PENFOLDS X Thienot Lot 1 175 Blanc de Blanc, Champagne

Dominated by Chardonnay, Brut Régence has a great aromatic finesse and embodies Brimoncourt’s spirit and signature. It is a gallant wine all the more seducing with its freshness, round texture and delicately fruity finish. The dominant Chardonnay feature creates a delicate, subtle and very elegant bouquet. It reveals white flowers aroma and charming fruity notes thanks to the Pinot Noir. Its affirmed minerality gives it distinction and nobility. The well-rounded mouth is enjoyable; a dash of freshness invigorates the palate and brings out a beautiful, ample and complex structure with a good length in mouth. Its fineness and elegance call for sharing. Best savoured on a lime and sea bass tartar, a langoustine ceviche, a poached turbot with mousseline sauce, melting scallops on braised leeks and of course and above all, as a shared aperitif.

At just 29 years of age, Charles-Camille Heidsieck decided to create his eponymous House in 1851. Despite being an heir – the Heidsiecks were one of the most respected families in the champagne world – he decided to forge his own path and establish his own dynasty, eager to embark on his own entrepreneurial journey. It is with the Brut Réserve that the House expresses the quintessence of its style. Particularly recognizable by its generosity, precision and depth, this multi-vintage wine offers a complex and greedy nose and an unctuous palate, a guarantee of quality that experts and wine critics from all over the world distinguish with their eyes closed. Of the sixty Champagne crus chosen to produce this emblematic cuvée, three are pillars of the Brut Réserve style. Oger - Grand Cru Chardonnay from the Côte des Blancs, gives it its fleshy and generous notes. Ambonnay - Grand Cru Pinot Noir from the Montagne de Reims, is synonymous with power, structure and fruity notes. Verneuil - Meunier from the Vallée de la Marne, ensures its balance and smooth texture. This champagned is a blend of 40% Pinot Noir, 40% Chardonnay and 20% Meunier.

Its superb maturity tantalizes all the senses with a deep pink robe highlighted with glints of copper, an extremely delicate persistent effervescence, a nose of crushed strawberries, lime and liquorice underlined by a hint of roast coffee and cacao. The palate is entranced by a variation of gourmet sensations. The fresh, precise and taut attack gives way to reveal a supple, molten and heady structure. The finish imparts fruity notes underscored by a saline freshness. With the purity of its precise, gourmet aromatic structure, the Comtes de Champagne Rosé is perfectly in line with its predecessors and promises to offer excellent ageing potential.

Champagne authority Peter Liem writes that “among all Champagne villages, Aӱ is the most historically esteemed… Today, its terroir is still just as storied, and its grapes are sought after by winemakers across the region.” It is perhaps no surprise that the poet Alfred de Vigny declared in 1853 that “the mousse of Aÿ radiates happiness”. From a Grand Cru where Pinot Noir reigns supreme, Bérêche’s cuvée is sourced from less than a hectare of 40+-year-old vines at 280 metres’ elevation in the cool parcels of Brise Pot and Froide-Terre, bordering Mutigny in Grande Vallée de la Marne, where thin topsoils (at a maximum of 30cm) rest over dense Campanian chalk. Pinot Noir (75%) and Chardonnay (25%) fermented slowly in barrels and aged on lees in bottle for 78 months. The dosage was under 3 g/L. It’s a striking, penetrating Champagne whose depth of crystalline white fruits and soft spices is matched by its sinewy, chalky length and cut-glass precision. A flat-out stunner.