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Champagne and Imported Sparkling Wines
 Of the great wines of France, Champagne is the newest arrival. Champagne as a district has been making wine since the early Roman times, and by the ninth century it had become sufficiently well established as a high quality region for distinction to be drawn between the wines of the Vallee de la Marne and those of the Montagne de Reims. From this time on it went from strength to strength: by the early sixteenth century, the wine of Ay had become so highly prized that it was said to be 'the ordinary drink of Kings and Princes. It was not until the seventeenth century, however, that the first sparkling wines made their appearance, and not until the nineteenth century that Champagne came to be synonymous with sparkling wine. neither were the numerous special techniques essential for making Champagne all discovered by discovered by one person - notwithstanding the extraordinary feats popularly attributed to Dom Perignon nor at any one time.
The evolution of the present day method of making clear sparkling wine using the second fermentation took over 200 years. Champagne is a wine that appeals to the broadest senses, rather than to the particular. It is the overall impression it leaves in the mouth after it is swallowed which matters most .It is true that the greatest Champagnes are wines of extraordinary finesse, balance, and above all else length of flavours, the intrinsic quality of these wines is on a par with the greatest of the still white or red table wines. Just as the Burgundians place special emphasis on the bouquet, the Bordelais on the palate and structure, so the Champenois claim the finish and, in particular, the aftertaste as a special feature of their wine. Not that all Champagnes taste the same, there is a world of difference between a Pol Roger and a Krug,a Taittinger and Bollinger, let a alone between a vintage Champagne of one of the grandes marques and a non vintage, "buyer's own brand" from one of the cooperatives. Yet the overall consistency of the quality and style and non - vintage Champagne from the grandes marques exceeds that of any other category of wine in any region - an astonishing achievement, given the marginal climate in which the Champenois grow their their grapes, and the fluctuations in supply and demand which they so skilfully manage from making viewpoints.
 Assemblage known as blending is the most critical stage of the long and delicate process which makes the finished Champagne. It is the art that made Dom Perignon the most famous oenologist of his day, indeed, perhaps the famous winemaker in history. Blending involves a detailed knowledge of the past, present, and future of the materials, and requires highly specialized tasting skills which can see beyond the often hard, acidic, thin, and chalky base wines that give only a barest glimpse of how they will taste once they have been blended, undergone the second fermentation, benefited from contact with yeasts during years of maturation on the lees, and been adjusted for sweetness using liqueur d'expedition.
The task demands the mental skill of a chess grand master as literally endless permutations and combinations are considered. The blenders at Moet & Chandon typically have 300 different base wines from any one vintage to deal with the possible permutations are beyond calculation. one of the most fascinating, and important aspects of Champagne is the use of "reserve" wine held from earlier vintages. It may be held in magnums under slight gaseous pressure, in stainless steel, or less commonly in oak.
Champagne house's such as Krug have reserve wine of up to twenty years old, although in diminishing quantity with age. They will usually be held over from vintage years,and,tasted on their own, can be superb. reserve wines can be used at three stages in the making of Champagne. They can be incorporated in the primary ferment, then most commonly and importantly at the time of blending or assemblage along with the liqueur de tirage, and least importantly because of the tiny volume with the liqueur d'expedition . All the Champagne houses privately acknowledge that the quality and style of their reserve wines have a powerful influence on their overall house style, but tend to downplay this importance publicly.
 Vintage champagne is strictly directed under European Union legislation, eighty five percent of the wine must be from the stated vintage year, which would allow generous incorporation of reserve wine. Under the appellation controlee of Champagne, the wine must be one hundred percent from its stated vintage. So reserve wines are customarily used in the blending of vintage Champagne - and to its great benefit-just as much as with non-vintage wines. The Champenois and the Comite Interprofessionel du Vin de Champagne are ever alert to emphasize their unique combination of terrior and climate. Champagne is France's northern most vineyard region. Without the special properties of its chalk soil, free - draining and sun reflecting, it would be a very doubtful area for ripening grapes.
At Chancellors Cellars we have assembled an extensive range of famous Champagnes for you to select.
