We will start with a royal bottle, the Bollinger La Grande Année 2014. In the Bollinger champagne collection, the Grande Année appellation only exists if the harvest offers the certainty of perfection. For these wines, vinification takes place in old oak barrels which ensure the finesse of the aromas.

For this Great Year 2014, a selection of 61% Pinot Noir and 39% Chardonnay was chosen. Wines from AY and Verzenay for the pinot noir, from Chouilly and Oiry for the Chardonnay; 79% are Grands Crus and 21% Premier Crus.

For this wine, the dosage of sugar used is 8 g per litre. We must remember the contrasting weather conditions that occurred in this cuvée: rainy winter, dry and sunny spring, a totally rainy summer to end with a perfect month of September.

Harvests that take place in just nine days and offer perfectly healthy raisins free of all parasitic threats. This is how this Great Year 2014 was born, which offers an intense and mineral wine.

The vinification in wooden barrels brings this superb, dense color with golden reflections just disturbed by a delicate rise of bubbles. The nose gives off aromas of intertwined fruit in which we can recognize citrus fruits, stone fruits and the very different scent of quince.

But it is in the mouth that this Great Year 2014 reveals its splendor. Fine and intense bubbles are the gateway to this exceptional wine. A nice length in the mouth, a gourmet texture, a length loaded with citrus fruits, fruits and slightly saline mineral notes.

A wine that should be tasted slowly in order to perceive all its facets. La Grande Année 2014 is an exceptional champagne that will accompany a refined meal and perfectly prepared fish. A luxurious box that can be found at good wine merchants for €147.

Champagne still vintage, with the Gosset Grand Millésime 2015 Brut. For this old house, the production of exceptional cuvées is almost second nature. The years are not alike and you should never miss the opportunity to create what will be a special cuvée.

As happens more and more often, the seasons are hectic and the harvest has brought some nice surprises and above all, perfect grapes. Enough to satisfy a wise cellar master who knows that this 2015 vintage will create a nice wine.

To design this 2015 vintage cuvée, Odilon de Varine, the cellar master of Maison Gosset, relied on 59% Pinot Noir and 41% Chardonnay with a dosage of 4 g of sugar per litre.

With its very lightly tinted gold color, it is a beautiful transparency that lets the net of bubbles escape in the glass. Fine and delicate bubbles that tickle the palate. The nose, fresh and sunny, reveals aromas of fruits from the garden.

On the palate, this Grand Millésime 2015 offers a fruity attack of ripe peaches, its length reveals all its minerality with a particularly invigorating saline note. This gastronomic wine will go perfectly with seafood or spicy cuisine. A strawberry salad, a rhubarb tart will also go well with this special Gosset cuvée. Grand Millésime 2015 Brut Gosset €62 at all good wine merchants.

In a different register, it is a cooperative wine that we also tell you. This is De Saint Gall, a brand of champagne owned by Union Champagne, a group of 15 cooperatives which undoubtedly prove the most beautiful grapes from the Grands Crus of the Côte des Blancs but also from the Montagne de Reims.

With its extra brut Blanc de Blancs, De Saint Gall offers an uncompromising champagne. 100% Chardonnay and dosed at 5 g of sugar per litre, it is currently in the minds of customers who are looking for very low-dosage wines that pair more easily with meals while offering the pleasure of bubbles.

A minimum dosage that involves the choice of quality raisins and careful vinification work. A straw yellow color which is accompanied by bubbles of a beautiful vivacity, is completed by a mineral and tangy nose. Mineral unit found in the approach in the mouth.

A champagne that will be ideal for the June celebrations around a buffet or a seafood platter. De Saint-Gall Blanc de Blancs extra brut, €38.90.

Joel Chassaing-Cuvillier