Vintage Champagne how well does it age?

By Ed McCarthy

a common myth that has been perpetrated about Champagne is that it does not age well. I

suspect that this idea might have been encouraged by the Champagne producers themselves, who often proclaim that their Champagne is “ready to drink” when they release it (the faster they can sell it, the better for their business). This statement is not always true.

First of all, we have to consider the general categories of Champagne available:

NoN-viNtage Champage: the most widely available and least-expensive Champagne; made from a blend of several vintages—thus not vintage-dated; over 85% of all Champagne made is non-vintage.

viNtage ChampagNe: produced from the harvest of one specific year, when the climate in Champagne has been good enough to make it.

prestige Cuvée ChampagNe: most Champagne houses produce one or two prestige Cuvées (often a rosé as well as a white), which are their top-of-the-line Champagnes; most, but not all, prestige Cuvées are vintage-dated as well and invariably the producer’s most expensive Champagne(s).

Since non-vintage Champagnes usually are made from vintages of varying quality (although some reserve wines from vintage years are added to the blend), non-vintage Champagnes generally are not meant for aging more than a few years. Yes, many non-vintage Champagnes can be enjoyed as soon as they are available for sale. But i have found that even non-vintage Champagnes often improve with a couple of years of aging—in a cool, dark place, of course. i can think of three non-vintage brands that invariably improve with a bit of aging: Bollinger, pol Roger and Veuve Clicquot.

almost all Champagnes are the ultimate blended wines—composed of grapes and/or wines from many vineyards. it takes time for this complex blend of ingredients to marry. You can compare Champagne to a good, homemade soup—which is always better a few days after it has been made.

But it is the vintage Champagnes and prestige Cuvées that really demand some aging before they are at their best. they are made from the best grapes in the best vintages; they need time in the bottle to truly show their stuff. through the years, i’ve heard many of my friends and acquaintances complain that a famous Champagne they drank—such as Dom pérignon or Louis Roederer Cristal—was “not that great” or did not live up to their expectations. i always ask them what the vintage was. Usually they were drinking the latest vintage of these

Champagnes that was available, which is a big mistake. Really good Champagnes, such as Dom pérignon, Cristal, vintage Krug, Salon and other prestige Cuvées, typically need at least 15 years of aging before they reveal their greatness.

a well-known wine writer once advised his readers to buy non-vintage Champagne rather than vintage, his argument being it was “just as good” and less expensive. Au contraire. Vintage Champagne is invariably superior to non-vintage brut for several reasons:

Since vintage Champagnes are made from the best grapes from the choicest vineyards, they offer more concentration of aromas and flavors (this is especially true for prestige Cuvées).

Vintage Champagnes are aged for two to three years longer than non-vintage Champagnes by the producer (in cold cellars), which gives them more complexity and balance.

Champagne producers typically use only the two finer, longer-lived varieties—Chardonnay and pinot noir—in their vintage Champagnes and prestige Cuvées,

saving the faster-maturing pinot meunier for their non-vintage Champagnes.

the ingredients are inherently better; vintage Champagnes are made from grapes of one year only—an above-average year at the least, a superb year (such as 1996 or 2002) at best.

although non-vintage Champagne is less-expensive, it’s not necessarily a “better buy” than vintage Champagne, considering the superior quality of the latter.

When to DRinK Vintage ChampagneS anD pReStige CUVéeSmy rough rule-of-thumb for the amount of time that is best for drinking standard vintage Champagnes is about 10 years from the vintage date. the amount of time varies with the nature of the vintage year. For example, in the last 20 years, the following Champagne vintages are more rapidly maturing: 1989, 1990, 1992, 1993, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000.

the following vintages are long-lived: 1988, 1995, 1996, 2002 (1991, 1994, 2001, and 2003 were poor vintages and most producers did not make a vintage Champagne in these years).

For example, the highly touted 1990 vintage is either at its best now or even past its peak, depending on the Champagne. With the austere, under-rated 1988 Champagnes, some are just about ready to drink, while others need more time. if you are lucky enough to have any 1996 Champagnes, hold on to them. For me, 1996 is perhaps the greatest, long-lived vintage of our generation, the best at least since 1964. most 1996s i’ve tried still need a few more years to mature completely. the more full-bodied 1995s also need time, but should be ready before the 1996s. and of course, 2002

AlThough non-vInTAge ChAmpAgne Is less-expensIve, IT’s

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vInTAge ChAmpAgne, ConsIderIng The superIor quAlITy

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is still a baby. it is a very good vintage, perhaps not as great as 1996, but it will still require 5 to 10 more years of aging before it is at its best.

Vintage Blanc de Blancs require a particularly long time to mature, sometimes up to 20 years in good vintages before they are at their best. it is a little-known fact that Chardonnay—at least the very cool-climate Chardonnay that grows in the Champagne region—is longer-lived than pinot noir and takes longer to mature. this is especially true of the great Blanc de Blancs: Salon, Krug Clos du mesnil, taittinger Comtes de Champagne, Dom Ruinart, Charles heidsieck Blanc des millénaires and Billecart-Salmon Blanc de Blancs. the rarer Blanc de noirs Champagnes (usually made entirely from pinot noir), on the other hand, should be consumed within 10 years or less. Rosé Champagnes, usually a blend of Chardonnay and pinot noir, are also at their best within 10 years, with some notable exceptions among the prestige Cuvées.

i love nothing better to drink than a mature vintage Champagne or prestige Cuvée that reveals all of its complexity of aromas and flavors with the passage of time. these wines often show an amazing length on the palate as well, and are superb with food.

two words of caution:

Do not serve vintage Champagnes or prestige Cuvées in flute glasses, especially those Champagnes with some age. Use either a large tulip-shaped Champagne glass or a large white-

wine glass in order to appreciate all of the flavor and complexity.

