DJ's Champagne Event 2025

The NV Brut Grand Cellier is fabulous. Rich, ample and creamy, the Grand Cellier is so alluring from the very first taste. All the Vilmart signatures - most notably uncommon elegance - come through loud and clear. Baked apple tart, pear, spice and a hint off butter add nuance, but it is the wine's overall feel that impresses most. Readers will have a hard time keeping their hands off this seductive Champagne from Vilmart. ANTONIO GALLONI

Light,bright gold. Heady, complex scents of poached pear, vanilla, anise and pungent flowers. Fleshy but focused and pure, offering vanilla-accented orchard fruit and lemon curd underscored by chalky minerality. Finishes long and toasty, with lingering florality and noteworthy clarity. JOSH RAYNOLDS

A blend of 30% pinot noir and 70% chardonnay, this has a complex and sophisticated nose that delivers peach fruits and citrus, plus some bolder yellow plum fruits too. The palate is assertive, energetic and concentrated with peach and nectarine flavors met with lemony acidity. Long, really powerful Champagne here. JAMES SUCKLING

Incredible value for a blanc de noirs (100% Pinot Noir) grower Champagne from the grand cru vineyards of Bouzy. It shows gorgeous aromas of stone fruit, citrus and strawberry, with complex brioche nuances, remarkable balance, ongoing elegance and a rich, refined, persistent finish. DECANTER

Release after release, year after year, I have always marvelled at the lemon blossom freshness that Clouet manages to capture in pinot noir from two of Champagne's most powerful terroirs.  Here it is again, in a captivating interplay of fleshy mirabelle plums, white peaches, crunchy golden delicious apples, and even a hint of pepper.  Wild honey and mixed spice join the maelstrom along the way, gliding obediently into a well-defined finish of soft minerality and integrated dosage.  TYSON STELZER, The Champagne Guide

The NV Brut Grande Reserve offers up layers of mineral-infused red fruits on a silky, mid-weight frame, with gorgeous length and a refined, subtle mousse. This impeccable, elegant wine shows terrific overall balance as well as complexity. I loved it. ANTONIO GALLONI

The effusive nose of candied citrus, ripe pear and brioche pulls you into this fresh and creamy champagne that hits all the pleasure buttons for a non-vintage Brut. Then the chalky freshness at the finish pulls you back for another sip. Excellent balance! 100% pinot noir. JAMES SUCKLING

The NV Brut Grand Réserve Grand Cru is a pure Pinot Noir from Bouzy. It's pure, fresh, fine and aromatic on the nose and round and delicate on the palate. The fruit-intense finish is chalky-mineral and stimulatingly fresh in its salty finesse and elegant yeastiness. Nice lemon juice flavors give an extra kick of refreshment. This is a picture-book NV Brut. STEPHAN REINHARDT, Wine Advocate

The latest release of André Clouet's NV Brut Grand Réserve Grand Cru is showing well, exhibiting a nicely integrated bouquet of red apple, ripe citrus fruit, honeycomb and blanched almonds, followed by a medium to full-bodied, enveloping palate with a fine mousse, ripe but racy acids and an elegant, understated profile, concluding with a well-defined finish. This is a stylish, harmonious wine WILLIAM KELLEY

Pale gold. Fresh peach, pear and nectarine on the nose, with a complicating note of white flowers. Fleshy, plush and ripe, with strong peach and ripe pear flavors in a more powerful and less restrained style than last year's release. Firms up on the finish, picking up a mineral note and showing very good balance and length. STEPHEN TANZER

The NV Brut Special Cuvée is fabulous. Hints of pears, pastry crust and hazelnut lead to an expansive core of fruit. There is plenty of the signature Bollinger oxidative style in this rich, enveloping Champagne. Once again the Special Cuvée is one of the best Champagnes in its price range. ANTONIO GALLONI

… The complexity and richness of Special Cuvée is unparalleled among the entry non-vintage blends of every Champagne house, short of ascending to the mesosphere of Krug. Its grand recipe explains why, built on incredible depth of 50%-60% reserves. Triumphant complexity is a given at Bollinger, but it's the dynamic freshness and vitality that really set it apart as one of the most affordable Champagne benchmarks. (96) TYSON STELZER

