A Guide to Champagne

Champagne remains the world’s most iconic and revered sparkling wine, synonymous with both heritage and innovation. At Bordeaux Index, we hold one of the most extensive collections of Prestige Cuvée Champagnes, from iconic houses to sought-after grower-producers.

Through our LiveTrade platform, clients have instant access to buy and sell the leading names in Champagne, from the latest releases to rare, mature parcels with impeccable provenance. No other merchant combines such a range of stock, market liquidity, and direct access, making Bordeaux Index the definitive destination for serious Champagne collectors and connoisseurs. 

An Introduction to Champagne

Champagne is renowned worldwide for the remarkable breadth of its styles, ranging from rich, vinous and full-bodied to taut, mineral, and saline. At its heart lie the great houses, whose consistency and signature blends have defined Champagne for centuries, alongside the ever-growing movement of grower-producers. These growers cultivate and vinify their own grapes, crafting Champagnes that are often more terroir-driven, individual, and reflective of specific parcels of land, in contrast to the timeless house styles of the grandes marques. By law, Champagne must be produced within the strictly delimited region centred around Reims and Épernay, and exclusively from a handful of different varieties, the principle three being Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Pinot Meunier, ensuring both authenticity and regional integrity.

Arguably, no other wine embodies such a strong identity: Champagne is inseparable from the notion of celebration and prestige. While its effervescence was originally an accident of secondary fermentation, its association with revelry, luxury, and the art de vivre was carefully cultivated by the region’s pioneers. Today, it remains not only a benchmark for sparkling wine but also a cultural symbol.

A Brief History of Champagne 

Until the late 17th century, Champagne was known as a still wine. Around this time, vintners from Limoux to London discovered that if the wine was bottled soon after fermentation, a natural effervescence would develop. This was soon refined by deliberately adding a little extra sugar and yeast, with the aid of newly designed, thicker glass bottles capable of withstanding the significant internal pressure.

The sparkling style quickly caught the attention of the French Royal Court. For centuries, the coronations of French monarchs had been held in Reims Cathedral, in the heart of the Champagne region, and this regal association gave the wine instant prestige. Its reputation was further burnished at the extravagant fêtes of Louis XV at Versailles, where Champagne flowed in abundance. By the late 19th century, in the high-living belle époque of Paris, Champagne houses had masterfully positioned their wines as the essential drink for any celebration. This image has endured into the present day, helping to fuel global consumption of over 300 million bottles annually.

The Champagne Region

Geographically, the Champagne region is divided into four principal vineyard areas, each with its own distinctive character and grape specialisation.

Montagne de Reims – located just south of the city of Reims, is famed for its high-quality Pinot Noir.

Côte des Blancs – situated south of Champagne’s other commercial hub, Épernay, is planted almost exclusively to Chardonnay. The region’s gently sloping, chalk-rich vineyards- particularly around villages such as Cramant, Avize, and Oger - yield wines of remarkable elegance, finesse, and minerality.

Vallée de la Marne – runs along the banks of the Marne River and is the principal source of Pinot Meunier.

Côte des Bar – approximately 120 km south of Reims, is often overlooked but accounts for roughly 20% of Champagne production.

Across these regions, Champagne’s 319 villages benefit from exceptional terroir. The ubiquitous chalk and limestone soils provide excellent drainage while retaining moisture during dry periods, contributing both minerality and balance to the wines. Among these villages, 17 are classified as Grand Cru and 42 as Premier Cru, reflecting centuries of careful vineyard evaluation.

The Grapes of Champagne

While Champagne can be crafted from a single grape variety - such as Blanc de Blancs (100% Chardonnay) or Blanc de Noirs (100% Pinot Noir or Pinot Meunier) - the region is predominantly defined by blends of its three principal grapes.

Chardonnay - Grown at what is considered the northern limit of viable viticulture, Chardonnay naturally develops high acidity, which is critical for both freshness and ageing potential. Champagnes with a significant proportion of Chardonnay tend to exhibit lightness, finesse, and floral or citrus notes, preventing the final blend from becoming heavy or flabby. In prestige cuvées and Blanc de Blancs, Chardonnay often provides the backbone for extended bottle ageing, allowing the development of nuanced autolytic (lees-driven) flavours. 

Pinot Noir - The most widely planted grape in Champagne, Pinot Noir is central to the wine’s structure and depth. It imparts body, richness, and complexity, providing the backbone to blends and contributing weightier red fruit and subtle spice notes. Pinot Noir is also responsible for much of the textural complexity in rosé Champagnes, where it can be used either through blending or the saignée method. 

Pinot Meunier – Often underestimated, Pinot Meunier accounts for roughly one-third of plantings and brings a softer, fruit-forward profile. Its naturally higher acidity compared to Pinot Noir adds brightness and approachability, especially in wines that include little or no Chardonnay. Meunier tends to mature earlier than the other varieties, lending early-drinking qualities and roundness that balance the structure of the blend. 

Together, these three grapes allow winemakers to craft Champagnes with remarkable versatility - from light, crisp Blanc de Blancs to rich, structured blends - each expressing a delicate interplay of freshness, fruit, and complexity that is unique to the region. 

Champagne: The Winemaking Process

The production of Champagne is governed by strict regulations that preserve its quality and authenticity. After the harvest, grapes undergo a gentle pressing to avoid colour extraction from black-skinned varieties like Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier. Base wines are vinified separately by grape, parcel, and sometimes even fermentation vessel, allowing for a wide palette of blending options. The blending stage, or assemblage, is central to Champagne, as winemakers create a consistent house style or capture the essence of a particular vintage.  

