Le blog

In Cumières, Jean-Baptiste Geoffroy works 35 plots in a mosaic across south-east-facing slopes, and refuses malolactic fermentation to preserve the tension of the terroir. Four cuvées are available from us: here is what each one reveals about this premier cru of the Marne Valley.

De Sousa cultivates 9.5 hectares of grand cru vineyards in Avize, in the heart of the Côte des Blancs, using biodynamic methods long before they became fashionable. Old vines, indigenous yeasts, no fining or filtration: these are the characteristics of each cuvée, and a good place to start when exploring the estate.

Demeter-certified since 2003, Leclerc Briant was practising biodynamic viticulture before the term became a selling point. The Épernay-based house keeps dosage to a minimum, vinifies each plot separately, and ages one cuvée at the bottom of the Atlantic. Here’s how to navigate its range, and where to start.

Louis Roederer is the great house that most resembles a winegrower: it owns its own vineyards, vinifies its grapes plot by plot, and is answerable to no one. Its range is divided into four tiers — the non-vintage Collection, the vintage wines, Philippe Starck’s Brut Nature and Cristal. Here’s what sets them apart, and which one to open.

Champagne is the corporate gift that needs no explaining: it evokes celebration, France and thoughtfulness, without ever being in poor taste. However, you still need to choose the right budget, the right bottle and stick to the rules. Here is our 2026 guide: how much to budget per person, the gift sets that are always a hit, gifts that make an impression, the menu, tax implications and delivery.

Champagne has long been one of the most heavily treated wine-growing regions in France. A handful of winegrowers took the opposite approach as early as the 1960s, and today they produce some of the appellation’s most vibrant champagnes. What ‘organic’ and ‘biodynamic’ mean, how they affect the wine in the glass, and our thirty certified cuvées, listed by price.

A white champagne made exclusively from black grapes: this is the ‘blanc de noirs’, the opposite of the ‘blanc de blancs’ and, for a long time, the poor relation of Champagne. It has become the favourite cuvée amongst lovers of everyday champagnes. What it is, what it tastes like, what to pair it with, and eighteen cuvées from our cellar, ranging from a winemaker’s Meunier at €32 to a Pinot Noir from a single vineyard produced by the great houses.

There is the Clos des Goisses — a 45-degree slope of pure chalk, facing due south over the Marne Canal, producing the appellation’s most powerful champagne — and there is everything else Philipponnat produces alongside it: a Pinot Noir-dominated Royale Réserve, a vintage Grand Blanc, and a Cuvée 1522 named after the year the family arrived in Aÿ. Here is the range, with prices from our cellar.

Lafite, Mouton, Clarke: the three branches of the Rothschild family, rivals in Bordeaux for a century and a half, have come to an agreement on just one occasion — to produce champagne. Since 2005, Barons de Rothschild has been producing a small range, dominated by Chardonnay from the Côte des Blancs, and crowned by a Clos de Vertus vinified separately. Here are the five cuvées in our cellar, with their prices.

Bruno Paillard is the most recent of the leading Champagne houses to be established — in 1981 — and one of the most rigorous: first pressing only, a perpetual reserve since 1985, low dosages, and the disgorgement date printed on every bottle. Here is its range, from the Première Cuvée to the N.P.U., showing what’s in the glass and the prices from our cellar.

Everyone is familiar with the Cordon Rouge. Few people know that behind this ribbon, Mumm keeps a collection that the house used to reserve for its friends: RSRV, four cuvées made exclusively from grand cru grapes, with low dosage, and aged for four to six years. Here’s what they’re worth, what sets them apart, and which one to choose.

Gosset has been selling wine in Aÿ since 1584, eighty years before Champagne became sparkling. From this long history, the house has retained a traditional bottle shape, a distinctive method — no malolactic fermentation, a minimum of four years’ cellaring — and a style characterised by tension and fruitiness that is instantly recognisable in a blind tasting. Here is its range, cuvée by cuvée, with prices from our cellar.