Like its rosé counterpart, the latest release of Bollinger's NV Brut Special Cuvée is showing especially well, bursting from the glass with aromas of honeyed apples, crisp stone fruit, buttery pastry, ripe lemons and fresh walnuts. Medium to full-bodied, fleshy and vinous, with a deep core of beautifully ripe fruit, racy acids and a pillowy  mousse, it's a charming, characterful wine that proves that Special Cuvée is firmly back where it belongs. WILLIAM KELLEY

A complex, reliable Champagne that would show well in all occasions thanks to its freshness and class. Drawing on all three grapes (chardonnay, pinot noir and pinot meunier), this has a complex grilled-nut and autolysis character overlayed across red berries and citrus fruits. Definitely a lot of reserve wine character here. The palate delivers lemons, grapefruit, peaches and mangoes in a refreshingly pure, fleshy style. The bright acidity, handy balance and tannins smoothly frame the finish JAMES SUCKLING

One of the great signatures of the region, its calligraphy flowing with elegance, panache and balance, the last reflected in the equal proportions of the three great varieties of Champagne. A flamboyant straw gold lustre, and an immediately seductive nose, encyclopaedic in its indulgence. Nougat, praline, white pepper, spice and nectarine were first to the page for this taster, but there is much more behind that, the sugar discrete yet edifying, the long yeast ageing responsible for a happy and altogether luminous marriage of power and finesse. Consistently excellent. SIMON FIELD MW, Decanter

the wine wafts from the glass with an alluring bouquet of green apple, brioche, pastry cream and buttered toast. On the palate, it's medium to full-bodied, impressively layered and complete, with a crisp but fleshy core of fruit, a youthfully frothy mousse and bright acids, concluding with a delicately chalky finish. This is one of the very finest—as well as among the most consistent—non-vintage brut bottlings from any of the Grandes Marques, and comes very warmly recommended. While it will be drinkable on release, it will reward some bottle age too. WILLIAM KELEY

Equal parts Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Meunier. It pours a bright silver straw hue and is fresh on opening, with a floral perfume of white flowers, fresh pear, and fresh almond. Medium-bodied, it’s attractive and approachable, with juicy peach fruit that fills the palate, although it stays refined, with a pinpoint mousse and a clean finish. It is a lovely entry to the range to enjoy now or over the next 6-8 years, and I love this as an aperitif style. JEB DUNNUCK

Clouet's rose epitomises elegance and focus, while flamboyantly celebrating the generous red cherry, strawberry, watermelon and pink pepper fruit of Bouzy.  It encapsulates that wonderful talent of pinot noir to build and rise on the finish, all the while retaining graceful precision as delicate as rose petal perfume.  Structure is fine and elegant, driven both by chalk minerality of the village and a very finely executed tannin presence.  It finishes with great length and poise of exquisite red cherry fruit.  A pristine and enticingly priced rose. Older disgorgements have taken on savoury suggestions of tamarillo, while upholding their primary integrity.  TYSON STELZER

The NV Brut Rosé No 3 Grand Cru is a pure Bouzy Pinot Noir that gets its beautiful intense onion-skin color from the addition of 8% red wine. The nose is rich and complex but at the same time pure and refined, with a nice chalky layer and vinous fruit intensity. Round and rich but fresh and vital on the pure and elegant palate, this is a full-bodied, pretty intense and persistent rosé to be served with main courses. This rosé is seriously complex and expressive, with grip, tension and a long finish. Remarkable in class and style. STEPHAN REINHARDT, Wine Advocate

(made from 100% Grand Cru Bouzy pinot noir, with 8% still wine): Vivid orange-pink. Aromas and flavors of ripe red berries, candied rose and toasty lees. Fleshy but nervy and focused, with strong mineral cut and hints of bitter herbs on the very long, energetic finish. Smoothly blends richness and vivacity, making it extremely flexible with food or without. JOSH RAYNOLDS

 

