Non-vintage Champagne, what does that really mean? People often talk about wine and champagne as if they are two different things, but they are not, Champagne is a wine that just happens to have bubbles in it. Mind you, in some ways Champagne is quite different from most wines. The term NV, which stands for non-vintage, is one of these ways.
Read Björnstierne Antonssons report on non-vintage Champagne – the bread & butter of the Champagne industry.
Estimated reading time: 21 minutes
OFTEN IN MY PROFESSION I GET TO HEARD “I hate Moët” or “I love Ruinart”. Very rarely do you get a more detailed explanation of why you prefer one over the other. One of the most important aspects of my profession as a sommelier is to keep track of the status of the large standard cuvées. Who keeps the style? Which careless? Which ones deserve more attention? And perhaps the most important: who has the best track record in the last, say ten years?
This means that you don’t have to look down on old brands like you do think are tired and represent an overdosed house style. Within all wine regions there are fantastic top producers who for some reason are always forgotten when the biggest names are discussed. No matter how well they perform, people always react with surprise and say things like; “the big positive surprise was…” or “oh how well this wine did today. It must have been an extremely good bottle”. Charles Heidsieck, Deutz and Henriot are Champagne’s representatives in this anything but desirable category.
