10 best champagnes Bashny.Net

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Among the champagne there is a category of prestigious cuvee, whose names speak for themselves. This is the most important wine, both in quality and the image of which produces one or another champagne house.
Russia has a direct relationship to the birth of the luxury category. The first prestige cuvée was created in 1876 for Tsar Alexander II, who wanted to drink champagne, made just for him. So there was a "Cristal." The next was the Dom Pérignon - it made a Champagne house Moët & Chandon in 1921. Most of the rest were first released in the second half of the XX century.
Our compatriots easy to spend money on a rare and expensive commodity. That's the top selling champagne brands in Russia is much higher than in other countries. "In the world at a fraction of prestigious cuvee accounts for 2% of total sales, while in Russia it is 6, 2%. This is a very high figure, and it could exceed a few other countries such as the US and Japan, "- said Jean-Luc Barbier, head of the Interprofessional Committee of Champagne Wines.
However, we should not forget that the prestige cuvee - not just a status product, but outstanding quality and champagne, which was hidden a great story. Forbes wins 10 prestigious champagne cuvée, describing the secrets of production and key features of the style.





2002 Cuvée Perle d'Ayala Brut, 6470 rubles

Champagne house: Ayala
This brand is primarily interested in the advanced champagne connoisseurs, who follow the latest stylistic trends. Now at the height of fashion - without dozazhnogo sparkling liquor or low content. Just this responsible work philosophy Champagne house Ayala. His prestige cuvée Perle d'Ayala Brut is produced as a low dozazhem in which the sugar content is 6, 5 grams (instead of the conventional 10-12).
Preference for a dry style in Ayala - not a fad, but historical practice work. The house was founded in 1860 and a few years later earned a reputation as an important producer of dry sparkling. The last quarter-century cellar master Nicolas Klim made his creation nizkodozazhnyh wines ridge, and the house Ayala was one of the leaders in this category Champagne. Annually produces about 650,000 bottles, but the small size does not interfere with Ayala being a member of the "Club of the great brands", consisting of 24 well-known producers of Champagne. Since 2005, the owner of the Ayala family is Bollanzhe, he owns the eponymous champagne house respectable.
Cuvée Perle d'Ayala, or the pearl of "Ayala", created mainly of "Chardonnay", adding, "pinot noir", which collect in the best vineyards of the house. Champagne is aged in the cellars for at least 5 years. An important detail: for aging wine bottle stoppers real close, but not metal Kronk, as is usually practiced in Champagne. So the wine develops a more subtle and complex flavors, according to Ayala.
Style Features: vibrating freshness of aromas and flavors, with a focus on citrus and mineral tones. Extra bonus: a great harvest of 2002, one of the best in the modern history of Champagne.



2000 Cuvée Elisabeth Salmon Brut Rosé, 7970 rubles

Champagne house: Billecart-Salmon
By lacy pattern labels coral pink is easy to guess who is devoted to champagne. Of course, a woman. Elizabeth Salmon with spouse Nicolas Francois Bilkarom founded Champagne house in 1818. One hundred and seventy years later, the grateful descendants have created in her honor cuvee, which today is considered one of the standard pink champagne. In fairness, we note that the house also produces prestigious cuvee white in honor of the founder of the second.
Billecart-Salmon is included in some of the most esteemed champagne houses, they still runs the family Bilkarov. Wines known for crystal-clear taste and aromatic richness of the clearly marked. One of the secrets - a special method of cleaning a double mash with a slow precipitation of solids at the bottom of the vats. This is a natural process which, however, takes a lot of time, so rarely practiced by others. Meanwhile, the results help to provide branded taste characteristics Champagne Billecart-Salmon, including Cuvée Elisabeth Salmon.
Luxury pink champagne is created from equal parts of "Chardonnay" and "pinot noir", which is vinified as a white wine. Then, to get pink add a small proportion of red wine from the "pinot noir».
"This is a sophisticated and polysyllabic wine can withstand 10-15 years. It will take a variety of delicious dishes, from poultry to delicate desserts with red fruits, "- says chief winemaker François Domi.
Features Style: purity and elegance, freshness and finesse characterize this feminine champagne. The nuances of strawberries, candied fruit, mint and rose water - its main gustatory delights.



