Christmas Champagne

Our search for the perfect Champagne to put our name to was a long one. So we couldn’t be more delighted to have teamed up with long-standing favourite of the business, Champagne Thiénot. Their classic brut non-vintage blend of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier, based on the outstanding 2015 vintage, is exactly what we wanted. It’s balanced and refreshing, with a well-judged 6g/l dosage. Extended ageing has lent the wine depth, character, and intensity. And quite frankly, it’s an absolute bargain.

Pol Roger's classic N/V blend has a huge following, and with good reason. It is one of the most finely balanced and delicious grandes marques on the market. It's a blend of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Pinot Meunier. It is one of the most complex and rewarding non-vintage Champagnes you'll find, with creamy citrus notes on the nose, and a crisp orchard fruit palate with savoury minerality on the long, elegant finish. This is based on the excellent 2018 vintage.

Cuvée Sir Winston Churchill is only ever made in the great vintages, and always with the great man’s personal preference in mind: a robust and full-bodied Champagne that develops incredible depth with age. The exact blend, as ever, is a closely guarded secret, but Pinot plays a starring role, with just "a zest of Chardonnay" Hubert de Billy, great-great-grandson of Pol Roger, says. The Pinot dominance gives structure, depth, and breadth to the wine, whilst Chardonnay gives a chalky, vibrant, savoury top note and fresh thread of acidity. All the fruit comes from grand cru vineyards which were already under vine in Churchill’s lifetime. 2015 was a warm year, yet the wine displays deceptively high acidity, making it both toothsome and refreshing. It is another great release from the exciting 2015 vintage.

Dom Ruinart breaks the mould in 2010. It's a vintage that hasn't yielded universally celebrated wines in Champagne, but the Dom Ruinart is an exception to the rule, and one to get seriously excited about. The critics have heaped praise on it, with Antonio Galloni stating "the 2010 Dom Ruinart is one of the most impressive Champagnes ever made here. If there is anything better, I don't think I have tasted it!" It has huge vinous energy and wonderful complexity. This is an absolute classic in the making. 4g/l dosage.

P2 - or Plénitude 2 - is a fascinating wine to taste. It comes about when the team at Dom Pérignon hold back a small portion of vintage Champagne in their cellars of Hautvillers. For a further 10 years after the wine’s initial release, these bottles age on lees and gain in richness and complexity. So in total, it means the wine has spent almost two decades before disgorgement. This extra time adds harmony, complexity, and intensity.

Krug 171 is a celebration of the 2015 vintage, where Pinot Noir soared in quality. The 171 is luxurious, toasty, enveloping and gourmand. While 2015 takes the lead, the wine’s magic comes from the detailed support of 12 other years, going back to 2000. It’s an intricate combination of no less than 131 wines, and the result is a glorious harmony, fully orchestral in its volume. Captivating in its power and enthralling in its decadence, this is Krug at its very best

Brut Premier is dead, long live Collection! An idea that started in 2002, deep in the Roederer cellars, has finally been realised by master winemaker Jean-Baptiste Lecaillon. He wanted to make a multi-vintage wine that captured the essence of the Roederer style, and differentiated the nuance of the vintages in the blend. In 2012 he started a perpetual reserve, with young vine fruit from the biodynamic parcels usually dedicated to the production of Cristal. Collection 242 is the inaugural release of this idea. 56% of the blend comes from the 2017 harvest, 10% from reserve wines (spanning 2009 to 2016), and 34% from the perpetual reserve. The house dates back to 1776, and the name pays homage to the 242nd harvest since then. It is fresh and incisive, with the chalkiness and salinity you might find in young Cristal. Its arrival marks the end of the line of the Brut Premier cuvée. It’s only a small step up in price, but from tasting it multiple times we are convinced it is a huge leap up in quality and style.

The 746 is the latest cuvée in Jacquesson’s ground-breaking series, which celebrates their dynamic style. It is their flagship non-vintage blend, with this iteration based around the generous and delicious 2018 vintage. It’s concentrated and powerful, with a real swagger and flare about it. Its ripe acidity and biscuity richness combined with a taut 2g/l dosage gives it a refreshing and incisive length. It is a blend of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir from the finest villages of the Montagne de Reims (Aÿ, Hautvillers and Dizy) and the Côte des Blancs (Avize and Oiry). This wine shows the sheer quality of fruit integral to the Jacquesson style.

Brut Premier is dead, long live Collection! This is the third major release in the series. It was born of an idea that came to master winemaker Jean-Baptiste Lecaillon deep in the Roederer cellars, in 2002. He wanted to make a multi-vintage wine that captured the essence of the Roederer style, and differentiated the nuance of the vintages in the blend. In 2012 he started a perpetual reserve, with young vine fruit from the biodynamic parcels usually dedicated to the production of Cristal. Collection 244 is based on the remarkable 2019 vintage (54% of the blend), with the remainder made up of the perpetual reserve. It's a blend of 41% Chardonnay, 33% Pinot Noir, and 26% Meunier. The house dates back to 1776, and the name pays homage to the 244thharvest since then. It is fresh and incisive, with the chalkiness and salinity you might find in young Cristal. The new Collections mark the end of the line of the Brut Premier cuvée. It’s only a small step up in price, but from tasting it multiple times we are convinced it is a huge leap up in quality and style.

The Zéro Brut Nature is the signature cuvée of the Tarlant family, and the current release, based on the 2013 vintage, is another exceptional Champagne, offering complexity and depth thanks to its unusually long ageing. It is tightly-wound, with a vinous concentration and length. Its six years' ageing in bottle before disgorgement adds depth and creaminess. Blind, you'll trip over yourself saying it's Krug. If we had a 'house' grower champagne, this would be it.

This must be the most reliably brilliant N/V rosé champagne out there. Delicate onion skin pink, with savoury notes and a gentle but sophisticated lift of red fruits on the nose. The palate is exceptionally smooth, with creamy bubbles and a long, elegant finish.

Ruinart's iconic Blanc de Blancs is a benchmark among the grandes marques. It has a gorgeous golden colour with a smoky, mineral aroma and a palate rich in crisp orchard fruit. In a class of its own.