WJ Drinks: Champagne - Blends or Singles?
Like coffee and essential oils in the loose sense, Champagnes - or more specifically wines from Champagne, are typically blends of different grape varieties. The three dominant grapes of the Champagne landscape, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier, often feature as main components. Champagne producers often combine wines of different grape varieties from different vintages to create a unique style.
In recent years, most Champagne producers have also added single-varietal and single-vineyard wines in their portfolio, with the intention of expressing the terroirs of the vineyards or the characteristics of the grapes.
The line-up today offers a glimpse of 2 single varietals that comprise different grapes, grown in different subregions, and 2 blends of different compositions.
Champagne Girard-Bonnet Au Bout du Chemin Premier Cru v21
Cépage: 100% Chardonnay
Terroir: Vertus, Premier Cru Village
Soil: Clay-Limestone on Campanian chalk
Assemblage: 80% 2021 harvest, 20% reserve wines
Vinification: fermentation in 70% stainless steel tanks, 30% in oak barrels
Ageing: 24 months on the lees
Dosage: 3g/L, Extra Brut
Disgorgement: 11 Dec 2023
Vertus is a Premier Cru-listed village in the southern part of the Côte des Blancs region. The soil is mostly calcareous with mostly chalk and very little clay, making the land ideal for growing Chardonnay. The unique soil composition also clearly contributes to the mineral character in the wines. The slopes, where the vineyards are located, are gentle, and provide excellent drainage, thus ensuring the health of the vines and the quality of the grapes.
Champagne Savart l'Ouverture Premier Cru
- Cépage: 100% Pinot Noir
- Terroir: Ecueil
- Vinification: fermentation in neutral barriques and in steel tanks
- Ageing: 24 months on the lees
- Dosage: 3.5g/l Extra Brut
- Disgorgement Date: September 2023
Ecueil is a village in the Montagne de Reims of Champagne. Like Vertus, it is classified Premier Cru. Ecueil is built on sandy soil and yields mainly Pinot Noir.
Champagne Philippe Lancelot Les Hauts d'Epernay 2019
- Cépage: 40% chardonnay, 40% pinot noir, 20% pinot meunier
-Terroir: On the hillsides of Epernay - ‘Boissimon’, for Chardonnay, 'Saint-Antoine', Cumières, for Pinot Noir and Meunier
- Age of vines: In Boissimon: vines planted in 1990; In Saint Antoine: vines planted in 1973
- Vinification: Aged for 4 years in 60% stainless steel tanks, 40% in barrels of 2hl20, 4hl and 5hl sizes.
- Dosage: 1g, Extra Brut
While the other two producers prefer to add reserve wines to the predominant wines of the current vintage, Philippe Lancelot works with wines from a single vintage, with no reserves. The blend 'Les Hauts d'Epernay' differs from year to year, and sometimes even comprise grapes sourced from different vineyards.
Champagne Savart Bulle de Rosé Premier Cru
- Cépage: 65% Pinot Noir, 30% Chardonnay and 5% Rouge d'Écueil
- Terroir: Écueil
- Dosage: 3.5g/l
- Disgorgement Date: July 2023
There are two ways to make a Champagne Rosé - with blending in still red wine, or 'bleeding' tannins from the grape skin. This cuvée is a 'Rosé of assembly' - meaning it is made by the blending method. This method produces Rosés of a relatively lighter style.
Characteristics of each grape varietal:
Chardonnay brings elegance and finesse, adds acidity and develops complexity over time. It is considered the grape best suited for aging the wine. You can recognise Chardonnay by its citrusy flavours, green apple, minerality floral notes, and also nuttiness and toast in the more matured cuvées.
Pinot Noir adds structure and body, provides a strong backbone and adds depth. Pinot Noir-dominant Champagnes tend to taste fuller and more robust. You can recognise Pinot Noir by its red fruit flavours, such as cherries and strawberries, rose and violet floral aromas, licorice and honey and buttery creaminess.
Pinot Meunier makes a medium-bodied wine with moderate acidity. It is the most approachable and friendly grape variety, as it adds roundness, softness and balance. You can recognise Pinot Meunier by stone fruit flavours like peaches, floral, spicy notes, earthy undertones and forest floor, and sometimes cigar-like smokiness.