Do not serve Champagnes or prestige Cuvées super-cold—say, as cold as you would serve non-vintage brut. too low a temperature will numb the aromas and flavors (i recommend serving them in the 50° to 54° F range). n

BNBeverage Network

vintage champagne selections

bevnetwork.com

Delamotte vintage blanc de blancs(its NV Rosé is also lovely)

Deutz vintage blanc de blancs; cuvée william Deutz and cuvée william Deutz rosé (Deutz’ s two Vintage Prestige Cuvées)

Dom ruinart vintage blanc de blancs

alfreD gratien vintage brut; cuvée Paradis and cuvée Paradis rosé (Gratien’s two NV Prestige Cuvées)

Pommery, louise and louise rosé (its Vintage Prestige Cuvées)

laurent-Perrier grand Siècle (its NV Prestige Cuvée)

bollinger grande année and grande année rosé

goSSet célébris (its Vintage Prestige Cuvée); also makes the long-lived nv, grande réserve brut

ayala vintage brut and vintage blanc de blancs

Henriot brut millésimé; and cuvée des enchanteleurs (its Vintage Prestige Cuvée)

krug grande cuvée and nv rosé (its NV Prestige Cuvées)

cHarleS HeiDSieck millesimé brut; also, vintage blanc des millénaires

Pol roger cuvée Sir winston churchill (its Vintage Prestige Cuvée); also the vintage blanc de chardonnay

Paul bara vintage brut

nicolaS feuillatte Palmes d’or (its Vintage Prestige Cuvée); also, the vintage blanc de blancs

guy cHarlemagne vintage blanc de blancs

JacqueSSon vintage brut and vintage blanc de blancs

bruno PaillarD milléSimé brut; and nv blanc de blancs réserve Privée

PHiliPPonnat cloS DeS goiSSeS (its Vintage Prestige Cuvée)

Many very good vintage Champagnes and Prestige Cuvées are not included in this recommended list. But be certain that your customers will find much pleasure with the Champagnes recommended here.

S ome of the vintage Champagnes and Prestige Cuvées that I recommend below are not as well-known as they should be (my list is not all-inclusive; I leave out many of the better-known Champagnes so as to give attention to

lesser-known but excellent favorites of mine). All of the following Champagnes will age extremely well, especially in the long-lived vintages. Rosés generally age a bit faster.

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B oth San Francisco and new York are home to the bubble lounge, which attracts a flock of bubbly devotees.

emmanuelle Chiche, managing partner, says she sees her customers becoming sav-vier about the Champagnes they seek off the menu, and as a result are exploring vintage options instead of just the popular non-vin-tage selections. “Some high-end restaurants don’t have sommeliers on the floor, so order-ing becomes a little less formal and intimidat-ing; the consumer is becoming more educated and making better decisions on their own,” says Chiche, who keeps 320 Champagnes and sparkling wines on the list since her custom-ers are interested in making new discover-ies. the vintage selections, which include a Laurent perrier Brut millesime 1999 and a Fleury 1995, are one way of keeping her au-dience of Champagne connoisseurs on their toes. “they want to have an experience,” she points out. “people come in now and say ‘i want a 1982,’ for example. grapes are the way

that they are and vintage Champagne is more of a free style in a way, reflecting what na-ture does for us.” Vintage Champagnes is one channel where Chiche thinks people can ex-pand their perceptions of Champagne: “We’re not recession proof; we need to demystify the idea of Champagnes just for weddings.”

at pops for Champagne in Chicago’s River north neighborhood, more than 125 Champagnes and sparkling wines are served to an equally engaged audience. Vintage selections include a 1996 Delamotte, a 2000 Charles heidseick and a 2002 taittinger. “enjoying these wines is really about understanding the personality of the vintage, and it more often than not takes a few years before the nature of this personality can make itself known,” says W. Craig Cooper, wine director. “many associate vintages in Champagne with the great prestige Cuvées like Dom pérignon or Cristal, but most houses produce a standard millésimé cuvée, which are often some of the best values in

Champagne. the first step in appreciating them is understanding that they do age and are benefited by a few years patience on our part. Cooper says that there have been some very good vintages in particular recently, so it is a ripe time for customers to explore: “1996 was a classic; 1997 and 1998 were good, and better producers’ wines are drinking very well at the moment; and 1999 and 2000 are brighter and perhaps a tad young. Wines from 2002 are really just becoming available now, and they are fantastic. Bountiful and broad with lots of potential, it is one of the most generous of the grand vintages since probably 1985. as well, if you can find a 1995 that has been taken good care of, they are drinking wonderfully now for lovers of a mature style.”

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