Ahead of the 2008 vintage’s release, Taittinger’s Chef de Cave Alexandre Ponnavoy talks us through what defines the house’s much-loved prestige Blanc de Blancs, Comtes de Champagne “First of all, you have to resonate 100% Chardonnay,” declares Alexandre Ponnavoy, Taittinger’s Chef de Cave. “Chardonnay that produces precise, mineral, chiseled, complex wines with a lace-like finish and an ability to age ...

Taittinger Comtes de Champagne 2008: the wait is over

October is always a busy month in fine wine and 2020 is no different with some eagerly awaited releases from around the world. Here we identify the releases you won’t want to miss – from 2019 Burgundy and prestige Champagne to the latest vintage of Grange Burgundy  At the top of the shopping list for many collectors in October is the latest vintage of Burgundy to hit the market. We have already started ...

From parcels of back-vintages to new releases and special casks, here’s our pick of the five most exciting wines and spirits coming your way this month

Wines to watch: October

A CONVERSATION WITH BENOIT TARLANT, WINEMAKER AT TARLANT CHAMPAGNE Last week, I met up with Benoit Tarlant, the vigneron behind the Curvee Louis and La Vigne d'Antan Champagnes - two of the most unique expressions of the region. Benoit's aim in his top cuvees  is to re-engage with the historical cultural heritage of winemaking in the region. He wants his ...

Tarlant Champagne - Champagnes with a unique heritage

F Scott Fitzgerald once wrote, “Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall" and if one thing is certain, it’s that The Great Gatsby has no shortage of Champagne. With that in mind, we take a look at five Champagnes to watch this September… September is a time for new beginnings and the wine industry is no ...

Five Champagnes to Buy in September

Nicolas has lived and breathed Cote Rotie since he was a boy, working alongside his uncle in the vineyards and winery, and in the summers with his father at Guigal. Following his uncle's passing, Nicolas inherited one of the most prime vineyards in the highly revered lieu-dit of “Les Grandes Places” in the Cote Brune of Cote Rotie. Previously these ...

Nicolas Champagneux - Producer Portrait

Blind tasting is not always the best way to taste. The effort it involves focuses the mind and tends to imprint the experience much more firmly in the memory. It also erases preconceptions – you can’t ‘taste’ labels when you can’t see them. But because you are forced to look at the bigger picture as you seek to pin a ...

Two Champagne Verticals

In honour of National Champagne Week, Chris Kelly shines the spotlight on everybody's favourite form of liquid celebration.  Drinking Champagne is one of life’s great pleasures – making any occasion feel that little but more special. At FINE + RARE we have access to an unparalleled range of Champagnes across the price points and spanning some glorious vintages.  Read on to find ...

Champagne at Fine+Rare

Recently, our buying team took a trip to Champagne specifically to get to know the ‘grower’ Champagne producers that we have been working with; a fascinating and exciting selection of wines that have become increasingly popular amongst our team and clients. Small Production, Inherently Artisanal Wines These ‘grower’ Champagnes are by definition crafted by the Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier and ...

Grower Champagne - The Insider's Guide

*"2002 was an outstanding vintage, most likely the best of the decade. The finest 2002s are powerful, firmly structured and truly mineral but neither lack freshness nor finesse." – *The Wine Advocate** Widely renowned as one of the greatest champagne vintages of recent years, 2002 more than stands up to past greats such as the 1996 & 1990. Praised by ...

2002 Champagne – The Vintage of the Decade?

The 2012 vintage is tipped as one of the greatest this century – following in the footsteps of 2008, 2002 and 1996. We spoke to some of the region’s top producers to find out more about the year and the wines it produced The 2012 vintage in Champagne is one of the most celebrated in recent years. The vintage was ...

The vintage produced a small crop of elegant and classic wines

2012 Champagne: a versatile classic

With prices looking likely to go up in 2017, it is more than just the fast-approaching festive period causing Champagne collectors and connoisseurs to stock up... Champagne prices set to rise in UK Decanter Magazine recently reported that “Champagne is expected to go up in price in the New Year”, a view that has been echoed by others in the ...

Champagne Prices Set To Rise in 2017

Last week Charles Philipponnat, owner of the iconic Clos des Goisses vineyard, stopped by the F+R offices to showcase the latest vintage from his top Champagne site. As direct importers of Clos des Goisses from Philipponnat, we wanted to gain a real understanding of what makes this vineyard so special. From its location and aspect, to the particular élevage techniques ...

