Cheers! 5 things to know about champagne
The vast majority of champagne sold in the United States — and maybe around the world — this year will be purchased in December, and much of it will be consumed in the year’s waning hours on New Year’s Eve. That’s fine, but it’s also a shame because it means we are limiting champagne to a ceremonial ritual and ignoring its beauty as wine.
If we just want bubbles for a toast, we can buy and enjoy the cheap stuff. Champagne is special. (And there is good cheap champagne, as I discovered in my recent foray to Costco.) Here are five things to know as you buy and enjoy champagne this holiday season — and beyond.
Can any sparkling wine be called ‘champagne’?
Yes. If you’re hosting a dinner party and you offer your guests a glass of any ol’ bubbly and call it champagne, they’d be uncouth to call you out on it. Though given the popularity and quality of prosecco, franciacorta, cava and other sparkling wines, there’s no shame in offering them under their own names.
Technically, champagne is the sparkling wine from the Champagne region of northern France. Consider this my obligatory nod to the trademark protection hawks in the CIVC, the champagne trade bureau. As far as I know, they haven’t yet gone after consumers for calling a generic sparkling wine “champagne.”
Is champagne really that different from other sparkling wines?
Yes, and to understand why, we need to know how champagne is made. The champagne method, now usually called the traditional method (nod to those trademark hawks), involves aging the fermented wine on the lees (spent yeasts) produced during the second fermentation that adds the bubbles. Longer aging also gives the wine a brioche flavor. Your wine geek friends might toss out the word “autolytic.” If they do, just slap them down by saying, “Yeah, I get the brioche.” If you don’t know what I mean by brioche, go to Trader Joe’s, buy a loaf and toast a slice. An almond croissant from a good French bakery is another analogy for that wonderful character of champagne.
Many other sparkling wines are made by the same method, but with different grapes and often with less time on the lees. As such, they lack the complexity of champagne.
Is champagne only for celebrations and toasts?
No. Champagne is a great food wine. Think salty — caviar, oysters — or crunchy and salty — french fries, popcorn, potato chips. But there’s much more.
“I like blanc de blancs with fish, oysters, crudos and delicate buttery flavors,” says Elli Benchimol, a sommelier and owner of Apéro champagne bar and La Bohème restaurant in Washington, D.C.’s Georgetown neighborhood. Blanc de blancs are champagnes made entirely of white grapes, almost always chardonnay.
A blanc de noirs — a white wine made from red grapes, typically pinot noir, by pressing the juice off the skins early — can “go all the way up to squab and gamey dishes,” Benchimol says. “It’s still pinot noir, after all.”
Rosé champagnes can gain their color from a few hours of skin contact, giving them a measure of substance akin to lighter red wines, Benchimol explains. “We paired a rosé with duck tortellini in an orange sauce, like duck à l’orange, and it was fantastic,” she adds.
Should I stock up on champagne?
Champagne sales are likely to be robust this holiday season, as consumers anticipate higher prices from tariffs promised by the incoming Trump administration. Champagne, a quintessentially French luxury product, is always an easy target in a trade dispute with the European Union. So prices are likely to rise next year, making this holiday season a good time to lay in a few bottles for your cellar.
I’m new to champagne. Where should I start?
“Think about what you like in a still wine,” Benchimol says. “If you like sauvignon blanc or chablis, start with a blanc de blancs. If you’re into white burgundy, you’re probably into vintage champagne. But if you like pinot noir and nebbiolo, like I do, then you want blanc de noirs.”
Benchimol paused before saying, with a note of mischief in her voice, “If you’re a cabernet sauvignon drinker, leave the champagne to us.”
While we can all agree that champagne is special, specific champagne preferences are very personal. Some people prefer bubbles by small growers, who make wine from their own vineyards rather than purchased grapes, believing these bottles are more distinctive from the “house style” of the major producers. Others favor a blanc de blancs as an expression of chardonnay, or blanc de noirs for pinot noir. The current vogue is for bone-dry wines labeled “extra dry” or “brut nature.” You may have a sentimental favorite from a first date or family celebration. My own list of favorites is too long — I only wish I could afford to drink champagne more often. These are some gems from my recent tastings.
Canard-Duchêne Cuvée Léonie Brut
3.5 stars
Champagne, France, $47. This pinot-dominant cuvee hits the classic champagne profile, with flavors of red berries and a toasty, yeasty backbone.
Champagne Mandois Brut Origine
4 stars
Champagne, France, $53. Rich texture and exotic spice give this wine structure, length and excitement. The flavors unspool flirtatiously across your palate — roasted peach and pear suggest warmth and holiday cheer, then mandarin orange flashes a hint of excitement, and clove a whiff of danger. Each sip ends with a smile, and an invitation for another.
Domaine Collet Nord-Sud
3.5 stars
Champagne, France, $66. This delightful 50-50 blend of chardonnay and pinot noir trips across the palate with joy. Domaine Collet is a grower domain in its ninth generation, tracing family roots to 1744. Their 15 acres of vineyards are certified organic. This wine has energy, tension and a lot of character.
Taittinger Brut La Française
3.5 stars
Champagne, France, $73. Light and delicate, this wine shows white flowers and an appealing herbal note. The Taittinger vintage 2015 ($120) is a turbocharged version, with similar flavors but greater depth and complexity.
Gaston Chiquet Tradition Premier Cru
3.5 stars
Champagne, France, $75. Apple pie in a glass? That’s simplistic for such a lovely wine, but the first impression is a definite flavor of roasted apple, with toasty brioche character. There’s also red currant and dried fruit, a leanness coming from a preponderance of red grapes. Meunier and pinot noir combined make 65% of the blend, with chardonnay rounding out the rest. This is a grower champagne, meaning the producer uses only their own grapes. The vineyard is certified sustainable under the French system, though that isn’t noted on the label.
Veuve Fourny & Fils Blanc de Blancs Extra Brut Premier Cru
3.5 stars
Champagne, France, $75. The Fourny family is in its fifth generation in Vertus, in the heart of the Côtes de Blancs, where chardonnay achieves its ultimate voice in champagne. This blend comes from several premier cru parcels with an average vine age of 40 years, contributing complexity and depth to the wine. Orchard fruit flavors are braced by a saline minerality that would make this an excellent partner for fish, especially sushi.
Louis Roederer Collection 244
4 stars
Champagne, France, $80. Many champagne houses create a multivintage blend as an example of house style, but of course the blends do vary somewhat depending on the conditions of the vintage that comprises the main portion of the blend. Louis Roederer is among producers who distinguish their blends. Collection 244 is the 244th time this storied house has blended its multivintage wine. The QR code on the back label takes me to a webpage that explains the base vintage of 2019, a record-setting dry and hot year, makes up just over half the blend, with the rest from reserve wines dating back to 2012. Another code tells me my bottle was disgorged in May 2023 and released to the market that November, so I know it hasn’t been languishing in a warehouse somewhere. The wine itself is lithe and lively, with suggestions of white flowers, apples and cherries, and a saline note that adds crispness on the finish. It is absolutely delicious.
• Prices are approximate. For availability, check Wine.com, Wine-searcher.com and the websites and social media feeds of the wineries, importers, distributors and your favorite local wine store.
Legend
One star: Good: The wine delivers what it promises at a fair price. If it says chardonnay, it tastes like chardonnay.
Two stars: Excellent: A wine with character and added interest. May elevate your eyebrows at the first sip.
Three stars: Extraordinary: An exciting wine that stands out from others in its class. Fist-pumping, table-thumping good.
Four stars: Sublime: Otherworldly. May have you thinking, “So this is what they were talking about.”