The second fermentation occurs in the bottle after the addition of liqueur de tirage (a mixture of sugar and yeast), producing carbon dioxide and thus the iconic bubbles. Extended ageing on the lees imparts notes of brioche, biscuit, and complexity. When maturation is complete, bottles are riddled and disgorged to expel the lees, then topped up with a dosage that determines the final sweetness.  

The combination of precise technique, long ageing, and blending artistry is what makes Champagne incomparable among sparkling wines. 

Champagne: Styles of Champagne 

Champagne encompasses a spectrum of styles, each shaped by grape composition, vintage conditions, and winemaking decisions. Non-Vintage Champagne, the backbone of most houses, blends multiple years to achieve a consistent signature style.  

Vintage Champagne, produced only in exceptional years, reflects the unique character of that harvest and often benefits from extended ageing potential. Blanc de Blancs, made entirely from Chardonnay, tends to highlight finesse, citrus, and minerality, while Blanc de Noirs, made exclusively from Pinot Noir and/or Pinot Meunier, emphasises richness, red fruit, and body.  

Rosé Champagne can be crafted either by blending still red wine into white Champagne or through the saignée method, which extracts colour and flavour from macerated skins, resulting in styles that range from delicate to vinous. Finally, sweetness levels (Brut Nature, Extra Brut, Brut, Extra Dry, Sec, Demi-Sec, and Doux) are dictated by the dosage, ensuring Champagne can be tailored for both aperitif and gastronomy. 

Champagne’s Iconic Houses

The grandes maisons, or historic Champagne houses, form the backbone of the region’s global identity. Houses such as Bollinger, Louis Roederer, Krug, Pol Roger, Veuve Clicquot and Dom Pérignon not only pioneered techniques in blending and large-scale production but also created instantly recognisable styles that embody luxury and refinement.  

Each house maintains extensive reserves of older wines to ensure consistency in its non-vintage blends, a hallmark of their craftsmanship. Prestige cuvées like Dom Pérignon, Cristal (Louis Roederer), and La Grande Dame (Veuve Clicquot) represent the pinnacle of winemaking, often sourced from the finest vineyards and aged for many years before release. These Maisons have been instrumental in shaping Champagne’s reputation as the drink of kings, aristocrats, and, today, discerning wine lovers worldwide. 

The Rise of Grower Champagne  

In contrast to the grandes maisons, grower Champagnes (Récoltant-Manipulant) reflect a more artisanal and terroir-driven approach. These producers cultivate their own vineyards, vinify their own fruit, and bottle under their own labels, often highlighting the distinctiveness of a single village, vineyard, or soil type.  

This movement, which gained international traction in the late 20th century, appeals to enthusiasts seeking authenticity and individuality over brand recognition. Grower Champagnes often display more pronounced variations between vintages, minimal intervention winemaking, and a focus on sustainable or biodynamic practices. Names like Jacques Selosse, Egly-Ouriet, Jérôme Prévost, Roses De Jeanne (Cédric Bouchard), Jacque Lassaigne, Bérèche et Fils and Pierre Péters have become cult favourites, proving that Champagne is not only about consistency and luxury, but also about transparency, expression of place, and the craft of passionate vignerons. 

Marketing Champagne

Champagne is one of the few wine regions in the world where the producer, rather than the vineyard, is the primary point of recognition for consumers. Following the French Revolution, strict inheritance laws fragmented vineyards generation after generation, resulting in a multitude of small-holder growers - many owning as little as a hectare - who collectively control over 90% of the region’s vines. For centuries, these growers supplied their fruit to the grandes maisons based in Reims and Épernay. Iconic names such as Bollinger, Dom Pérignon, Cristal, and Krug combine their own vineyard holdings with carefully selected fruit from these small growers, blending across villages and vintages to create the signature house style for which they are renowned. 

The key difference lies in approach: while Maisons blend extensively to maintain consistency and brand identity, grower-produced Champagnes are typically vinified and bottled from a single vineyard or estate, highlighting the character of a specific site and vintage. This contrast - house style versus terroir expression - defines the diversity and complexity of Champagne available to collectors and enthusiasts today. 

Champagne Investment

Presenting investors with a unique opportunity to own a piece of luxury liquid history, over the last decade Champagne has made a big splash at Bordeaux Index and now accounts for around 20% of its annual turnover. A growing global demand for prestige cuvées among high-net-worth individuals over the last five years, coupled with limited supply and inexorably rising release prices, has driven up the value of the most sought-after Champagnes, such as Cristal and Dom Pérignon, which has benefitted investors who were savvy enough to recognise their potential for strong returns. 

While the Champenois pride themselves on their ability to blend exemplary wines year on year, when it comes to vintage expressions, following on from the highly-rated 1996 vintage, certain years have stood out as exceptional since the start of the new millennium – namely 2002, 2008 and 2012, making this trio a savvy investment choice. The quality and critical acclaim of the 2002 vintage was a game changer for Champagne, leading to increased collector and investor interest in the wines. 

The lauded 2008 vintage – a standout year for both Pinot Noir and Chardonnay – was another marker in the sand, injecting excitement into the market and cementing Champagne’s status as an integral part of a balanced fine wine portfolio. The 2012 vintage built upon the success of 2008, while being an excellent vintage in its own right. While Pinot yields were small in 2012, the concentration and quality of the grapes that were picked was superb, resulting in rich, full-bodied wines, making 2012 a standout year for Pinot-dominant blends like Cristal, Bollinger La Grande Année and Philipponnat Clos des Goisses. 

As investors seek to diversify their portfolios, Champagne offers an attractive alternative asset class with the potential for long-term capital gains. Much of this newfound interest in top tier Champagne stems from a greater appreciation of the craftsmanship that goes into the making of prestige cuvées, and a better understanding of their impressive ageing potential. 

We have an excellent selection of the finest Champagnes at Bordeaux Index. Click here to explore.