Over the past year, The World of Fine Wine has published hundreds of our writers’ notes and scores on Champagne. Here we pick out some of the most notable and admired bottles that appeared in print and online in 2024.
Montagne de Reims Chardonnay: Compelling
In October, Essi Avellan MW introduced a tasting of Montagne de Reims Chardonnay shared with fellow revelers Simon Field MW and Anthony Rose, that shed new light on the distinctive blanc de blancs from the north of the region and revealed them as coming in darker but equally exhilarating shades of pale.
“The tasting ended up being a celebration of terroir Champagnes. To nobody’s surprise, the grand cru terroirs fared brilliantly, with Ambonnay (Marguet Le Parc) and Bouzy (Pierre Paillard Les Mottelettes) cuvées making it into the top four. But it was not all about grands crus, as Hugues Godmé Les Alouettes St Bets from premier cru Villers-Marmery, and Chartogne-Taillet Chemin de Reims from the Autre Cru of Merfy, did equally well. The top four wines all came from two great Champagne vintages: the intense yet refined 2019 and the fruit-forward and generous 2012. It was fascinating to taste a few more mature Champagnes in the lineup. Both Pierre Paillard Les Mottelettes 2012 and Hugues Godmé Les Alouettes St Bets 2012 were showing beautifully and approaching their peaks, giving a good indication of the aging capacity of good Montagne de Reims Chardonnays.
“Many of these cuvées serve as the top of producers’ ranges and are priced accordingly. Vilmart Blanc de Blancs Les Blanches Voies represents the high end of the price spectrum, with its €250 tag. Looking specifically for value for money, the Non-Vintage cuvées Penet-Chardonnet Terroir & Sens Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs (around €65) and A Margaine L’Extra-Brut NV (€40) would prove to be great purchases.
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“What about the taste profile, then? Distinctly different from the Côte des Blancs, for sure, many wines showed broader body and richer texture, with less dominant acid lines and a riper fruitiness verging toward exotic, compared to the classic Côte des Blancs benchmark style. The most notable exceptions were the cuvées from north-facing terroirs—Vilmart Les Blanches Voies and the two Penet-Chardonnets—which came with briskness and saline drive, amplified further by their blocked malolactic fermentations. ”
Champagne Chartogne-Taillet Chemin de Reims Blanc de Blancs Extra Brut 2019 (12.5% ABV) |93
EA | Pale lemon color. Fine-tuned, detailed nose, which is lightly and elegantly oak-lined. Pristine, vanilla-laden fruitiness. Lemon sherbet, cotton candy, pear, and white apricot. Full of life on the refined lightweight, airy palate. Meticulously crafted in a more subtle style, with fine handling of oak and no oxidative tones. A pretty and delicate Champagne, with an invigorating finish. 2024–30. | 94
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SF | Soft straw color, lively and persistent mousse. Complex nose: hazelnut, stone fruit, tobacco, and quince; generous and allusive. The palate is equally impressive, marrying the precocity of gilded youth to a harmonious structural integration; yeasty weight and potential, and the ripe benison of high-quality Chardonnay seemingly from an excellent site. | 93
AR | This pale golden Chardonnay is a tad subdued in aroma, though there are some subtle background leesy notes if you look hard enough for them. There’s a fine mousse that attacks and dissolves on the tongue with myriad, rich, ripe flavors of orchard apples and zesty, citrus fruit acidity, all in balance in a Champagne with a double textural quality—initially, that cushion of bubbles, and on the finish, a light grip of balancing bitterness that works well to create a real crowd-pleaser of a Champagne. 2024–32. | 92
Once upon a time: 2004 Champagne
In June, Tom Stevenson marked 20 years since the first issue of The World of Fine Wine by looking back at 2004 Champagne—and picking out some of his favorite wines from the vintage.
“What better way to celebrate WFW’s 20th anniversary than with the best Champagnes of its launch year, 2004? It was a unique vintage in the history of Champagne—a year that was born from extraordinary circumstance and known for its huge crop. Averaging 23,000 kilos or 144 hectoliters per hectare, 2004 Champagne was more than one and a half times the maximum allowed for a lowly Vin de Table. Ironically, had it been Vin de Table, the entire crop would have been carted off to the distillery…
“Looking back over 20 years of notes, to see which 2004 Champagnes promised the most potential and stood the test of time, I ended up with 16 standouts. After a comparative tasting of historic disgorgements of 12 of these in both bottle and magnum (four were unavailable), only seven survived, and not all of those in both bottle formats. The five that did not make it are not failures, as they were all stunning in their day—some until very recently. They have now, however, succumbed to oxidation. A score of 100 here is the pinnacle of what could be achieved in the 2004 vintage.”
45% Chardonnay, 55% Pinot Noir; 12% ABV; 9g/l TS
The laser-like focus, sheer finesse, and beauty of this wine have been strikingly evident since the get-go and remain so to this day—and that’s the 75cl bottle. The magnum is so fresh and full of gorgeously pristine fruit that it is all too easy to overlook its complexity. Mesmerizing. | 99
2004 Roederer Cristal Rosé Brut
40% Chardonnay, 60% Pinot Noir; 12% ABV; 9g/l TS
Ridiculously fresh and young for its 20 years, with soft, sweet, vanilla-dusted Turkish-delight fruit riding on a gravity-defying cushiony mousse—and again, that’s just the 75cl bottle. One day I should drink, not just taste, this in magnum against a magnum of 2002 Cristal Rosé; or maybe not, since that would produce a winner, when I prefer to think that they are both the best! | 100
2014 and 2015 Champagne: Chalk and cheese
How do the wines of a vintage produced in “classic” conditions compare to those from a year more in keeping with the new, warmer normal in Champagne, asked Essi Avellan MW back in February. She was joined by Simon Field MW and Tom Hewson for a tasting that suggested the differences are more stylistic than qualitative.