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Bollinger Special Cuvee Gift NV France 750ml x 6
Bollinger Special Cuvee Brut Gift NV France.....Pale golden in colour with yeasty aromas on the nose. Very dry but with toasty flavours in the mouth. Round and richly flavoured, full bodied and mature, with perfect balance between firmness and freshness, length equal to its richness, and with a persistent fine bead. In champagne terms, this is the definitive "masculine" style. The high percentage of pinot noir ensures a full-bodied, rich style and the addition of 5 to 10% reserve wines (each aged up to fifteen years) give complexity and depth. Yeast on the nose, dry and toasty in the mouth, with great length and perfect balance.
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Bollinger Special Cuvee NV France 375ml x 12
Bollinger Special Cuvee Brut NV France 375ml....Whether or not you particularly like the unmistakeable Bollinger style, you have to respect it. Pinot noir (60 per cent) and pinot meunier (15 per cent) drive the wine, augmented by fermentation in old oak barrels. The result is a complex spicy, bready, toasty, baked apple bouquet, the palate complete and round, with an unexpected touch of delicacy, and a pleasing, dry finish. Rating: 94 out of 100, James Halliday
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Bollinger Special Cuvee NV Jeroboam 3Litre x 1
Bollinger Special Cuvee Brut Jeroboam 3Litre.....Extremely fresh with an intense lime -lemon flavored palate the bubbles give a creamy texture and the yeast autolysis adds another dimension. The Special Cuvée is the purest expression of the Bollinger style; of its craftsmanship and its singular conception of what champagne should be. It is, therefore, on this wine that the House of Bollinger shows how it is different from other Champagne Houses, asserts its qualitative policy and by which it asks to be judged.
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Bollinger Rose Champagne NV France 750ml x 6
The special non-vintage rose is the first wine to come from Bollinger for more than 30 years - in the Seventies the Bollinger La Grande Annee rose was introduced.This non-vintage model has been modelled on its Special Cuvee blend, combining the fruits of previous harvests with reserve wines from their cellars in Ay. The final component-which provides the pink colour and delicate aromas, is a proportion of still red which comes from Bollinger's Grand Cru vineyards.
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Bollinger V.V.F Champagne 1999 Limited France 750ml x 3
Absolutely unique in Champagne, Bollinger “Vieilles Vignes Françaises” is the living relic of what Champagne was a century ago before phylloxera destroyed the vineyards of France. Mysteriously, in Aÿ and Bouzy, a few plots of ungrafted vines resisted the American louse. The Bollinger family decided to preserve these vineyards. The Vieilles Vignes Françaises are planted en foule (i.e. layered) and cultivated manually with traditional tools and according to ancient methods. These methods - which are costly and generate low yields - allow the grapes to reach a more complete maturity whilst maintaining a low pH (high acidity), characteristic of a great Champagne. Composed of 100% Pinot Noir and only produced in vintage years, Bollinger Vieilles Vignes Françaises is always a huge and complete wine and is the expression of Champagne as it was enjoyed last century.
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Champagne Jacquesson Cuvee No 733 Dizy NV France 750ml x 12
In an attempt to escape the limitations inherent in the production of a classic non-vintage champagne, we decided, with
effect from the 2000 harvest, to privilege excellence over consistency by producing a wine that reflects the main vintage in the assemblage more than the typicity of all the cuvées that have preceded it. Thus, while remaining faithful to our House style, a style founded both on exceptional vineyards and on vinification methods dominated by an élevage in cask, each of these wines will have a very distinct personality according to the character of the year. Consequently we felt it essential to give each one its own clear identity. Cuvée No. 730, being the 730th cuvée made by the House since our Centenary Cuvée in 1898, as reflected in our tirage records, was produced by assemblage based on the 2002 harvest and thus succeeds Cuvée No. 729 based on the 2001 harvest and Cuvée No. 728 based on the 2000 harvest.The assemblage, 100% from Grands Crus and Premiers Crus, comes entirely from the villages where our vineyard holdings are located: Ay, Cumières, Dizy, Hautvillers and Mareuil-sur-Ay in the Grande Vallée de la Marne, as well as Avize, Chouilly and Oiry on the Côte des Blancs. Produced from pure cuvée, this assemblage contains 48% Chardonnay, 32% Pinot Noir and 20% Pinot Meunier. 2002 was a year of nearly ideal weather conditions for the vines: virtually no frost and no hail, a warm, sunny summer with suitably cool nights that was barely interrupted by some light showers at the beginning of September, all concluding with a harvest under sunny skies. Picking started on 12th September resulting in musts with an average of almost 11 degrees potential alcohol and an acidity level of slightly over 7 gr/l. (expressed as tartaric): a balance close to that achieved in the legendary 1976 vintage. Both the alcoholic and malolactic fermentations proceeded faultlessly and over 50% of the wines were fermented in cask. We were able to retain all the lees by not racking the wines and this allowed us to carry out weekly bâtonnage for three months. As always we took advantage of the last cold spells of winter to clarify the wines naturally. Right from the start our tastings of the vins clairs illustrated their roundness, structure and ripeness. As a result we chose to complement these excellent wines, amounting to 60% of the assemblage, with 27% of reserve wines from the 2001 harvest for its finesse and floral character, 12% from the 2000 harvest for its structure and depth and 1% from the 1999 harvest for its lightly oxidative character.Bottling, carried out without any prior filtration, took place during the springtime, producing 287,868 bottles, 5,488 magnums and 250 jeroboams. Cuvée No. 730, disgorged at regular intervals, will receive a dosage of 5 gr/l.
