Champagne

Q: What is the difference between Brut, Blanc de Blancs and Blanc de Noirs?

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Q: What is grower Champagne?

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Q: How long does Champagne keep unopened?

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Q: Does vintage Champagne mean it is better?

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Grower Champagne alongside Bollinger, Krug and Dom Pérignon

Champagne from the houses everyone knows and the smaller names most people never meet. Bollinger, Moët & Chandon, Veuve Clicquot, Taittinger, Laurent-Perrier and Ruinart run through the range, with Krug and Dom Pérignon at the top and Pommery down to 20cl. Alongside them sit Autreau de Champillon, Baron Fuenté, Henri Goutorbe and EPC, all worth knowing. Blanc de Blancs, Blanc de Noirs, rosé, vintage and magnums across the range. Tracked UK delivery, next-day available.

The Champagne houses and growers on the list

The list runs on two halves. The grandes marques are the names most people arrive knowing - Bollinger, Moët & Chandon, Veuve Clicquot, Taittinger, Laurent-Perrier and Ruinart - with Krug and Dom Pérignon above them, and Pommery covering everything from Cuvée Louise down to 20cl POP bottles. The other half is smaller producers: Autreau de Champillon, Baron Fuenté, Champagne EPC and Henri Goutorbe, a grower in the Grand Cru village of Aÿ. Vintage and prestige Champagne sits across both halves, where a single declared year replaces the house blend.

Champagne styles: Brut, Blanc de Blancs, rosé and vintage

Most Champagne sold is Brut NV, the house blend built to taste the same every year - Bollinger Special Cuvée, Veuve Clicquot Yellow Label and Moët Brut Impérial are all versions of that idea. Blanc de Blancs is made only from Chardonnay, covered here from EPC and Baron Fuenté up to Ruinart and Taittinger Comtes de Champagne. Blanc de Noirs reverses it, using only the black grapes, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier. Rosé runs through nearly every house on the list - Bollinger, Veuve Clicquot, Moët & Chandon, Taittinger, Laurent-Perrier and Pommery all make one. Vintage comes from a single year the house judged good enough to bottle on its own.

Champagne bottle sizes, from 20cl to magnum

Format changes the occasion more than anything else on the label. At the small end, Pommery POP comes in 20cl, Pommery Brut Royal in 18.7cl and Moët does a 20cl mini - built for a single glass rather than a shared bottle. The standard 75cl covers most of the range. Champagne magnums hold 150cl, the equivalent of two bottles, and Champagne ages more slowly in that format, so a magnum works as something to keep as much as something to open. Bollinger, Veuve Clicquot, Moët & Chandon and Taittinger are all here in 150cl.

Buying Champagne as a gift, and how it is delivered

Champagne accounts for most of what leaves here as a gift, and the full Champagne gifts page carries the boxed versions of these same bottles - gift boxes finished with our signature large hand-tied ribbon, chocolate pairings, flute sets and hampers. Buying for yourself is the same range without the box. Orders go tracked across the UK mainland with next-day available.

The Fulham Wine Co. Take

A Champagne list is only as good as its range. Ours runs from small family producers through the grandes marques to Krug and Dom Pérignon, and each one is here because it does something the others do not. We buy the whole list on a single test: would we open it ourselves.

FAQs About Champagne

What is the difference between Brut, Blanc de Blancs and Blanc de Noirs?

Brut refers to the sweetness level and covers most Champagne sold - dry, but not bone dry. Blanc de Blancs and Blanc de Noirs describe the grapes instead. Blanc de Blancs is made only from Chardonnay; Blanc de Noirs only from the black grapes, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier. A bottle can be both at once, so a Blanc de Blancs is usually also Brut.

What is grower Champagne?

Grower Champagne is made by the same people who grow the grapes, rather than by a house buying fruit in from across the region. The French term is récoltant-manipulant, marked RM in small print on the label. It usually comes from a narrower patch of ground, so it varies more from year to year. Henri Goutorbe, a family estate in the Grand Cru village of Aÿ, is the clearest example on this list.

How long does Champagne keep unopened?

Non-vintage Champagne is released ready to drink and will hold three to four years lying down somewhere cool and dark. Vintage and prestige bottles are built to go considerably longer, often a decade or more. Once opened, a proper stopper keeps it drinkable for a day or two, though it will not come back to how it was.

Does vintage Champagne mean it is better?

Not better, different. A vintage comes from one declared year rather than a blend across several, so it tastes of that year rather than of the house style. Non-vintage exists to be consistent; vintage exists to be specific. Which suits depends on whether you want the bottle to taste like the house or like a particular harvest.

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Champagne

Grower Champagne alongside Bollinger, Krug and Dom Pérignon

The Champagne houses and growers on the list

Champagne styles: Brut, Blanc de Blancs, rosé and vintage

Champagne bottle sizes, from 20cl to magnum

Buying Champagne as a gift, and how it is delivered

The Fulham Wine Co. Take

FAQs About Champagne

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Clase Azul Tequila

818 Tequila

Fieldbar Coolers

Zalto Glassware

Clase Azul Tequila

818 Tequila

Gifts Under £100

Fieldbar Coolers

Zalto Glassware

MOST POPULAR GIFTS

Champagne

Grower Champagne alongside Bollinger, Krug and Dom Pérignon

The Champagne houses and growers on the list

Champagne styles: Brut, Blanc de Blancs, rosé and vintage

Champagne bottle sizes, from 20cl to magnum

Buying Champagne as a gift, and how it is delivered

The Fulham Wine Co. Take

FAQs About Champagne

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