The Taittinger Prestige Rose is a unique and complex blend. The signature Taittinger high proportion of Chardonnay (30%) brings elegance and delicacy to the blend, while a quantity of still red wine (15%) produced from the best Pinot Noirs from Montagne de Reims and Les Riceys is added to the final blend. It is this still red wine that gives the cuvee its unmistakable colour and vibrant intensity on the palate. The Prestige Rose can be described as lively, fruity, fresh and elegant.

Paul Louis Martin Grand Cru Cuvée vintage Champagne comes from the heart of Montagne de Reims and is blessed with an outstanding Grand Cru vineyard site that faces due South on chalky soil and is protected by North winds from the mountains adjoining the region. The vintage Grand Cru Champagne is 100% Chardonnay and delivers a creamy, rich and rounded boutique Champagne with delicate notes of exotic fruit and toasted brioche. Only made in the best years, the sparkling wine is perfectly balanced.

Customers invariably ask: "What's Blanc de Blancs Champagne and what makes it so special?" The Champagne region grows three grapes, two red – Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier – and one white ¬– Chardonnay. Blanc de Blancs is made only from Chardonnay and, as Hugh Johnson says, it therefore has "great grace and less weight than traditional Champagne". Laithwaite's is a tip-top example which for years has been expertly created for us by superb cellars in Avize, one of Champagne's finest villages. This particular cuvée is 100% Premier Cru vineyards and was matured for 30 months before release – double the required minimum – to ensure a really luxurious character. Showing complex white blossom, citrus and toasted brioche notes, it has great finesse, a very fine mousse, and the perfect amount of acidity to cut through a range of delicious canapés such as velvety chicken or duck liver parfait.

What a magnificent wine! A pioneer in the modern Australian Chardonnay stakes, the Vat 47 from the Hunter Valley has a silky bouquet of melon stone fruit and creamy oak that is followed by a palate of extraordinary balance and length. An absolute classic and will only get better with some medium term ageing.

Margaret River is a world renowned Chardonnay producing region and Pierro can rightfully stake a claim as to why. Incredibly complex, it is a tangle of fine-boned acid, lees complexity, pristine fruit and the most detailed use of good quality oak. Extremely enjoyable now, but will benefit from short to medium term cellaring.

Jeffrey Grosset is well known for his sublime and iconic Riesling's, but one should not forget his other brilliant white wine, the Piccadilly Chardonnay. From the Adelaide Hills, this luscious Chardonnay shows stone fruits and citrus on the palate with minerality and long finish. Superb!

Joseph Perrier Cuvée Royale is one of the standout Champagne's from the 2002 vintage. Conditions in Champagne were simply perfect during the growing and harvest seasons and has resulted in a vintage Champagne with complex bread, toast and honeyed flavours with a long and creamy finish. Divine.