Battleground Champagne

'Battleground Champagne' Growers Vs Grandes Marques

Roberson Wine, 26th April 2012

 Grandes Marques have dominated the Champagne scene, but interestingly a quiet revolution is becoming more and more prominent - The Growers are starting to get a serious look in.
 In this blind tasting the two sides were pitted against each other to discover the true taste difference, once you have torn away the name, packaging and advertising...

Racks of wine, upstairs at Roberson

Terroir

'Grandes Marques' are prestigious wine houses such as Moet & Chandon, Bollinger & Tattinger. They don't own much in the way of their own vineyards - instead they source the grapes used in their blends from across the region.
 The house's 'chefs de caves' have the task of blending from thousands of litres of wine, separated by vintage, origin and style, to consistently produce a Champagne that is true to the house's signature taste.
 'Growers' on the other hand, own vineyards that are normally closely packed together within a certain part of the region. This enables them to produce a Champagne that has a true reflection of that particular part of the region's terrior.

Vintage

 There are other differences that dramatically affect the taste; The Grandes Marques have the capacity, in terms of both space and investment, to store vast quantities of reserve wines. This is not only invaluable in times of poor crop (2001 is widely reported as the worst vintage since 1873), but also to blend such character and complexity as has become known of the house: Krug's non-vintage is actually described as a multi-vintage as there can be up to 40% reserve wines in the blend from 20 different vintages.
 The Growers can't rely on this extensive library - so the outcome is usually a smaller percentage of reserve wines used from the last couple of vintages. The outcome is that their Brut curvee typically varies more with vintages than the Grand Marques.

Flight One

 The tasting consisted of 3 different flights. Prior to taking each flight we were informed of the Champagnes and a little bit of knowledge of the houses that were within the flight.
After tasting, an open forum was held to discuss the notes on each Champagne and informed guesses were proposed as to which Champagne was which.
 Tasting Champagne in such a way really encouraged you to look at the colour, smell the aroma and question the taste.
 Each flight had clear favorites and it was easy picking out my personal bests from each flight.

The end of the tastings

 The grand reveal!

 Flight One - #2 was a clear winner for me - This was revealed to be 'Tattinger Brut Reserve'
 Tattinger therefore won over 'Laurent Perrier Brut', the grower 'Agrapart Les 7 Crus' and the ringer - a sparkling wine.
 Flight Two - #6 was delicious - a slightly pinky colour and great taste - revealed as 'Bereche & Fils Brut Reserve' - in my opinion this easily beat 'Chartogne-Taillet Sainte-Anne' and 'Moet & Chandon Brut Imperial'
 Flight Three - #8 was my choice - revealed as 'Veuve Cliquot Yellow Label' - placing just above #9 'Dosnon & Lepage Recolte Noire' and then 'Bollinger Special Cuvee' and 'Egly Ouriet Grand Cru'

 At the end, we were asked to reveal our top 4 Champagnes from all 3 flights - the scores were duly combined to reveal the night's winner:
 It was a unanimous winner : 'Bereche & Fils Brut Reserve' - a Growers Champagne!

 Top 2 Grand Marques: #1 = Veuve Cliquot Yellow Label, #2 = Tattinger Brut Reseve
 Top 2 Growers: #1 = Bereche & Fils Brut Reserve, #2 = Dosnon & Lepage Recolte Noire

All sizes of Champagne upstairs at Roberson

 On a sidenote- the only Champagne in the entire evening to get no votes was #7 - which turned out to be 'Moet & Chandon Brut Reserve'.
 I find this fascinating, as when one thinks of Champagne it's normally Moet.
 But, tear away all those glamorous ad campaigns, the Vogue editorials, the sponsorships, and the pure brand power behind the house - it turned out to be the least like Champagne of the evening.
Just goes to show; don't be blinded by the label, try something new - you'll probably love it!

Roberson Wine
348 Kensington High Street
London
W14 8NS
http://www.robersonwine.com
phone: 02073712121