1997 R.D. Extra Brut, 12,700 rubles

Champagne house: Bollinger
R.D. - A récemment dégorgé, or champagne, was recently removed from the sediment. Special Champagne, the term indicates that after the second fermentation in the bottle of wine left on lees longer than usual and was cleared away shortly before the sale. Additional time on the lees helps to develop a special champagne wealth and splendor of taste and paradoxically gives it greater freshness. The idea to produce a special wine as an exclusive addition to the vintage cuvee La Grande Année Madame Bollanzhe born in 1960, and RD It became a registered trademark of the house Bollinger.
Madame Bollanzhe, great Veuve known as Aunt Lily - one of the most prominent personalities in the two hundred year history of Bollinger. A textbook became her saying about champagne: "I drink it when I'm happy and when sad. Sometimes I drink it, being alone. If I am in the company of people I consider it obligatory. I prigublyayu it if not hungry or drink when hungry. In other cases, I have not touched it - only if I'm not thirsty ».
Bollinger refers to the highest echelon of Champagne producers, and its champagne - always with a dominant "Pinot Noir" - characterized by special items, strength and depth. Mark R.D. It is produced only in years when the harvest has impeccable quality. This champagne is aged on the lees for at least eight years, the exact date of disgorging is listed on the label. Of the other nuances of the production should be noted the initial fermentation in barrels, not in steel vats, and bottle aging of wines under cork. R.D. 1997 - current vintage on sale.
Features of style: a rare and highly successful blend of rich nutty flavor with a crisp citrus freshness. All components of the flavoring components are in perfect balance. Pedigreed champagne.



2000 Amour de Deutz Brut, 7312 rubles

Champagne house: Deutz
The statue of the young Cupid adorns the yard of house champagne Deutz. God of love has prompted the name of Amour de Deutz, a drawing of the statue can be seen on each label. And yet playful symbolism should not be configured on a frivolous way: prestige cuvee performed by the classical canons and is valued for the bulk, but elegant style and excellent taste harmony.
Champagne house Deutz restrained behavior in the market, preferring to concentrate efforts on the production of high-end champagne. Non-French name of the house comes from the name of one of the two German businessmen, founded in 1838, Deutz. Until the nineties the company was passed on to family inheritance, and then passed into the possession of the eminent champagne house Louis Roederer. However, the new owners, a family company, too, only improved the reputation of the house, and the direct descendants of the founders of Deutz continue to work in key positions.
Instead of building a house and cellars in Reims or Epernay, as did many other champagnes grandes maisons, Deutz opted Au - a small village, surrounded by some of the best vineyards in Champagne. Today, Champagne Deutz used harvest collected in a radius of 30 km of the region's top vineyards.
Amour de Deutz - a relatively new brand among the most prestigious cuvee. Champagne was first produced in 1997 and released to the celebrations of the new millennium. Made from a variety "Chardonnay", it is one of the most important categories of sparkling blanc de blanc (white wine from white grapes).
Features Style: splendor and elegance of the bouquet, in which the "Chardonnay" manifests itself through subtly intertwined nuances of vanilla, citrus, apples, quince, combining them with a soft creamy texture taste.



Celebris Blanc de Blancs Cuvée Extra Brut, from 7890 rubles

Champagne house: Gosset
Gosset Champagne house mixes traditional "chardonnay" and "Pinot" for the production of their wines. A few years ago, he took a chance to work in a new direction. Thus was born Celebris Blanc de Blancs - Champagne varieties of "Chardonnay", which expanded the range of prestigious cuvee home.
Gosset - small by the standards of the Champagne house, but its special position provided centuries of continuous specialization in the production of wine. While Dom Perignon conjured the perfect wine formula, Gosset more than a century, still wines supplied the royal court of France. In the XVIII century champagne sparkled, and since then the company produces have become classic wine with bubbles. By the way, the design of the bottles almost all sparkling Gosset repeats the old form, to use more than two hundred years ago.
Firm differences wines can be called meaningful and creamy texture, dry biscuit and vanilla shades. The principal feature of the production - the refusal of malolactic fermentation, which softens the taste of the wine. This is done to preserve the natural freshness and allows champagne to live longer.
In an effort to reveal the exceptional quality of "Chardonnay" in Celebris Blanc de Blancs, winemakers work with the best natural matter available to the home, and use the most Berezhnaya vinification methods. With the same purpose in the wine added dozazhnogo less liquor than usual. The result - a great new interpretation of "Chardonnay" in the plane of champagne.
Features Style: sensual and full-bodied champagne, providing a true hedonistic experience. Hyacinths and honey aroma, rich fabric of citrus, baked apples and exotic fruits on the palate.



1995 Avize Grand Cru Dégorgement Tardif Brut, 13,940 rubles

Champagne house: Jacquesson
Avize Grand Cru Dégorgement Tardif 1995 began its life as an outstanding vintage champagne harvest. When in the early 2000s, the first bottles ready for sale, winemakers Jacquesson knew exactly what it was the best Avize Grand Cru, issued by the home at the time. It was decided to leave a small party for more excerpts. This fall prestigious bottles already labeled "late withdrawal from the sludge", were released in light of the loud applause of the leading French wine directory called Avize Grand Cru Dégorgement Tardif 1995 one of the best new releases of champagne.
The adage "small but precious" aptly describes the house Jacquesson. Production of a little more than 300,000 bottles a year, and this boutique - with exemplary standards of work - allows you to create wines that reflect the great features of the Champagne vineyards. Founded in 1798, Jacquesson entered the history of Champagne several important technical and design innovations. Among them myuzle - wire frame to hold the cork, a traditional attribute of bottles of sparkling wines. This year became a newsmaker Jacquesson when at the bottom of the Baltic Sea found champagne, two centuries lain in the hold of the sunken ship. This discovery, by the way, once again confirmed the priority historically home sales in Scandinavia and Russia.
Harvest for the prestigious champagne comes from the village memo from a top vineyards Grand Cru. This is a 100% "Chardonnay". The wine is aged in contact with the lees for 14 years, so was born an outstanding flavor combination of maturity and freshness. Avize Grand Cru Dégorgement Tardif has been removed from the sediment in July 2010 without adding dozazhnogo liquor.
Features Style: delicate, almost ephemeral bouquet and nuanced, graceful taste the champagne epithets are sensual and seductive drink. Fine, complex flavor matter - from flowers and citrus fruits to nuts and exotic fruits.



