Champagne Knowledge
Champagne for collectors and occasions.
Calm, opinionated education — houses vs growers, dosage, Blanc de Blancs, the bottles to open and the bottles to keep.
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FAQ
Champagne questions, answered
For everyday drinking, a serious grower like Pierre Péters, Egly-Ouriet, Vilmart or Chartogne-Taillet offers far more character than the equivalent-priced house Champagne. For something special, a vintage Pol Roger or Bollinger La Grande Année delivers gravitas. Our monthly Champagne Best Buys covers exactly this question with current availability and pricing.
Non-vintage (NV) is blended across multiple years to produce a consistent house style and typically released around three years after bottling. Vintage Champagne is made only from grapes of a single, declared year, aged at least three years (often much longer), and reflects that year's character. Vintage is rarer, ages longer, and almost always costs more.
Non-vintage Champagne is usually at its best within three to four years of release. Vintage Champagne can age twenty years or more in the right cellar — cool (10–14°C), dark, humid, bottles on their sides. Disgorgement date (often on the back label) is more useful than the vintage when judging readiness.
Blanc de Blancs is Champagne made entirely from white grapes — almost always 100% Chardonnay. It tends to be lighter, more precise and citrus-driven than blended Champagne, and ages beautifully. Côte des Blancs villages (Le Mesnil-sur-Oger, Cramant, Avize, Oger) produce the finest examples.
Dosage is the small amount of sugar added at disgorgement. From driest to sweetest: Brut Nature (0–3 g/l, no added sugar), Extra Brut (0–6), Brut (0–12, the standard), Extra Dry (12–17), Sec (17–32), Demi-Sec (32–50). Lower dosage shows the wine more clearly; higher dosage rounds out leaner vintages.
Plan one bottle per two to three guests for a toast (roughly six to eight flutes per bottle), or one bottle per two guests if Champagne flows through the meal. For 100 guests, that's 35–50 bottles for a toast, or up to 60 for a full-evening pour. Always order 10% extra.