On the label, three letters and a consonant: RSRV. It stands for ‘réservé’ without the vowels, and this is what Mumm used to write on the bottles it kept for itself, its friends and its distinguished guests. Since 2017, this reserve has become a collection: four cuvées made exclusively from grand cru grapes, with low dosage, aged for longer than the Cordon Rouge, and sold far from supermarket shelves. This guide explains what sets them apart, cuvée by cuvée, with prices as recorded in our cellar.
G.H. Mumm and its reserve
The house was founded in Reims in 1827 by three German merchants: Gottlieb de Mumm, Friedrich Giesler and Jacques-Louis Bohne. The red ribbon across its bottle – the ribbon of the Legion of Honour, affixed as early as 1876 – has made it one of the world’s most recognisable champagnes, and today one of Pernod Ricard’s leading brands. RSRV is its other side. Whilst the Cordon Rouge blends around a hundred different wines, this collection draws exclusively from the grands crus: Cramant and Avize, on the chalk soils of the Côte des Blancs, for the Chardonnay; Verzenay, Aÿ, Bouzy and Ambonnay, on the clay-limestone soils of the Montagne de Reims, for the Pinot Noir. Dosage of 6 to 9 g/L, aged for four to six years in the cellar. Our article on the Champagne classification explains what ‘grand cru’ means; the one on Mumm’s Stellar champagne, designed for space, highlights the house’s penchant for the unexpected.
The collection at a glance
| Cuvée | Grape varieties and crus | Price | For |
|---|
| Cuvée 4.5 | 60% Pinot Noir, 40% Chardonnay, 5 grands crus | €49.90 (out of stock) | Aperitif, introductory |
| Foujita Rosé | Rosé, 6 grands crus | €59.50 | Aperitif, gift |
| Blanc de Noirs 2013 | 100% Pinot Noir, Verzenay | €74.90 | Dining, white meats |
| Cuvée Lalou 2008 | Prestige, 12 grand cru plots | €119.90 | Special occasions, for ageing |
Cuvée 4.5: the entry-level wine
The Cuvée 4.5 (€49.90) takes its name from its recipe: a minimum of four years’ ageing in the cellar, five grands crus, 60 per cent Pinot Noir and 40 per cent Chardonnay. Warm brioche, white peach, white flowers, toasted hazelnut, a full-bodied and fresh palate — this is the everyday RSRV, and the best way to appreciate, in a single glass, the difference between this and the Cordon Rouge. It’s currently out of stock here as we write; the following three cuvées are available.
Cuvée Foujita Rosé: the painter’s roses
The Cuvée Foujita Rosé (€59.50) features on its label the roses that Léonard Foujita, a Japanese painter of the École de Paris and a friend of the house, designed for Mumm in 1958. The wine is a blend of six grands crus: an intense pink colour with salmon-hued highlights, notes of golden brioche, vanilla, strawberry coulis and ripe red berries, with an immediate roundness underpinned by the freshness of the grands crus. A rosé from a prestigious house that makes an obvious gift — it features among the suggestions in our gift set guide — and compares favourably with the cellar’s other rosés.
Blanc de Noirs 2013: Verzenay, 100% Pinot
The Blanc de Noirs 2013 (€74.90) is a single-varietal Pinot Noir, vintage-dated, from the Verzenay grand cru on the northern slope of the Montagne de Reims — the village that produces Champagne’s most taut Pinot wines. Candied apricot, toasted brioche, dried fruit, vanilla; a clean, structured attack, fresh acidity and a long, mineral finish. It’s the go-to wine for the table: roast poultry, veal, mushrooms. Our other ‘blancs de noirs’ provide a context for this wine, ranging from small-scale winemakers to the great houses.
Cuvée Lalou 2008: the prestige cuvée
The Cuvée Lalou 2008 (€119.90) is named after René Lalou, president of Mumm from 1920 to 1973, who created it in 1969; the house reintroduced it in 2006, produced exclusively in great vintages, from twelve grand cru plots. 2008 is a legendary vintage in Champagne — the year of the great Cristal and Dom Pérignon (see our Cristal and Dom Pérignon guides). A luminous golden colour; an elegant, subtle reduction on opening, followed by fresh butter, milky caramel and mirabelle plum, with a complexity that unfolds in the glass. For its price, it is one of the most accessible prestige cuvées in our cellar, and one of the most ready to drink: fifteen years old, with another ten ahead of it. Six bottles in stock; our other vintage wines are here.
Which RSRV cuvée for which occasion?
Aperitif: Cuvée 4.5 when it’s back in stock, Foujita Rosé in the meantime. Meal: Blanc de Noirs 2013 with poultry or a hard cheese, Cuvée Lalou 2008 with a festive dish — lobster, sweetbreads. Gift: Foujita Rosé for the label and the story behind it, Lalou 2008 to mark a special occasion. Cellar: Lalou 2008, ten years; Blanc de Noirs 2013, five years; the others are best enjoyed now.
Serving and storage
Serve Cuvée 4.5 and Foujita Rosé at 8 °C; Blanc de Noirs and Cuvée Lalou at 10 °C, in a white wine glass, and open the Lalou half an hour beforehand to allow its reduction to fade. Store bottles horizontally, in the dark, at between 10 and 12 °C (our advice). The prices shown are those recorded in our cellar on the date of publication; RSRV is a limited-release collection, and quantities are limited.
