Buy Premier Cru & Grand Cru Champagne | Grower Cuvées – The Fulham Wine Company
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Premier Cru & Grand Cru Champagne

What the village rating on a Champagne label actually buys

Premier Cru and Grand Cru Champagne comes from villages rated at the top of Champagne's own classification of its 319 crus. Champagne Autreau de Champillon accounts for most of this page - a Premier Cru Brut, a Premier Cru Rosé and a Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs, all from one house, which makes the difference between the ratings easy to taste. Pommery Grand Cru Vintage 2015 and Bollinger PN TX20 complete it. Tracked UK delivery, next-day available.

Bollinger PN TX20 Champagne in a black gift box with hand-tied ribbon.
FW Fave
Bollinger PN TX20 Champagne Gift Box
£115.00
Pommery Grand Cru Vintage 2015 Champagne in the house's own gift box with hand-tied ribbon.
FW Fave
Pommery Grand Cru Vintage 2015 Champagne in Limited Edition Gift Box
£85.00
Champagne Autréau Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru Brut bottle, 75cl.
Champagne Autreau Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru Brut NV - 75cl
£46.00
Champagne Autréau Premier Cru Brut bottle, 75cl.
Champagne Autreau Premier Cru Brut NV - 75cl
£35.00
Champagne Autréau Premier Cru Rosé bottle, 75cl.
Champagne Autreau Premier Cru Rosé - 75cl
£36.00
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How Champagne's cru system works

Champagne rates its villages rather than its estates. There are 319 crus in the region; seventeen hold Grand Cru status and around forty more are Premier Cru. The rating attaches to the land, so a Grand Cru on a label means the fruit came from one of those seventeen villages, whoever made the wine. It is one of the few things on a Champagne label that tells you something concrete about origin. The wider Champagne range covers everything outside the rated villages.

Grower Champagne from Autreau de Champillon

Most of this page is Champagne Autreau de Champillon, a family house working out of Champillon in the Vallée de la Marne. Three cuvées sit here: a Premier Cru Brut, a Premier Cru Rosé and a Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs. They are the clearest illustration of what the cru rating buys, because the same house made all three and the difference between them is the land rather than the winemaking.

Premier Cru, Grand Cru and what changes in the glass

A higher rating does not guarantee a better bottle, but it does narrow the odds. Grand Cru fruit tends to ripen more reliably and carry more concentration, which usually shows as more depth rather than more weight. The style still depends on the grape and the house: a Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs and a Grand Cru Pinot Noir cuvée taste nothing alike. Pommery Grand Cru Vintage 2015 and Bollinger PN TX20 show that range on this page.

Where these sit against the grandes marques

The big houses blend across many villages to build a consistent style, so a grande marque rarely puts a cru rating on the label even when the fruit would qualify. A smaller house working from a handful of rated plots has the opposite incentive and states it. Neither approach is better - they are answering different questions. For the prestige end of the big houses, vintage and prestige Champagne covers Dom Pérignon, Krug and Bollinger La Grande Année.

The Fulham Wine Co. Take

The cru rating is one of the few things on a Champagne label that says something concrete about where the fruit came from. It does not guarantee a great bottle, but it narrows the odds considerably, and it is how you find the interesting wines below the famous names. Everything here is a bottle we would open on an ordinary evening.

FAQs About Premier Cru & Grand Cru Champagne

What is the difference between Premier Cru and Grand Cru Champagne?

It is a rating of the village the grapes came from, not of the producer. Seventeen villages hold Grand Cru status and around forty more are Premier Cru, out of 319 crus in the region. Grand Cru is the higher of the two, and both attach to the land rather than to the house.

Does Grand Cru mean better Champagne?

It means better-rated fruit, which is not quite the same thing. Winemaking, ageing and dosage all still matter, and a skilled house working with Premier Cru fruit can easily outdo a careless one with Grand Cru. What the rating gives you is a shorter list to choose from.

Why do the big Champagne houses not use cru ratings?

Because their whole method is blending across many villages to keep a house style consistent year to year. A single rating would not describe what is in the bottle. Smaller houses drawing on a few rated plots can state it accurately, so they do.

Is grower Champagne worth trying if I usually drink the big names?

Yes, and this is a good page to start on. A grower bottle tastes of a narrower patch of ground and varies more from year to year, which is the opposite of what a grande marque is built to do. It is a different pleasure rather than a substitute.

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