Light, bright orange. Intensely perfumed scents of raspberry, orange zest, white flowers and chalky minerals.  Juicy and precise in the mouth, offering vibrant red berry and blood orange flavors and a complicating hint of brioche.  The floral quality comes back strong on the very long, incisive finish, which features a subtle anise quality and smoky minerality. JOSH RAYNOLDS, Vinous Media

The base wine is equal parts pinot noir, chardonnay and pinot meunier from the'07 vintage, and 40% reserve wine is added prior to the wine being bottled for its second fermentation. The reserve wine has an average age of 10 years, so after three years on lees prior to disgorgement the Brut Reserve has an average age of just under six years. Aromas of brioche, almond and peach; the palate has great length and complexity, the youthful base wine's freshness contrasting with the velvety/creamy nuances of the Reserve. JAMES HALLIDAY

Pinot noir leads this accurate, well-crafted aperitif style of elegant finesse and persistence. A primary red cherry, wild strawberry and lemon fruit focus is underlined by taut acidity and expressive chalk mineral depth. Nuances of honey, anise and ginger are building as it gains maturity. It's clean and taut, a low dosage keeping the finish fresh and lively. TYSON STELZER

Pale yellow. Highly perfumed aromas of tangerine, pear, white flowers and ginger. Silky and focused on the palate, offering vibrant orchard and citrus fruit flavors that gain flesh and weight with air. Shows a seamless texture and finishes long, with clinging pear and honeysuckle qualities. JOSH RAYNOLDS

The NV Brut Cuvée Ste.-Anne (base 2022) is terrific. I tasted it in the middle of the range after many of the single-vineyard Champagnes, but the wine did not suffer at all from its placement. If anything, this tasting reinforced my long-held view that the Ste.-Anne is one of the very finest grower Champagnes in its price range. This release, based on 2022, is brisk and energetic to its core. Citrus, white pepper, chalk and floral top notes are finely cut. This is an especially brisk edition of the Ste.-Anne. Chardonnay planted on chalk increasingly plays a leading role in this bottling. Superb. Dosage is 2.5 grams per liter. Disgorged: October 2024. ANTONIO GALLONI

The work that Alex Chartogne has done with his single-vineyards benefits also cuvée Sainte Anne, which delivers fantastic value for money year in and out. This 2022 based blend is showing deliciously drinkable with crystalline fruitiness and impeccable energy. Fresh, vibrant and transparent, finishing on a saline zest. ESSI AVELLAN MW

The NV Extra-Brut L’Ouverture is a bright, exuberant Champagne. Crushed rocks mint, white flowers, apricot, tangerine peel and citrus confit all race out of the glass. Bright and finely cut, this steely, delineated Champagne has a ton to offer. Time in the glass brings out burnished Pinot character and a good bit of breadth, but there’s a ton of Chardonnay-like vibrancy here too. Dosage is 4 grams per liter. ANTONIO GALLONI, Vinous.com

Savart's NV Brut Premier Cru L'Ouverture offers up expressive aromas of pear, honeyed orchard fruit, baking spices and fresh bread. Medium-bodied, lively and fine-boned, with a pretty core of fruit, lively acids and a pinpoint mousse, it's an attractive wine that's showing well out of the gates. WILLIAM KELLEY, Wine Advocate

A very fragrant blanc de noirs with 20 per cent of the second press and three years on lees. The wild red fruit is super fresh, delicate and floral; the lees time has this on a neat, reductive edge. The palate is very fine, fresh and crisp. Great depth and elegance here. JAMES SUCKLING

Based in the Marne Valley, this producer has a predominance of Pinot Meunier in many of its Champagnes. Winemaker Marie Petit Loriot plays the tanks music as the wine ferments. This fruity wine is vibrant, densely textured and at the dry end of Brut. WINE ENTHUSIAST

Theodorine is names after the vinegrowers daughter. It's a blend of Meunier, Chardonnay, pinot noir and red wine from pinot noir.

100% pinot noir from Clouet's 10 best plots, dubbed by Jean-Francois 'the golden square of Bouzy'; 50% 2006 fermented in Sauternes barriques; 50% solera of reserve wines; full malolactic fermentation; a symbolic production of just 1911 bottles; 6g/L dosage.

