Drink Prestige Cuvée Champagne before you die! Why?
This is the pinnacle of luxury beverages. Plus, you don't want to end up like John Maynard Keynes with your only regret in life being that you didn't drink more Champagne!
Champagne is what most would call a luxury
wine. And, prestige cuvée champagne is the most luxurious of the luxurious. A
prestige cuvée is a producer's flagship wine—a wine to represent the pinnacle
of their range. Unless, of course, you’re Krug, then you only create a prestige cuvée.
There’s a lot of these to
choose from and, as the name would suggest, most are pretty expensive. But,
unlike say many cult wines and Grand Cru Burgundies, there’s usually a
reasonable amount to go around so are usually fairly accessible around the
globe.
I’ve often tried a standard
Champagne and thought, Ah, this is the life. But, prestige cuvée Champagnes really are next level. Here are some of my picks:
Roeder – Cristal
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| Roeder's Cristal |
The original prestige cuvée . Created in 1876 to satisfy the demanding tastes, and ego, of Russian
Tsar, Alexander II. The Tsar had asked Louis Roederer to reserve the House’s
best cuvée for him every year. To distinguish the Tsar’s wine, and no doubt
flatter his ego, the special cuvée was put in super-special flat bottomed
crystal bottles. Legend has it, this was done so the paranoid royal could see
if it had been tampered with. Others suggest it was so his courtiers would have
no doubt they were drinking a special wine not commercially available. Of course, the Russian revolution in 1917 meant Roeder lost both its sole customer of Cristal but also its priniple export market. But, demand for this legendary wine was strong and incessant. So, in 1924, Roeder re-released the famous Cristal wine and this time, thankfully, not limiting its availability to a single customer. Typically a blend of 60% pinot noir and 40% chardonnay. Roeder's current super-skilled chef de cave, Jean-Baptiste Lécaillon, says that, with Cristal, they want to "produce a wine with density and energy that’s clean, pure, precise and aromatic". And, that, it sure is and a whole lot more.
Click here to find a bottle near you, today!
Moët & Chandon – Dom Perignon
Cristal may have been the
first prestige champagne. But, it was Moet’s Dom Perignon that made it a thing.
The wine was first marketed in 1928, exclusively in England and the United
States, and was only made available in France in the 1940s. Virtually all the
grand Champagne houses had long produced special cuvées for their own private
use, but Dom’s success inspired them to expand production and introduce these
wines commercially in the 1960s and 1970s.
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Pol Roger – Sir Winston Churchill
The home of Champagne Pol Roger is at 44 Avenue de Champagne which Winston Churchill
famously proclaimed “the most drinkable address in the world”. He
certainly had a fondness for the stuff having been report to of
consumed more than 42,000 bottles of the stuff in his life time. Created
in homage to Sir Winston Churchill after his death, mindful of the qualities
that he preferred in his champagne: robustness, a full-bodied
character and relative maturity. As such, it contains over 80% Pinot Noir,
and, before release, spends a minimum of 10 years ageing on its lees in Pol
Roger’s cellars in Epernay.
Click here to find a bottle near you, today! Taittinger – Comtes de
Champagne
“I’ll take Taittinger blanc
de blancs … It is not well known, but it is the best champagne in the world” - James Bond, in Casino Royale by Ian Flemming, 1951. The
Comtes de Champagne moniker was not applied until 1952 but Taittinger was
Bond’s, and Flemming’s, favorite Champagne house. This is finely aromatic,
rich, creamy Blanc de Blancs at its best, generous, yet supple expression of chardonnay
balanced with pitch-perfect tension and acidity.
Click here to find a bottle near you, today! Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin –
La Grande Dame
Nicole Barbe Clicquot (nee
Ponsardin) was a phenomenal woman, and a widow to boot (hence the Veuve bit of
the name...veuve being French for widow). She was a driving force
for Champagne’s association with high society, getting her sparkling wine into
just about every royal court in Europe and even defied Napoleon’s blockades to
ship wine to Russia. She was also responsible for many innovations that has
shaped the Champagne we drink today. Being the first to produce a rosé and
vintage champagne. She developed the riddling technique that helps clarify
champagne and developed efficiencies that helped reduce production costs. La
Grande Dame is Veuve Cliquot’s prestige cuvee to honor this pioneering woman.
Click here to find a bottle near you, today!