Champagne Philipponnat - Clos des Goisses

A number of 2008 Champagnes have been dripping on to the market of late and we have been tasting as many of them as we can.  Talk of a potentially excellent vintage started as the grapes came in almost six years ago now: a tricky vintage with the ace card of an almost perfect ending (mid-September to the harvest gave ...

2008 Champagne: A Few Early Thoughts...

After recently completing a busy Monday and Tuesday, how lovely to spend a mid-week afternoon tasting Champagne from Paul Bara, one of my favourite grower producers. These wines never fail to captivate me with their characteristic fruitiness and perfect balance of richness and grace. We were joined by Paul-Antoine Dauvergne to taste through a flight of truly exceptional wines. Here ...

Paul Bara Champagne - A Comprehensive Tasting

The newest release of the Taittinger Comtes de Champagne is nearly upon us and it looks like being a monumental wine. Already rated a 97+ points by Galloni, it's hotly anticipated so look out for our offer early next week. In the meantime, here’s a brief history of this glorious label as well as a link to our extensive listings ...

Preview of 2006 Taittinger Comtes de Champagne

**
** Following the highly successful release of the 2006 in September, we profile the history of luxury cuvee Dom Perignon. Dom Perignon – A Byword for Luxury One of the most famous names, not just in Champagne, but in all fine wine, Dom Perignon is a true icon, a symbol of luxury and a benchmark against which all others are measured. It’s a ...

Dom Perignon: Spotlight on a Champagne Superstar

Pascal Agrapart has long been a trailblazer for the small grower Champagne movement that has taken a firm hold within Champagne over the last 20 years. This growing movement has seen a rapid increase in single vineyard terroir expression throughout Champagne; a rise in overall quality working with more "human-size" production levels; and a wide array of variation and individuality ...

Champagne Agrapart – Pioneer of Terroir Expression



 Philipponnat’s single vineyard Clos des Goisses is 
one of Champagne’s most famous vineyards. It is the steepest, directly
south-facing vineyard in the whole of Champagne (between 30- 45% gradient), and
the hottest site in the region. It is a 5.5 hectare narrow strip (800 metres
long and 100 metres wide) perfectly positioned to push the natural ripeness of
the grapes to a level ...

We caught up with winemaker and proprietor Charles Philipponnat to discover the history of this landmark site, its rise to prominence and the specifics of the site that makes it so special.



Behind the Bottle: Clos des Goisses Champagne

A new parcel of 1998 Dom Perignon P2 is on offer. Reacquaint yourself with a "wine with real guts and nerve." The great benefit of late release Champagne is that it's beautiful to drink on delivery. The 1998 Dom Perignon P2 is perhaps the perfect example, and with scores of up to 98 points, is clearly showing very impressively indeed... ...

1998 Dom Perignon P2: Spectacular Late Release Champagne

This week the F+R team got a real insight into the many variables that go into Champagne production. From the maturation process of the still wine and, following second fermentation, the effects of lees ageing, disgorgement, blending and dosage techniques - all in search of the elusive but all important equilibrium which defines the finest quality champagnes. A key defining ...

Finding the Equilibrium - What determines the world’s finest Champagne?

Day Two Moet Chandon proved a difficult start, since we could not at first work our way into the building! When eventually we were sat down in the boardroom, we launched into the short daily test before moving onto the lecture, this time on vineyards and harvest. And the reward at the end of our hard work? A trip round ...

Diary of a 2012 Champagne Academy Alumnus Day Two

Day Three Our day 3 lecture was on the picking of grapes to bottling stages and led by the ever composed cellar master Frédéric Panaiotis at Ruinart’s recently renovated maison. (They also had the best patisseries and coffee of the week!) This test was one of the hardest for me, partly being that we had no time to review the ...

Diary of a 2012 Champagne Academy alumnus Day Three

And so under heavy clouds again we trekked into the Lanson headquarters for the last lecture "From the Cellar to the Consumer" which was technically the most relevant, or at least the one we should relate to most. There were a lot of market figures to absorb so we were quite overwhelmed by the time we met the cellar master. ...