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Deutz Marlborough Cuvee NV 750ml x 6
The wine is light straw in colour. The approach is dominated by a taut and focused lemon flavour which extends through the palate to give great length. The Marlborough Chardonnay fruit, full malolactic fermentation and extended lees ageing combine to fill out the palate with toasty yeast flavours and an elegant creaminess.The wine displays on excellent palate structure, being both creamy and taut. The lingering aftertaste has a characteristic touch of berry fruit.
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Deutz Marlborough Blanc de Blanc NV 750ml x 6
Deutz Blanc de Blancs is only made when the base wine is of a very high standard. The growing season was wetter than normal early on, but was followed by an ideal long, dry autumn. This weather pattern heightened the citrus flavours in the Chardonnay used for Deutz Blanc de Blancs.The wine is a reflection not only of the vintage, but also the vineyard site. Grapes for Deutz Blanc de Blancs are always sourced on the southern side of Marlborough’s Wairau Valley, where the citrus-tinged fruit traditionally display great elegance and finesse.The predominant Chardonnay clone used for this wine is Mendoza, with its typical hen and chicken berries. This variation in berry size imparts greater concentration of flavour to the wine.The fruit was hand-picked early when the grapes had achieved good flavour development, but had not yet lost the crisp acidity required for premium méthode traditionnelle wines.
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Devaux Blue Label Grande Reserve Brut NV Champagne France 750ml x 6
Devaux Blue Label Grande Reserve Brut NV Champagne France.....From the largest producer in the Aube Valley of Champagne, a blend of two-thirds pinot noir and one-third chardonnay which spends three years on yeast lees. A fragrant and lively bouquet of apple, pear and herbs is followed by a crisp, apple-accented palate and fresh acidity to close. James Halliday Oct 16 2001 Rating: 93 out of 100 Unlike some NV champagnes, Devaux is given three years of lees ageing, and it shows. It’s a smooth, modern style, with bready, yeasty touches on nose and palate, along with attractively smooth vanilla-cream character and a light citrus tang. The level of liqueuring means it’s not the driest of brut styles, but the soft richness will make many friends. Ralph Kyte-Powell, Uncorked – The Age Epicure, Jan 2004.The Aube region’s fastest-improving, most go-ahead and innovative cooperative… Tom Stevenson, The Millenium Champagne and Sparkling Wine Guide.Premium Champagne of powerful Union Auboise co-op in Bar-sur-Seine. Very good, well-aged Grande Reserve NV…Hugh Johnson, Hugh Johnson’s Pocket Wine Book.…this NV is quite a bargain. It’s a soft, feminine champagne. Aromas of beeswax, apple, toasted nuts and honey are turbo charged by a fine mousse.Greg Duncan Powell, Vogue Entertaining & Travel, Sept/Oct 2003
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Devaux Cuvee D Champagne France 750ml x 6
Devaux Cuvee D Champagne France.....The nose, which features the pinot noir, releases aromas of white flowers. Followed by flavours of citrus fruits on the palate, which give a particular harmonious structure. An elegant and sophisticated Champagne. This large cooperative (200,000 case production) based in the Aube clearly demonstrates that excellent sparklers can be produced in this far-flung, practically in Chablis district of Champagne. And, they can be produced by a co-op – as long at the co-op is as dynamic and quality conscious as Devaux. Roughly half and half Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, the Cuvee D is quite plump and fruit driven yet intertwined with appealing biscuity, brioche notes that contribute complexity and finesse.
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