Clouet’s flagship is a radiant, golden silk-satin ballgown of ravishing complexity and breathtaking grace, a delicate high-heeled balancing act of refreshing poise in the midst of profound concentration. Its richness ventures to champagne’s outer limits of succulent white fruits of all kinds, grilled pineapple, honey and great complexity of brioche, nougat and butter. Celebrating a generous 50% reserve from solera, its rumbling maturity is proclaimed in hints of butterscotch, coffee beans and smouldering hearth. Just when you fear it’s all too much to behold, the vibrant energy of its 2002 base swoops into a finish defined by well-poised acidity and softly mineral, fine chalk texture. It holds its posture of tall, slender magnificence for minutes without ever dropping its determined gaze. TYSON STELZER, Champagne Guide

The NV Un jour de 1911... is another 100% Bouzy Pinot Noir with an ancient label design. The shining golden-colored cuvée combines ripeness, complexity and finesse with intensity and elegance on both the nose and palate. It's a powerful and rich yet very fine and balanced Champagne with great freshness and complex length. It is juicy and intense but also highly delicate, and its mineral tension and persistent finish make it a first-class wine for elaborate dishes. A great Champagne, with a label that doesn't give any more detailed information regarding vintages or disgorgement date, but we know it's always a 50/50 blend of three vintages (including one great millésime at least 10 years old) and reserve wines from a solera system. I tasted the wine as a Brut with Clouet's German importer in Bremen. You shouldn't drink it too early, as it would be a waste of its talents. STEPHEN REINHARDT, www.robertparker.com

Pale, bright pink.  Expressive aromas of fresh red berries, tangerine and toasty lees, with a suave floral nuance.  Deeply pitched but quite energetic, offering pure strawberry and cherry preserve flavors underscored by zesty citrus and mineral notes.  Becomes richer and smokier with air and finishes with excellent clarity, thrust and persistence.  For such a powerful wine this Champagne is impressively lithe and incisive. JOSH RAYNOLDS

The NV Brut Blanc de Noirs Récolte Noire is a touch more elegant than the Récolte Brute, with layers of perfumed Pinot fruit that emerge gracefully from its medium-bodied fame. This delicious Champagne possesses lovely balance in an understated style. ANTONIO GALLONI

The NV Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru Brut is a clear, fresh and chalky Chardonnay from Cramant in the Côte des Blancs that opens with lovely intense and soft white fruit aromas. It is a mouth-filling, very elegant and finessed Cramant with highly digestible balance and stimulating lightness in alcohol (12%). The finish is charmingly round and fruity but also has the typical chalky texture that gives it perfect balance. This is an excellent cuvée with a delicate, salty, well-structured finish. I didn't see a lot number on the label nor on the bottle, but this should be a pretty fresh disgorgement and is mainly based on the 2013 vintage, as Jean-Emmanuel Bonnaire told me. Tasted April 2018.’  STEPHAN REINHARDT, The Wine Advocate

Bright straw. Vibrant aromas of lemon pith, pear skin and honeysuckle, with a chalky topnote.  Dry, sharply focused lemon and lime flavors become deeper with air and pick up brioche and ginger nuances.  Firm, chewy and dry, finishing with very good clarity and stony persistence. JOSH RAYNOLDS

Pillowy and charming, the latest rendition of Delamotte's NV Brut offers up attractive aromas of orchard fruit, fresh bread and citrus oil. Medium to full-bodied, seamless and elegant, with a pretty pinpoint mousse and lively balancing acids, it's drinking well out of the gates but will also develop gracefully for a few years in the cellar. WILLIAM KELLEY, Wine Advocate 2021

The Delamotte NV Brut blends approximately 55% Chardonnay with 35% Pinot Noir and 10% Pinot Meunier. It is clear, round and spicy on the predominantly fruity and vinous nose with its delicate chalk and hazelnut flavors. On the palate this is a lithe, finessed, fresh and elegant Brut with good structure and a pure, salty-mineral and cleansing finish. The mousse is highly delicate, the whole performance almost filigreed yet well structured. This is a delicious Brut STEPHAN REINHARDT