Diary of a 2012 Champagne Academy alumnus Day Five

After a spectacular week, the final day brought a test on the previous day’s lecture, a blind tasting of Vins Clairs to identify the grape variety and then a blind tasting of Champagne to identify the house, vintage and main grape. Once completed we visited Reims Cathedral in the daytime – a must-do if in the area – and then ...

Diary of a 2012 Champagne Academy alumnus Day Six

This spectacular opportunity, offered to just 16 candidates nominated by the member champagne houses each year since 1956, would see us visit 16 grandes marques, taste more than 100 wines and eat more food than you would in a month. It also involved five lectures, five written exams, two blind tasting exams and 15 new friends. This… is Champagne Academy. ...

Diary of a 2012 Champagne Academy alumnus: Day One

Piper Heidsieck proved a very different affair to the old fashioned glamour of Charles the previous evening, as we pulled up outside a modern office building with the wine making facilities behind a huge car park. How many people does it take to run a champagne house? Our lecture today was Bottling to Packaging and run by their newest member ...

Diary of a 2012 Champagne Academy alumnus Day Four

This is an extraordinary Champagne in which just a thousand bottles have been commercially produced and sits alone at the very top of the tree of prestige cuvees from the Gosset Champagne house. This 1995 “Les Celebrissimes” cuvee will be the first ever “double aged” release from Gosset - a Champagne of exceptional quality. From the "Celebris" comes "Les Celebrissimes" ...

Gosset 1995 "Les Celebrissimes" - Behind the Bottle

Today, the team at F+R had the pleasure of tasting the latest Pol Roger release, their coveted Cuvée Sir Winston Churchill Champagne. The 2004 vintage is the 15th edition of this cuvée which is produced in tiny quantities as homage to the former Prime Minister. Pol Roger Champagne and Winston Churchill - Links Nearly a Century Old The link between ...

Winston Churchill: Pol Roger's Luxury Cuvee

It’s a good thing Dom Perignon’s Vincent Chaperon is an energetic, fit and talkative person. He needed it for a day of back-to-back tastings with trade and press to launch the latest incarnation of the house’s sensational 2002 vintage: Dom Perignon P2 2002. The theme of the launch was "energy and intensity". There was plenty of it in the room ...

Energy and Intensity: Dom Perignon 2002 Plenitude 2 Revealed

For those of you who have been champing at the bit for the release of Krug 2002, one of the greatest vintages from the King of Champagne, the long wait is almost over. We've now tasted it and can confirm that it is unequivocally worth all of the hype. But, as supply will be extremely limited and demand unimaginably high, ...

Krug 2002: One of the most exciting releases of the decade

FINE+RARE have unearthed a rare opportunity to own a Krug Grande Cuvée mixed case... We have secured thirty limited edition collections containing six bottles of Krug Grande Cuvée recreated in three different years - 2006 base x 2 bottles, 2005 base x 2 bottles and 2004 base x 2 bottles - in original wooden cases. Read on to find out ...

Krug Grande Cuvée Mixed Case

We learn a lot from winemakers around the world but often it extends well beyond their
vocation. No more so than with Sébastien Le Golvet, whose philosophy as a vigneron extends far beyond the vineyard. Under the mentorship of his father-in-law Claude Giraud, Sébastien believes a total immersion in one’s surroundings is essential to better understand it. Working with something that is ...

Domaine Henri Giraud, one of Champagne’s most celebrated producers, takes this immersion philosophy to the extreme, from tasting their own soils to identifying varying terroirs of oak within the Argonne forest that produce the barrels for their barrel-fermented champagnes. Sébastien guides us through the extraordinary lengths they go to, his determination to reconnect with nature, and learning to trust in one’s own senses. 

Terroir Immersion Therapy with Sébastien Le Golvet

They make some of the world's great fine wine, but what do they choose to drink themselves? What do they pour for their friends? Jessica Bryans asks five top producers to share what's in their glass... *Clockwise from Top Left: Pierre and Sophie Larmandier, Francine Picard, Carlo Ferrini, Giovanni Mazzei, Cesare Bussolo and Denis Varnier* When visiting a great producer I ...

What Do Fine Wine Producers Really Drink?

Stay ahead of the curve with these hand-picked recommendations, from Bordeaux to the Margaret River...  Whether it’s discovering a new band or stumbling across a pop-up restaurant, we all like to spot a rising star. Wine is no different. In an increasingly diverse and complicated market, one of the most common requests we hear from customers is to help them ...

