One hundred champagnes that I, for various reasons, regard as the most memorable and significant – without necessarily having to be the very best in terms of pure quality! The champagnes are in alphabetical order and are not ranked.
1.
1990 HENRI ABELÉ ’COLLECTION’ (MAGNUM)
An underrated house in Reims reached the top in 1990. Superbly delicious and big house- toasted champagne with perfect elegance and slightly nutty, inviting bouquet. Creamy and easy to drink, with a refreshing fruitiness of mandarin and passion fruit. Long vanilla-like aftertaste.
2.
AGRAPART & FILS ’VÉNUS’
A modern masterpiece made from grapes from vines planted in 1959 in the Avize vineyardLa Fosse. Vénus is also the name of the winehouse’s horse that plows the vineyards. All Agrapart & Fils vineyard wines are characterized by clean fruit, organic intensity, concentration, and super elegance. The most toffee concentrated of these is Vénus, in the same way as for example L’Apôtre is at David Léclapart. A champagne that gets better and better with every new vintage.
3.
Michel Arnould ’Mémoire de Vignes’
A blanc de noirs from the oldest and best vines in Verzenay. The expansive wine is prepared according to the principles of biodynamics and with a reliance on nature. A fully concentrated fruit wine with a polished sweetness and hints of licorice, dark chocolate, honey, and apricot marmalade à la Pol Roger Sir Winston Churchill. Easy to appreciate when young with its fruitiness, but store it instead for a few years, and you get a champagne where terroir touch becomes clearer, and the smokiness lifts the wine to even more dizzying heights.