A cleverly orchestrated reductive edge to the nose, this has a layer of toasted cashew ahead of citrus, peach, spice, fine cherry and raspberry fruits. The palate's nicely crafted to deliver an even and smooth impression. Red fruit flavors run long and smooth, with some fresh bread dough notes too; nicely yeasty to close. JAMES SUCKLING

45% Chardonnay, 35% Pinot Noir, 20% Pinot Meuniere

An exotic sparkler, displaying rich, caramelized smoke and brioche notes, balanced with citrusy acidity and flavors of ripe apple, candied pineapple, lemon meringue and crystallized honey. Mouthwatering finish. Drink now through 2018 Wine Spectator

A blend of meunier and chardonnay from the 2021 vintage.

55% Chardonnay, 45% Pinot Noir from 15 Crus, aged 6 years.
The grapes are strictly selected to retain only those that have both a high potential degree and a low acidity, allowing the wine to achieve the desired balance without the addition of any dosage. LAURENT PERRIER

Light yellow. Mineral-tinged peach, melon and pear aromas display excellent clarity, picking up a subtle floral quality with aeration.  Supple and seamless on the palate, offering vivid honeydew and pit fruit flavors accented by a vibrant lemon zest quality.  Finishes very long, silky and precise, with an echo of juicy melon and strong mineral lift. JOSH RAYNOLDS, Vinous Media

100% Pinot Noir from 10 different Crus located in the Montagne de Reims, aged for 5 years. The grapes from carefully selected plots are sorted and destemmed before vatting. Maceration – lasting from 48 to 72 hours depending on the harvest – helps in the extraction of colour and allows us to obtain unequalled aromas, revealing all the richness of the best Crus of Pinot Noir. LAURENT PERRIER

Name a better sound than that of a champagne cork popping from a bottle in a bustling wine bar or merry restaurant! That's why at Bellota,  the Lilbert-Fils NV Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru Extra Brut was a natural choice for us to pour by the glass. Bursting with aromas of crunchy green apple, fresh citrus and white flowers matched with a lovely zippy tension on the palate and a crisp clean finish this is the go to champagne for this Holiday Season. Perfectly suited to long sunny afternoons on Bank Street paired with Moonlight Flat Oysters and a delicious morsel or two prepared by Chef Nicky. See you soon for a glass or three...or even a bottle! TIFF & ALASTAIR

Lilbert-Fils is a small, slightly under-the-radar grower in Cramant with a loyal following, and it's easy to see why. With 50% of the blend for the first wine of the house coming from a perpetual reserve of Cramant Chardonnay started in the 1990s by Bertrand Lilbert's father, this is an entry level that is anything but simple and youthful. The style is rather floral, with apricot and jasmine notes floating over a real hit of savour from the reserve and a bone dry, mineral presence. It's singular, yet harmonious; a blanc de blancs that takes care of the simple pleasures, yet hides rather a lot under the bonnet. TOM HEWSON, decanter.com

The wine delivers a refined, youthful aromatic constellation of pear, apple, limestone minerality, bread dough, white flowers and incipient smokiness in the upper register. On the palate the wine is bright, full-bodied and still quite youthful, with a fine core of fruit, very good soil signature, brisk acids, frothy mousse and a long, nascently complex and very nicely balanced finish. This is a lovely bottle of Blanc de Blancs, which could do with a year or two of cellaring to let it emerge more fully from behind its lovely girdle of acidity. Good juice. JOHN GILMAN

Hailing from the villages of Cramant (60%), Chouilly (30%) and Oiry, and based on the incisive 2021 vintage, complemented by 50% of a perpetual blend initiated in the 1980s, Lilbert's latest NV Extra Brut Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs was disgorged in May 2024 with a dosage of three grams per liter. Unfurling from the glass with aromas of crisp green apple, fresh citrus fruit and white flowers, it is medium-bodied and has a tensile personality, laden with bright acids and concluding with sapid finish. It will be even better in about three years and will offer a broad drinking window. As with all the wines in Lilbert's cellar, it is vinified in tank. KRISTAPS KARKLINS

