Need help? Call +44 (0)20 7793 7900 or email wine@goedhuiswaddesdon.com.
This classic blend of Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier and Chardonnay is deeply structured for a non-vintage cuvée. Brilliant golden straw colour, it possesses a lovely weight of fruit. Mouthcoating and focused with good fruit concentration. Its complexity on the finish reflects an additional period of bottle age which affords the wine great length and class.
This classic blend of Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier and Chardonnay is deeply structured for a non-vintage cuvée. Brilliant golden straw colour, it possesses a lovely weight of fruit. Mouthcoating and focused with good fruit concentration. Its complexity on the finish reflects an additional period of bottle age which affords the wine great length and class.
The NV Brut Reserve is finessed in expression of honeyed apricots and freshly baked biscuits. This gorgeous, mid-weight wine showcases the qualities of Meunier, which make up 45% of the blend, while Pinot Noir (30%) and Chardonnay (25%) play a supporting role. This bottling of the Brut Reserve is mostly 2005 juice, with the addition of 20% reserve wines.
I drink this regularly and always enjoy it. Wonderful aromas of light dough, fresh flowers, and sliced pears and peaches. Full-bodied yet agile and fresh, it shows layers of marvelous light tropical fruit and cream with hints of dough on the finish. Mostly 2011 with some reserve wines. From 47% pinot meunier, 30% chardonnay and the rest pinot noir. Bottled April 2012.
Its blend has remained unchanged since 1945: grapes from three different years - Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Pinot Meunier, from the best sites of the Marne. This cuvée stands out by the finesse of its slowly rising bubbles and persistent mousse. A full, vinous attack followed by a fine freshness and a rich bouquet bear witness to the ageing of this cuvee in the House'straditional cellars. It is round, harmonious and balanced.
Champagne, the world's greatest sparkling wine, needs little introduction - with imitations produced in virtually every country capable of growing grapes, including such unlikely candidates as India and China. The Champagne region, to the north of Paris, has the most northerly vineyards in France, with vines grown on slopes with a southerly exposure to maximise sunlight. The soil is chalky, providing an excellent balance of drainage and water retention. The key to the wine is in the cellar - the bubbles result from a second fermentation in the bottle and the rich toasty flavours in great Champagne come from extended bottle ageing on the yeasty lees. Until the eighteenth century, the wines produced in the Champagne area were light acidic white wines, with no hint of sparkle. However glass and closure technology developed at that time and it was not long before Dom Perignon, a Benedictine monk at the Abbey of Hautvilliers, started experimenting with blends and produced the first recognisable champagne. In a world accustomed to still wines, the advent of champagne was almost a flop. It was saved when it became fashionable at the French court as a result of Louis XV's mistress Madame de Pompadour commenting "Champagne is the only wine that lets a woman remain beautiful after she has drunk it." And the rest is history, with famous (or infamous) champagne lovers including Casanova, Dumas, Wagner, Winston Churchill, James Bond and Coco Chanel.
