Every Friday The no1 Champagne expert in the world will taste new & old Champagne s to give You a tip or two for the weekend. This week Richard Juhlin tasted new champagne from de Saint-Gall – 2012 Cuvée Opal in Mauritius. [read the full champagne story]
Estimated reading time: 2 minutes
de Saint-Gall
★★★★
Established in 1966. The Avize cooperative Union Champagne is perhaps the best in Champagne. The grapes come from eleven subsidiary cooperatives that only use premier cru and grand cru grapes from the villages of Mesnil, Avize, Bergères, Vertus, Oger, Cramant, Cumières, Bouzy, Aÿ, and Ambonnay. Twelve hundred growers share 1200 hectares, and six million bottles are sold as still wines to the larger houses. Furthermore, almost three million bottles are sold under other names of group members. The cooperative’s wines are ingredients in, for example, Taittinger Comtes de Champagne, Grand Siècle, and Dom Pérignon. Their own wines are sold under several names: St Gall, Pierre Vaudon, and Orpale. Forty percent of the Champagne is exported. The head winemaker is Yannick Collet. All the wines are polished and sophisticated.
‘The cuvée de prestige Orpale is a stunning wine that I buy every new vintage and the 2012 is no exception.’
Richard Juhlin
[read the full de Saint-Gall story]
