News – Sip Champagnes

A brief history of the Côte des Bar

A brief history of the Côte des Bar

Isolated from the remainder of the appellation, the Côte des Bar – which falls in the larger ‘Aube’ region of Champagne – is around 100 miles south...

Domaine des Tuileries – the next big side project?

Champagne Alexis, Gaspard Brochet, Famille Delouvin, Remy Lequeux-Mercier. Aside from being great winemakers, what else do they have in common? Bel...

Single parcel

What is a ‘Lieu-Dit’ or Single-Vineyard Champagne?

For most of its life, Champagne has just been ‘Champagne’. Specifically, where the bottle in your hand actually comes from within the strictly-deli...

How to Identify Champagne Faults

The last thing anybody expects from a bottle of Champagne is a fault, but there’s nothing stopping even the most illustrious sparkling wines from d...

Champagne's soil – Is it really all about chalk?

The word ‘terroir’ gets bandied around a great deal in the world of wine. A French word with no true English equivalent, it broadly encompasses all...

What is lees ageing and why is it important?

You’ll likely have spotted the words ‘sur lie’ (translation ‘on the lees), printed on labels of, not only Champagne, but wine in general. In this a...

Your Champagne Questions Answered

Be it art, music, sport or, in this case, Champagne, a better understanding of a particular passion in life generally increases the pleasure and en...

Biodynamic Champagne

How do you choose a truly sustainable champagne?

Champagne is in the midst of a power struggle... On the one hand, there’s pure commerce. Champagne sales reached six billion Euros for the first ti...

Brut Nature

Sugar in Champagne

Sugar is one of the most misunderstood topics in wine, and Champagne finds itself in the crosshairs more often than most thanks to the role of ‘dos...

How is Oak used in Champagne?

Say ‘oaky’ to most wine drinkers and they’ll think of big reds and creamy, rich whites. Even in Champagne, though, oak can sometimes go a long way ...

non-vintage champagne

What is Non-Vintage Champagne?

Non-Vintage. Brut Sans Année. Entry-level. There are few ways of describing the largest category of wines in Champagne without sounding a little…no...

Échelle des Crus

Stepping off the ladder – Champagne's Grand and Premier Crus

Many of Europe’s most celebrated wine regions ‘classify’ their wines, offering (in theory) a suggestion of where a bottle might sit in a region-wid...

Grande Marques

Who made my Champagne?

What does the name on a bottle of Champagne actually mean? A person, a family, an estate or perhaps a company? Brands want us to feel like we know ...

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