(2024) 50% Chardonnay from Grand Cru vineyards in the Cotes de Blancs and 50% Pinot Noir from Grand Crus in the Montagne de Reims, always aged a minimum of four years. Straw/pale lemon in colour with miniscule bubbles, toasted, buttery pastry notes also have a mineral intensity, an intense zestiness at its core. The palate is full and graceful, the required zip and freshness is there, but underpinning is a generous, weight and texture so this is creamy, fruity, but decisive.
(2024) The 2014 vintage was "An excellent growing year,'" according to All Angels, and this 10th anniversary bottling makes the most of that after a full nine years on the lees. It's a blend of 50% Chardonnay plus Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris and Pinot Meunier, bottled with a modest 6.6 g/l of residual sugar. Pale straw in colour, there's certainly a yeasty autolysis on the nose, plenty of biscuit and a bready edge to apple and citrus fruit. In the mouth this has terrific freshness given it has been in bottle for a decade, zipping with zesty citrus, balancing the ripe and sweet mid-palate weight.
(2024) Henriot's non-vintage Blanc de Blancs is blended from 12 different Crus, is aged for 36 months on the kees, and is bottled with 7g/l dosage. It contains a significant proportion of reserve wines, constituting 30% to 50% of the blend. Pastry notes dominate the nose, yeasty with a little nettle character. The mousse is rolling and full, the palate quite sharply tuned: lemony citrus and apple core dryness, that biscuity suggestion of the nose just beginning to fill out with a layer of nutty richness that eases the finish.
(2024) Tasted earlier in the year I wrote: "A crowd-pleasing, easy-drinking and thoroughly pleasant blend," and having tasted it again, that sums up this approachable blend of 90% Merlot and 10% Semillon. The maximum dosage for Brut of 12g/l means it verges on being perceptibly sweet, but sharper apple and lemon to the fruit and acid balance peachy and lightly toasty note. The rolling mousse keeping everything fresh enough in a stylish fizz for a lowly £10.
(2024) An organic certified wine that is apparently an everything but the kitchen sink blend of Auxerrois, Chardonnay, Pinot Blanc, Pinot Grigio, Pinot Noir and Riesling. It spends 18 to 24 months on the lees. The nose has sherbet and nettle, lemon too. The palate has a crispness to the mousse, and while there's a feeling of sweetness, there's a touch of sour plum and a grapefruit acidity, joined by a hint of toast. It's not the most elegant combination, but at £12, that can be forgiven.
(2024) Unusually this is made from 100% Macabeo, one of the three main grapes of traditional Cava, and normally part of a three-way blend. You know, at £7.50 there is absolutely nothing to complain about here: it's is a touch nutty, apple and lemon fruited, with a firm mousse and a nicely balanced and dry finish. Modest bangs for small bucks.
(2024) Apanage Brut 1874 is based on Pommery's 'réserve perpétuelle' that forms a significant part of the blend. This release is based on the 2018 vintage, blended with components of 2015 and 2012. The wine spent 48 months on the lees and was bottled with 'a low dosage'. Aromatically it's all about brioche and biscuit, with Golden Delicious fruit and a nutty background. The foamy mousse precedes a relatively crisp palate, plenty of citrus and a prickle of nettles or herbs. The biscuity richness fills in again, for a balanced Champagne with good length.
(2024) From Champagne house Pommery's 100-acre vineyard planted in Hampshire in 2017, this blends Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. The mousse is foamy and rich, with aromas of biscuit and a touch of nettle, a nicely nutty style. In the mouth this is properly dry, the apple core sense of dryness with an only slightly fatter, lemon rind overlay, pushes the wine through the mid-palate. It's a very nice, classically proportioned wine this and at £24.00 in Tesco if you have a club card, a decent buy.
(2024) From equal parts Chardonnay, Pinot Meunier and
Pinot Noir, thus is aged on the lees for between three and five years. The modest mousse subsides to leave aromas that are sweet and rich, suggesting biscuit and ripe, rosy apples perhaps. The dosage is presumably at the high end of Brut, as there seems to be plenty of sweetness. It's perhaps a little too sweet for my palate, but the acid balance in the finish is good for a more approachable style.
(2024) From Henry and Kaye Laithwaite’s 6.5ha estate in Marlow, Buckinghamshire, the vines grown on a specific chalky plot. Half was fermented in barrel, and the wine aged on its lees for four years. This wine impressed, a little buttery toast and biscuit but fresh and direct, the crisp fruit suggested on the nose carrying on to the palate, A modest dosage of 6.2g/l enhances the freshness as ripe English orchard and citrus fruit run through to a balanced, focused finish. £37 by the mixed dozen.
