Favorite Vintage Champagnes for the Summer

Lucien Michel | July 17, 2020

2 Grande Marques & 2 Grower Champagnes 

As most of us will spend the rest of the summer in Hong-Kong, I have selected some of my favorite go-to vintage Champagnes to enjoy on warmer days.

Grandes Marques Champagnes - Value, consistency and house-style

    Champagne Bollinger: This renowned family producer has a strong house style: Pinot Noir dominant and distinctly mineral driven. I find they are often a great match with seafood.

    Only produced during the best vintages, this cuvée in 2007 is superb to enjoy now, with its impressive balance, orange peel and gingerbread notes, it delivers a lot of pleasure and compliments food wonderfully. It pairs very well with oysters!

     Louis Roederer: One of the last family-run Champagne houses, this name is charged with history and is well-known for consistently crafting Champagnes of style and quality. 

     From a riper vintage, the 2009 Brut Nature is also mostly made from Pinot Noir. The fruit here is exuberant, yet the Champagne retains a lovely tension and freshness. With its grapefruit and honey aromas and mineral finish, this is an everyday Champagne that I would pair with sushi or barbecued shrimp. 

From a riper vintage, the 2009 Brut Nature is also mostly made from Pinot Noir. The fruit here is exuberant, yet the Champagne retains a lovely tension and freshness. With its grapefruit and honey aromas and mineral finish, this is an everyday Champagne that I would pair with sushi or barbecued shrimp.  

Grower Champagnes - Intellectual, sharp and terroir-driven 

   Agrapart. Agrapart is a grower Champagne which has become very popular for its vibrant and terroir-driven cuvées. If you are fond of vinous Champagnes, you should explore this range.

The Mineral Blanc de Blancs 2012 is sharp in acidity, low in dosage and displays aromas of toast and nuts, thanks to longer aging on lees. This is very mineral driven, as the name suggests, with notes of chalk and is the most racy cuvée from the Agrapart stable. From a fantastic vintage, this is simply a stunner that calls for a dish with some fat: why not lobster?

    Benoit Déhu. This grower is all about texture, crafting cuvées from 100% Meunier grapes with low yields and low or no dosage, creating Champagnes that are intense and impressively vibrant. These Champagnes are very stylish and in minuscule quantities, earning Benoit a cult-like following. 

From a 1.7 hectare parcel of the same name, there is a beautiful tension here and such finesse in the mineral-driven mousse! This impressive energy makes me want to cook some Octopus a la plancha. Refreshing to drink on a sunny day outside.