Or shall we call it ‘The Richards’ ?! Instead of ‘The Champagne Oscars’ ? We want to sum-up the year of 2023 from a Champagne perspective. In 20+ categories we hand out awards for this years most memorable Champagnes & Champagne related topics!
[featured partner – vigneron.se]
Estimated reading time: 3 minutes
‘The perfect Belle Epoque in a magnum. How they have been able to squeeze in so many coffee beans and so much brioche in a champagne glass is beyond me. Ticklingly sensual mousse swirls around in the mouth along with lively mineral tones, vanilla, cream, white peaches and rose oil. A ravishingly positive life experience! 98 in magnums, 94 in bottles!!’
98(98)p
| HISTORICAL WINNERS | |
| 2023 | 1985 Perrier-Jouët ’Belle Epoque’ [magnum] |
| 2022 | mv Laurent-Perrier ’Grand Siècle Itération N°23’ [magnum] |
| 2021 | 2008 Taittinger ‘Comtes de Champagne’ |
Perrier-Jouët
★★★★
This domain was established in 1811 by Pierre-Nicholas-Marie Perrier-Jouët. The company became famous under its nickname P-J under the leadership of his son Charles. In 1950 Mumm bought a majority shareholding in the company and the domain became part of the Canadian Seagram Group. The domain was owned for a time by Allied Domecq who, as soon as they took over, alarmingly dug up large portions of the domain’s fine old vines at Cramant. Michel Budin, who led the firm up until the 1980s, was a great admirer of Art Nouveau and opened a Belle Epoque museum in 1990, twenty years after launching the cuvée de prestige of the same name.
Nowadays the company is owned by Pernod-Ricard. Jean-Marie Barillere is president at present and Hervé Deschamps recently left his place as chef du cave to Séverine Frereson.
Belle Epoque has become a great success everywhere, and the Americans and Japanese in particular have fallen for the flower-bedecked bottle. The domain owns 108 hectares at seven villages, and the other 65 per cent of the grapes are purchased from forty villages. The most important village is Cramant, where the firm owns twenty-nine hectares of the very best slopes. In contrast to other big domains, the heritage has been managed well. The vines are very old and produce fantastic grapes that can dominate an entire cuvée, even if their proportion is small, and the delicate domain-style is very dependent on these Chardonnay grapes. The vintage wine is a toasted classic, and both the Belle Epoque wines are a great source of joy to the romantic wine lover.
‘The 1985 Belle Epoque Rosé was voted as the foremost rosé of all time at the Millennium Tasting. ‘
Champagne Club by Richard Juhlin
The new Belle Époque Blanc de Blancs is exquisitely mellow and caressing with a colossal syrupy intensity made up of sweet base tones that are at the same time lifted by lemon and juiciness. Sensual and fascinating. A 1998 Belle Epoque magnum was our engagement champagne at Lake Luzern in May 2012.
