blends of large champagne houses like Piper Heidsieck. The formerly neglected, entire southern region of Champagne is reinvigorated by the trailblazing successes of Dominique Moreau, Emmanuel Lassaigne, and Cedric Bouchard. Add to that list Benoit Velut, son of Jean Velut, who must be counted among these successes, as the demand for his crowd-pleasing 'Lumiere et Craie' (‘light and chalk’) knows no bounds. And with good reason: the Lumiere et Craie punches way above its weight. This cuvée is from organically farmed vines on an outcropping of chalky soils - ideal terroir for growing Chardonnay. This is aged five years before release and uses an old solera system for blending. In short, this wine has loads of character and nuance and is an absolute joy to drink!
Savart, L'Ouverture Premier Cru (Disgorged 08/2024) – Savart’s tiny production Champagnes are highly allocated bottles that we receive in small quantities. This talented technician of a winemaker has crafted some of our favorite bottles over the years—overperforming Ouverture bottles top that list! Ouverture is crafted entirely from Pinot Noir vines in Ecueil and aged in a blend of old wood and stainless vessels. It is a blend of three successive vintages and receives 7g/L of dosage.
Guiborat, Pur Prisme Grand Cru, Champagne (Base 2019) - This Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs Champagne was already a staff and customer favorite during our last Bubbles Bash as well! A great bottle of Champagne from a young, new wave of growers who are taking over their family’s vineyards and who are already eking an insane amount of finesse from them; the delightful results leave wine critics dumbfounded. Guiborat loves combining different, neighboring vineyards to reveal new, more fulsome aromatic profiles. This Prisme bottling combines Chardonnay from three different Grand Cru Côte des Blancs village vineyards, and it feels regal and textured. It manages to achieve that precious balance – to feel almost creamy and rich, but then finishes refreshing and dry with a pronounced saline, mineral quality that is simply energizing. This is far too easy to drink quickly – the calling card of a great wine!
Alexandre Filaine, Speciale Brut (Base 2021) – These are artisanal, unique, and rare champagnes. Filaine has become one of our very favorite champagne producers. Alexandre Filaine is the champagne house of Fabrice Gass, who was until recently employed as Chef de Cave at Bollinger. Fabrice began producing wines under the Filaine label while still working at Bollinger, though it is now a full-time project. He hails from Damery in the Montagne de Reims, where he works organically, no small feat in Champagne. A selection of his finest grapes is used to create wines of remarkable balance, breadth and complexity. Fabrice is a lifelong tinkerer, which is readily evident in his cellar, where he still hand riddles, hand-disgorges, and hand administers dosage to all his wines with some delightfully old-school tools. Fermentation is carried out with native yeasts in old (often exceptionally old) barrels he inherited from Bollinger. There is no malolactic fermentation in his wines, in this case because of their extremely low pH (rather than it being blocked). Though his production methods might seem archaic in this region that is no stranger to technology, Fabrice’s wines are unquestionably world class. Gass’ champagnes show plenty of weight and creaminess but remain perfectly chiseled. They’re defined by tension, drive, and energy, and provide so much pleasure in every sip. A perfect champagne with caviar and crème fraiche.
2018 Laherte Freres, Empreintes – Aurelien Laherte hails from Chavot, a small village in Champagne that sits just between the Côte des Blancs and the Vallée de la Marne that is defined by its incredibly diverse soils. The domaine itself has a long history in the area, but Aurelien has made this an essential address in the region since coming on board in 2002. We first started working with these wines with the 2007 vintage and have followed them intently ever since. Aurelien’s intense focus on coaxing all the nuance and clarity from each of his unique parcels is yielding some wonderful results, and the wines remain especially well-priced despite their increasingly excellent quality. This bottle is 50/50 Chardonnay/Pinot Noir, and ages 5yrs before release. A modest 2.5g/L of dosage keeps this wine energetic and sprightly, a lovely foil to the racy energy of the ripe fruit in the bottle!
Agrapart & Fils, Terroirs Blanc de Blancs Extra Brut Grand Cru (Base 2020) – Pascal Agrapart’s Avize estate has achieved a cult-like status among aficionados, and with good reason: at first approach Agrapart’s bottles feel taut, stony, and austere in their dryness and minerality, but just like the winemaker himself, with time, they reveal generous, almost tropical allures in their fruity ripe finishes. The wines feel upright and compelling in an utterly classical way. The Terroirs bottling is a pure Chardonnay, non-vintage blend of têtes de cuvées from terroirs in Avize, Oger, Cramant and Oiry. A highlight of the Côte des Blancs’ elegance.
Georges Laval, Brut Nature Premier Cru, Cumieres (Base 2022) – Laval makes some of the best grower champagnes out there, and he was the very first grower to farm organically in the region. There is a quiet beauty to these, and they continue to deploy intriguing nuance and aromas the longer you have them open. Creamy, smoky tangerine-like fruit … such a complex wine for those who take the time to pay attention.
2016 Christophe Mignon, ADN de Meunier Millesime Brut Nature - Christophe Mignon has a spiritual, unique approach to viticulture. He is a Pinot Meunier specialist working biodynamically in the Vallée de la Marne, and he has a real gift in handling this complex grape. Everything in Christophe’s cellar revolves around the 28-day cycle of the moon. Christophe is so focused on precision that he developed his own dynamizer to prepare his treatments, and boldly states on his website that his philosophy is to “work with, for, and alongside nature.” His 6.3 hectares planted by his great grandparents are between the villages of Le Breuil and Festigny south of the river and west of Epernay. This special terroir features deep clay and chalky tuffeaux soils that are prime for Pinot Meunier. We’re just beginning to appreciate how special Pinot Meunier wines can be, and Mignon was one of the great pioneers along with Jérôme Prévost. These are soulful, delicious wines that we can’t stop drinking these days, and we would drink them far more often were it not for the tiny quantities that these higher-tier bottlings arrive in. This wine has a powerful richness and viscosity to it and is a lovely pairing to sushi as well as many other light and refreshing, healthful dishes.
2014 Larmandier-Bernier, Levant Vieilles Vignes Grand Cru – Here’s a stately bottle of champagne that can leave no one indifferent. This is Larmandier-Bernier’s finest bottling, crafted from his oldest vines (60-80 years) in Cramant which face directly east and are farmed biodynamically. This counts among the earliest single-vineyard bottlings of champagne in existence. It flaunts an impeccable balance and a lovely, refined aged character which helps ensure this special bottle makes its mark. How exactly does this feel so noble? Old vines growing in Grand Cru vineyards, for sure, but bear in mind this is a single vintage cuvée that fermented in oak, rather than the default for cleanliness and purity which is stainless steel! This instead ages in a combination of large foudres and smaller Burgundy barrels. An impeccable, outrageous bottle.
Interested in a different Champagne? You can browse our entire selection here.
