What does Grand Cru mean in Champagne?

That the grapes come from one of the 17 villages classified at the top level, such as Avize, Ambonnay or Le Mesnil-sur-Oger. It ranks the village, not the cuvée.

The magnum ages more slowly and harmoniously: for a Champagne to keep a few years it is the best format.

How to store Champagne?

Dark, lying down, between 10 and 13 °C, away from vibration. Once opened it keeps a day with a proper stopper.

Sparkling wines

Champagne

Vinoly's Champagnes: Krug, Dom Pérignon, Cristal, Salon and Laurent-Perrier Grand Siècle alongside the growers of Ambonnay, Avize and Le Mesnil-sur-Oger. Vintage wines, Grand Cru blanc de blancs, rosés and brut nature, in bottle and magnum, with vintage and provenance verified.

The Champagnes for sale on Vinoly

About thirty labels, chosen among houses and growers, with vintage and provenance verified: Krug, Dom Pérignon, Louis Roederer Cristal (rosé and magnum too), Salon, Laurent-Perrier Grand Siècle, Pol Roger Sir Winston Churchill; then Jacques Selosse, Egly-Ouriet, Bérêche, Georges Laval, Vouette & Sorbée, Emmanuel Brochet, Etienne Calsac, Marie-Noëlle Ledru. Vintages from 1999 to 2019, Grand Cru blanc de blancs, saignée rosés, brut nature.

Houses and growers: two ways of making Champagne

The great houses buy grapes from hundreds of vineyards and blend cuvées of constant style, with reserve wines from different years: continuity and great prestige cuvées. Grower-producers (RM on the label) work only their own vines and bottle a few thousand bottles: expression of village and vintage, often barrel fermentation and low dosage. Vinoly has both.

The areas of Champagne

**Côte des Blancs** (Avize, Cramant, Oger, Le Mesnil-sur-Oger): Chardonnay on chalk, home of blanc de blancs. Salon, Selosse, Calsac.
**Montagne de Reims** (Ambonnay, Mailly, Verzenay, Bouzy): structured Pinot Noir. Egly-Ouriet, Ledru, Bérêche.
**Vallée de la Marne** (Cumières, Hautvillers): softer Meunier and Pinot Noir. Georges Laval.
**Côte des Bar** (Aube): sunnier Pinot Noir, the youngest growers. Vouette & Sorbée.

What Grand Cru means in Champagne

The ranking concerns the village, not the cuvée: 17 villages are Grand Cru (including Avize, Ambonnay, Le Mesnil-sur-Oger, Mailly, Bouzy) and 42 Premier Cru. A "Grand Cru" Champagne uses only grapes from those villages. It is not an absolute guarantee of quality, but it states a precise origin.

Brut, extra brut, brut nature

Dosage is the sugar added at disgorgement. Brut nature (or zéro dosage): 0-3 g/l. Extra brut: up to 6. Brut: up to 12. The lower the dosage, the more the wine shows vintage and terroir, and the more it needs ripe grapes and long ageing.

How to serve it and with what

8-10 °C in a wide glass. Blanc de blancs with oysters, raw fish and shellfish; Pinot Noir and mature vintages with poultry, mushrooms, refined cheeses; rosé with salmon, tuna and pigeon; prestige cuvées also alone, at the end of a meal.

How to store it

Dark, lying down, between 10 and 13 °C, away from vibration and odours. A non-vintage is best within a few years; vintages and prestige cuvées last decades. Opened, with a proper stopper, it holds a day.