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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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Delamontte Champagne Brut NV Le Mesnil France 750ml x 6
Delamontte Champagne Brut NV.. Maison Delamotte has been a benchmark of Champagne since 1760. The firm's wine is among those preferred by the Champenois who recognise consistent quality and unflagging respect for the terroir of Côte des Blancs. It is in the choice of Champagne Delamotte that the hedonist and the lover of subtle pleasures stand out from the crowd. Fashionable but never stereotyped, Delamotte is produced with great care and passion in a place where nature is expressed in the most sublime way. Delamotte is luxury in the truest sense of the word Le Mesnil-sur-Oger.Delamotte is finely balanced and totally elegant. Delamontte Champagne Brut NV has a cépage of half Chardonnay with the balance Pinot Noir and Meunier, marked by power yet devoid of aggressiveness, crafted to deliver a clean, fruity finish. Le Mesnil-sur-Oger, Avize and Oger are villages where Chardonnay lights up the landscape. This delicate variety, grown to the great Crus of Côte des Blancs, finds the perfect combination of soils and clime to retain its freshness over time.
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Delamontte Champagne Brut NV Le Mesnil France 375ml x 12
Delamontte Champagne Brut NV has a light gold colour, its unctuous freshness is underlined by the subtlety of a fine effervescence. Delamontte Champagne Brut has a great purity on the nose, along with notes of citrus, white flowers, lemon peel and moss. Delamontte Champagne Brut NV has generous, clean champagne, of tenderness and smiles, a must for the cellars of those who love life. 'With lots of tiny bubbles and a beautiful golden hue, slightly yeasty and a bit dry, but rounds out with really nice green apple and stone fruit notes. If you taste it just right, you'll even get a hint of mango!' -Huffington Post, 'Creamy, lightly charred aromas of croissant and baked apple. Ripe flavors of peach and pear balanced by drying mineral accents. Juicy,nectar-like finish imbued with lovely apple and ginger flavors!' -Wine News
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Delamontte Champagne Blanc de Blancs NV Le Mesnil France 750ml x 6
Delamontte Champagne Blanc de Blancs NV is 100% Chardonnay from the Cote des Blancs, rich, with a suprising delicatesse, round yet mineral. Beyond its golden robe, floral fragrances (especially of rose), angelica, citrus, with a hint of ginger and, in the mouth, hints of biscuit and breadcrust on the finish. Delamontte Champagne Blanc de Blancs NV is a true pleasure with grilled fish, langoustine and shrimp, oysters, poultry and all cream dishes.this is a complex and balanced blanc de blancs, superbly structured and phrased. It's perfectly suited to pre-anything drinks and has the balance and structure to take through to dinner.
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Delamontte Champagne Blanc de Blancs 1999 Le Mesnil France 750ml x 3
Delamontte Champagne Blanc de Blancs 1999 is an outstanding Grand Cru vintage Champagne from Delamotte, one of the oldest and most prestigious Champagne houses of the region.Delamontte With over a decade on, Champagne Delamotte's Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs 1999 is developing beautifully, showing the classic Delamotte hallmarks of delicacy, richness and minerality. Well-structured and complex like a fine white wine, Delamotte Champagne 1999 will make a sophisticated match for fish and chicken dishes.Chardonnay, 1999, Dry, Medium bodied, 12%, Cork 92 points Robert Parker's Wine Advocate rating
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