On December 3, the New York Wine Media Guild held its annual tasting—from wines to champagne—at Felidia restaurant in Manhattan. It was quite the event.
This year, Ed McCarthy—who is known as “Mr. Champagne” for his expertise in decoding the mysteries of champagne to many happy initiates via his best-selling guide, “Champagne for Dummies”—rounded up 16 of the brightest and best examples of “Blanc de Blancs” (translation, “white of whites”) champagnes. These are all made from 100 percent chardonnay grapes grown on the Côte des Blancs, or the coast of whites—champagne’s warmest growing area, occupying the hills south of Épernay, France.
By law, the wines of Champagne are defined by territory and by variety. Only chardonnay, pinot noir and pinot meunier—the latter two both red-skinned grapes—may be used in the region’s sparkling wines, most of which are blends of the three varieties and also blends of several vintages. Because Champagne is the farthest north of any wine region, its growers struggle to ripen their fruit and, in fact, their sparkling wines are an adaptation of techniques that evolved since the end of the 18th century to create a luxury product out of unripe fruit.
Early champagnes were sparkling only because they were made in such cold cellars that they were still fermenting when they were bottled. With screechingly high acidity, they had to be sweet to be palatable, and the flavor of yeast was more important than the flavor of fruit.
It was the beginning of the 19th century, or the dawn of “science,” when producers including “The Widow” Veuve Clicquot figured out how to measure added sugar to produce exact carbon dioxide pressure in bottled, re-fermented wines. Until thick, industrially molded glass was invented, up to 80 percent of champagne bottles would explode in the cellars. Even today, although the bottle fermentation of champagne is as controlled as possible, sparkling wine producers expect some loss from random explosions.
Mr. McCarthy explained during the tasting that the chardonnay-based blanc de blancs champagnes represent only 5 percent of the region’s wines. Only the warmest slopes produce chardonnay of sufficient character for sparkling wine (though still under-ripe for still wine, at about 18 percent sugar before fermentation). The chardonnay of the Côte des Blancs is the scarcest and most expensive fruit in Champagne, so the largest houses do not produce blanc de blancs at all.
With global climate change, all of Champagne’s grapes are becoming riper, making it possible for the region’s wines to be made with the addition of less residual sugar, allowing some of the fruit character and richness to dictate the style of the wines, rather than depending on sugar alone to balance acidity.
One wine in particular at the tasting illustrated a riper, more fruit-driven style: the 2002 blanc de blancs made by Pascal Doquet, a young biodynamic grower/producer whom I visited in 2010. Whether it’s by following the moon’s phases, spraying with crystals, or just having a green thumb, Mr. Doquet makes audacious magic in the bottle.
The best of the other champagnes at the tasting were more intricately yeast- and age-driven. Always a favorite of mine for its lean, dry style is Ayala’s 2007, which showed razor-sharp purity. Champagne Pol Roger’s 2004 vintage was also bracingly refreshing, delicious right now.
Mr. McCarthy called Taittinger “king of the blanc de blancs” for taking the lead with chardonnay since 1957. The Taittinger 2005 Comtes des Champagne was textured and nutty; a more classic style, as was the elegant Bruno Paillard Reserve Privee.
Here on Long Island, several producers who make sparkling wine rely on chardonnay, mostly because pinot noir is scarce (and meunier is almost non-existent, with the notable exception of Pindar’s excellent Cuvée Rare). Asked about the essential difference between blanc de blancs bubbly and pinot noir-based sparkling wine, winemaker Eric Fry at the Lenz Winery in Peconic told me, “With chardonnay you can get elegant, lean, austere characters, but they don’t come from the fruit. They come from the fermentation. Pinot noir gives more structure. It has a rich, sour cherry character.”
Because Lenz grows its own pinot noir, Mr. Fry has the luxury of making a pinot-based bubbly, which he finds more interesting. But the Lenz 2010 Cuvée is almost sold out, and he’d like to make a blanc de blancs to give consumers a choice.
Lieb Cellars in Mattituck produces an unusual blanc de blancs sparkling wine. It’s based on pinot blanc, a chardonnay cousin that, picked early for sparkling wine, offers fresh green apple aromas with a fine yeasty flavor—referencing the classic blanc de blancs of Champagne.
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