Enticing, fragrant aromas of toast, lemon zest and an earthy-smoky nuance lead to a palate of subtle Bosc-pear, mango, papaya, even pineapple flavors. Lifted by fresh acidity on the medium-bodied palate, the wine keeps unfolding in toasted walnuts, honey and a dash of bitter marmalade. It's mouth-filling, alive with acidity and full of finesse. (96) JAMES SUCKLING

Bunner also opted to increase the Chardonnay, so the blend is 60% Pinot Noir and 40% Chardonnay, as opposed to the more typical 70/30 blend, with more Verzenay than Aÿ in the Pinots. Dried citrus peel, sage, menthol, sage, tangerine peel and spice build with some coaxing. Light tropical overtones develop with aeration. There's real density and textural richness here. This will be a fascinating vintage to follow. Stylistically, it is the complete opposite from the much more linear 2014 that precedes it. (96) ANTONIO GALLONI

The 2015 Brut La Grande Année was disgorged last year with eight grams per liter dosage. The wine has turned out beautifully, exhibiting a more muscular, old-school Bollinger profile in contrast to the unusually racy, fine-boned 2014 that preceded it. Wafting from the glass with notes of pear, orange oil and white flowers mingled with notions of mocha, toasted hazelnuts and fino sherry, it's medium to full-bodied, layered and textural, with a dense core of fruit framed by chalky structuring extract, concluding with a long, sapid finish. (95+) WILLIAM KELLEY

The NV Extra Brut L.P.M. is a pure Pinot Meunier from the Massif de St Thierry, all vinified in oak and kept on fine lees for 11 months before tirage. The base is mostly 2019. The nose has an overtone of roasted nuts. The palate just lets itself fall into a fine bed of yeast, made elastic and bouncy by freshness. The result is a fresh, energetic wine on surprisingly light feet, with much agility bedded on soft, pliable yeast. Lovely and gastronomic. Disgorged: December, 2022. ANNE KREBIEHL MW, vinous 

62% pinot noir and 38% chardonnay from "La Riviere" vineyards from villages Cumieres and Chouilly. Rose created by a long and gentle infusion of pinot noir and co-fermented with chardonnay. The 2016 vintage was characterised by particularly marked weather variations: spring was cool, wet and relatively late whereas summer was warm and dry with a heatwave in late August followed by dry and sunny weather over the harvest period which was highly beneficial to the ripening of the grapes. Louis Roederer

PLATINUM - DECANTER WORLD WINE AWARDS
Outstanding elegance and finesse pervade this exceptional wine with its well-honed toasty sourdough, gunflint and grilled citrus notes, razor sharp acidity and mouth-filling mousse. Brilliantly poised and brimming with potential, the long and zesty finish runs and runs. (97) DECANTER

100% Chardonnay made from the oldest vines of the estate, grown on two of the very best parcels in Cramant: the lieu-dits of Le Bateau and Les Terres de Buisson. Showing a very fine mousse with chalky minerality and citrus notes it finishes with great length and palate presence. This is the essence of Cramant, a stunning blanc de blancs with impeccable finesse and pinpoint balance. Matured for 6 1/2 years on lees and disgorged in December 2021, with a 5 g/L dosage. Importer, Vintage and Vine

80% Chardonnay and 20% Pinot Noir from 40-year-old vines. Mainly fermented in in tank with a quarter going into old barrel. Dosage 0 g/l. This vintage, aged for three years in their cellars and stands out with its finely floral character and its tangy notes borrowed from citrus fruits. 

Meunier 60%, Pinot Noir 30%, Chardonnay 10%. A blend of 50% 2020 & 50% 2021 vintages. Assembled with 80% from a single vintage and 20% of the previous vintage. majority fermented in steel, a quarter in 228L barrels. Dosage (4.5g/l). Disgorge 07/2023 Like all their non-vintage white Champagnes, this cuvée is produced with approximately 1/6th of wines vinified in oak barrels.