How to Choose Champagne: NV, Vintage, Blanc de Blancs and Rosé
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Champagne labels use four or five terms repeatedly. Once you know what they mean, choosing takes thirty seconds.
NV, or non-vintage
Most champagne is a blend of several years, built so the house tastes the same every time you buy it. That consistency is the point. If you want a bottle that will be recognisable and reliable — an everyday bottle, or a gift where you cannot be sure of the recipient's taste — this is the safe choice.
Vintage
Made only from a single year, and only in years the house judges strong enough to declare. It spends longer ageing before release, and it costs more. Dom Pérignon is vintage-only — there is no non-vintage version.
Buy vintage when the occasion is the point, or when you want something to keep.
Blanc de Blancs
"White from whites" — made entirely from Chardonnay. Lighter and more precise than a blend led by Pinot Noir. This is the style to open before dinner, and it works particularly well with the food people actually eat in Hong Kong: oysters, sashimi, steamed fish, dim sum.
Ruinart Blanc de Blancs is the reference point.
Blanc de Noirs
"White from blacks" — made from black grapes (Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier) with no skin contact, so the wine stays pale. Fuller and rounder than Blanc de Blancs. Good at the table rather than only as an aperitif.
Rosé
Pink champagne, usually made by adding a little still red wine to the blend. It has more body than white champagne and handles richer food — roast duck, char siu, anything with soy and sugar.
Brut, Extra Brut, Demi-Sec
This is the sweetness scale, and it runs in a confusing direction. Extra Brut is the driest, Brut is the standard and what most champagne is, Demi-Sec is noticeably sweet and belongs with dessert rather than dinner.
If a label just says Brut, that is the normal one.
Grower champagne
Most famous champagne comes from houses that buy grapes from many growers. A grower champagne is made by the family that farms the vines. You will not recognise the name, the price is usually lower for the quality, and the wine tastes of one place rather than a house style.
Worth trying if you drink champagne often and want something that is not the same bottle everyone else opens. Not the right choice as a gift for someone you do not know well — an unfamiliar label reads as cheap even when it is not. See our selection.
How to serve it
- Temperature. Non-vintage: 8–10°C, properly cold. Vintage and prestige bottles: 10–12°C. Ice-cold flattens an expensive wine.
- Glass. A wine glass beats a flute. A flute looks better and hides everything the wine is doing.
- Opening. Hold the cork, turn the bottle. It should sigh rather than bang.
How long can you keep it?
Non-vintage champagne is released ready to drink and does not need cellaring — in Hong Kong's climate, drink it within a year or two of buying unless you have proper storage. Vintage champagne can age for a decade or more, but only if it is kept cool and dark. A hot cupboard will undo an expensive bottle faster than you would think.