“Overall, the 2014s performed according to expectations, the wines being brightly fruity and fresh, with more classically lean structures and appealing lightness. I scored two 2014s very highly, but overall, they performed well while seldom excelling. Their current overtness and immediate appeal do make one wonder about the longevity of the wines, but at least, so far, all looks satisfying for them, with no obvious concerns.
“Clearly capable of both highs and lows, the 2015 vintage occupied the top position in the tasting but also the eight lowest positions. The ash-like aromas were detected by all three tasters on certain wines. I find the aroma to detract from a wine’s purity—and the following austerity on the palate to compromise its finesse. Yet I was pleased to find many wines totally free from this character, and the hope must be that further post-disgorgement aging will build richness over the austerity on many more of them. For the rest, I didn’t let this aroma alone spoil a wine for me (despite being a sucker for purity), because there were clearly good elements in the wines, too, especially on the palate.”
Ruinart Millésime Brut Champagne France 2015 (12.5% ABV) | 94
EA | Pale lemon color. Beautifully toast-complexed nose, with smoky-reductive and florally fragrant tones overlying the pristine orchard fruit core. The palate matches the nose with the fine, cushiony quality of the mousse and pristine, cool, and crunchy fruitiness. Good freshness and succulent fruitiness add on the wine’s deliciousness. A very good effort for the vintage. | 95
SF | Green-gold, with a generous, semi-savory aromatic; umami, quince, and even a hint of white truffle. Broader than many on the palate, but not at the expense of a rigorous and pleasing structure, deferential to the warm vintage in terms of ripeness, but constrained by the rigor of its own construction. Distinctive and not without distinction. | 95
TH | A beautifully exotic, almost dramatic nose of gunflint, mango, clementine, and blossom, this is a surprisingly svelte and brightly toned 2015 of notable refinement, subtly backed up by delicate lees-aging textural interest. The heat of the year is muted, teased into precise tropical fruits and finessed, smoky, charry notes, carefully balanced; impressive. 2023–28. | 93
Taittinger Brut Millésime Champagne France 2014
(12.5% ABV) | 94
EA | Deep lemon color. Gorgeously charred nose, with toasty, spicy, and sweetly fruity layers. Tropical fruit meets vanilla and exotic spices. Pristine fruitiness and sweet charm promise a lot for the palate. Very intense on the rich palate, which gets cut by a fine, racy acid line. Immediately impressive, with plenty of toasty wow factor and a juicy, flowing, long finish. Drinking perfectly but comes with further potential. 2023–28. | 96
SF | Straw-citric color, small bubbles; a nose of gunflint and quince, therefore reductive of inclination. Billows beautifully on the palate and not solely as a result of a generous dosage; quality of fruit, encyclopedic in intent, is the star here, and the result is more than agreeable. Approachable now and for several years henceforward, such is the quality of the composition. | 95
TH | Svelte, reductive style here, fragrant with bergamot and tropical nuances, almost toward passion fruit. Airy, bright, and elegant on the palate, Chardonnay leading here with delicacy and precision. Charming. | 92
Pol Roger Cuvée Sir Winston Churchill: Easily satisfied with the best
In June, Simon Field MW reported from a thrilling tasting of all 21 released vintages of Pol Roger Cuvée Sir Winston Churchill.
“Champagne imparts a feeling of exhilaration. The nerves are braced, the imagination is equally stirred, the wits become more nimble.” So said Sir Winston Churchill, in praise of his favorite tipple. And so, to Stockholm once again, one’s wits most definitely nimble in a winter that is cold even by Swedish standards. To the ancient central wine merchant Vinkällaren Grappe, and to a rare—an exceptionally rare—tasting of all 21 vintages of Pol Roger’s deluxe cuvée Sir Winston Churchill, named for you know who. This is a Champagne celebrated for its intensity, for its forthright and robust Pinot power—well named, therefore. While most deluxe cuvées (Dom Pérignon the exemplar) cleave to a Socratic balance between Pinot and Chardonnay, and many celebrate the ineluctable elegance of Chardonnay (Comtes de Champagne the flag-bearer), it falls to Sir Winston Churchill to defend the underdog, Pinot Noir. Who better? Our hostess, once again, is the redoubtable Marina Olsson, surely one of the world’s most passionate and punctilious, not to say generous and gracious, Champagne collectors. We taste the wines in six flights, semi-blind. (We know which wines are to feature in each flight, but not their running order.) Outside, it snows, but everyone is animated, all the more so because it is Nobel Prize week.”
2002 Pol Roger Cuvée Sir Winston Churchill
In an apparent role reversal with the 2008—in terms of expectation, at least—the 2002 is initially shy, with flinty, soft-stone notes only gradually revealing themselves and then a linear, cerebral structure, thrillingly balanced and beautifully composed. Only with a little air do the red fruits emerge, with hints of redcurrant and morello cherry, primary and precise, a gently creamy backdrop and a balletic poise underscoring the thrilling dénouement. | 98