Krug Grande Cuvée Brut, 11,275 rubles

Champagne house: Krug

Krug Champagne house produces only prestige cuvee. Grande Cuvée - his business card. It embodies the idea of ​​the style at home, it set up the rest of the brand. Stressing the importance of Grande Cuvée, Krug in its latest offer to taste, even after more rare and vintage wines.
Krug - separate phenomenon among the champagne houses. Since its inception in 1843, the company began producing A luxury champagne, and this practice is strictly observed for six generations, when the house is family-owned. Who owns holding company LVMH, where Krug took his place among the other luxury-brands, such as Louis Vuitton, Guerlain and Chaumet. But the family spirit - not least thanks to the director Olivier Krug - continues to prevail in this legendary building and the quality of champagne is still outstanding. The keys to the secrets of the quality to be found in artisanal production, attention to detail and brilliant skill in blending base wines.
As a symbol of luxury, champagne Krug always find a buyer; Another thing - to realize its corporate identity. This champagne is appreciated for the unique combination of rich mnogoslozhiya and squeaky clean, which is known as the classic paradox of Krug. Fans champagne house call themselves "krugistami" - such loyalty in the wine world is extremely rare.
Grande Cuvée - non-vintage champagne, consisting of three classic varieties - "Chardonnay", "Pinot noir" and "Pinot Meunier". It mixed a few tens of base wines from different vineyards. Moreover, Grande Cuvée is about a third of the reserve wines of past vintages, which are stored intact in the basement of the house to 15 years, before getting to the final assemblage.
Features Style: champagne with a great presence. Rich deep flavor, followed by a strong but soft wave flavors. Fine freshness dissolved among the shades of colors, sweet pastries, honey and tangerine. Extra bonus: a special price for the Christmas holidays.



2004 Louis Roederer Cristal Brut, from 10 490 rubles

Champagne house: Louis Roederer
Damn nice to open the great champagne on the bottle that adorns the Russian imperial coat of arms. Let them, instead of the Russian tsars, which was created Cristal, now his drink just the wealthy or famous people does not matter what part of the world, but is champagne in Russia ever become "his».
Founding date Louis Roederer - 1776. The second milestone of the company marked exactly one hundred years later, when the Alexander II was released with an exclusive champagne taste and design. So thanks to the Russian influence in the history of Champagne prestigious cuvee was born first. When the grandson of Tsar Nicholas Alexander II Louis Roederer was appointed as the official supplier of the Russian Imperial Court, and since then the Russian symbolism of wine does not leave the house.
Modern reputation Louis Roederer enough in what concedes historical. Jean-Claude Rouzaud, who recently gave his son the case after nearly four decades of government has earned itself the unofficial title of "King of Champagne." By the way, the company is still in the hands of the family that created it two hundred years ago. Reasons for success: top-end ownership of vineyards, purchased at different times, high production standards and professional management, designed for the long term. But that's another story, about a well-formed family business.
"This wine has everything" - succinctly said about Cristal Louis Roederer 2004 President Frederic Rouzaud. The cuvee is traditionally dominated by the variety "pinot noir", it added to the "Chardonnay". The classic quality of champagne as a fresh, lively, complex and mineral wine raised in Cristal to unattainable heights.
Style Features: Now bouquet exudes aromas of blooming garden. On the palate, the attention is focused on the complex tones of juicy fruit with a touch of minerality. Smooth as silk. Champagne, which itself is a cause for great celebration.



2000 Clos de Goisses Brut, 16,707 rubles

Champagne house: Philipponnat
House Philipponnat lucky to own a unique Champagne vineyard, which gave the name to the prestigious cuvee. Clos de Goisses, a 5, 5 hectares, beautifully situated on a steep hillside and down to the river. Nature gave him the perfect climate and soil, which other winemakers of Champagne can only dream of. Thanks Philipponnat wine Clos de Goisses became one of the first prominent champagne, made strictly from the harvest of a vineyard.
The wine history dates back to the family Philippon beginning of the XVI century. By this time the first documentary mention of the vines in the area, which was later called Clos de Goisses. Common for them the story took shape in 1935 when the vineyard was acquired by the champagne house Philipponnat. Since that year the harvest Clos de Goisses was used for the production of a particular wine.



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