Five Wines To Watch: Best Insider Buys

Salon 2004 has arrived. Find out more about the rare release of this iconic Champagne… The legendary house of Champagne Salon has released its 2004, only the second vintage from this century. Availability is miniscule and demand is huge. Only a lucky few will get their hands on it. View Salon 2004. An Iconic Champagne Salon is an icon; a ...

Salon 2004: "Just Perfect"

Asian-based clients make up a significant proportion of our customers and China is considered to be the world's most exciting emerging wine market. With that in mind, we take a look at five wines that have trended in the East this year...  While the wine trade may have traditionally centered on Europe, in modern times all eyes are firmly on the ...

Five Wines Big In Asia

With the festive season fast approaching, many of our customers are looking to stock up their cellars with the perfect red, white and sparkling wines in time for Christmas celebrations. From dazzling champagnes to warming clarets, this is a great time of year to put some sparkle into your wine collection, and whether you’re looking for things to flatter your ...

What To Drink This Christmas - F+R Employee Picks

January is the month in which our Burgundy 2017 En Primeur campaign really gets into gear with the majority of domaines releasing their wines to market for the first time. Stay tuned for releases from Liger-Belair, Hudelot-Noëllat, Jean-Marie Fourrier, Groffier, Lamarche, Tortochot, Gros Frère et Sœur and many more coming up this month. But January is about much more than just Burgundy. It is full ...

New Releases Not To Be Missed This Month: January 2019

Even in the world of fine wines, there are still bargains to be found if one knows exactly where to look. Whether you happen to be searching for value in Burgundy or for top-quality Champagne without the corresponding price tag, here are a few tips to help you get the most for your money without sacrificing premium quality. Look out ...

Where to Find the Best Value in Fine Wine

Last week we shared our Christmas wine recommendations, but who knows best what to serve at the Christmas table, than those working on-the-ground in the vineyards, wineries and Chateaux? We spoke to some of our winemaking friends from around the world about what they will be drinking this festive season... Victor Charcan - **Bodegas Roda (Rioja, Spain)** 
I am the wine supplier ...

What Winemakers are Drinking this Christmas 2018

There’s no better time than Christmas to open a treasured bottle or two. Ahead of the big day, we asked a handful of our favourite winemakers – from Saskia de Rothschild to Klaus-Peter Keller – to tell us what they’ll be uncorking For the aperitif For Domaine Long-Depaquit’s Matthieu Mangenot it is the energy and power of Champagne Brut Nature ...

From Saskia de Rothschild to Klaus-Peter Keller

What winemakers are drinking this Christmas

Rebellion is in the air and FINE+RARE love an innovator, so we take a look at five revolutionary wines… With a history stretching back several millennia, it goes without saying that winemaking is rooted in tradition. Some of the most-loved wines are the result of generations of expertise. However, every now and then a winemaker comes along who rips up ...

Five Revolutionary Wines

After a very successful 2013, we came out of the traps in 2014 with our sights set even higher. Herewith the key events and releases so far: 2010 Barolo We’ve been making a bit of noise about this, and rightly so. A brilliant vintage, record sales, an unprecedented tasting of more than ninety wines in our Bermondsey Street offices, and ...

FINE+RARE Quarterly Report: 2014 Q1

January is the month in which our Burgundy 2018 En Primeur campaign really hits top gear with the majority of domaines releasing their wines to market for the first time. Stay tuned for releases from Groffier, Lamarche, Gros Frère et Sœur and many more, including our top picks from Domaine Hudelot Noellat and Domaine Tortochot.
 Outside of the En Primeur ...

Top wine releases due out this month

Wines To Watch in January 2020

A look back on 2012 2012 has been an eventful year in the wine trade. In many ways, it has been a difficult twelve months: tough economic conditions, falling prices for investment grade wines and a tortuous en primeur Bordeaux campaign have all made buying and selling wine more challenging than usual. The flipside of turbulence, however, is opportunity and ...

Market Outlook January 2013

The release of Krug Clos du Mesnil 2002 is coming soon. Find out more about this rare and legendary wine... In his Champagne Guide Richard Juhlin says: "Krug is more than a Champagne. It is a word that stands for artistry, tradition, craftsmanship and moments of pure pleasure." And he goes on to say: "For me, Krug Clos du Mesnil ...

Krug Clos du Mesnil 2002: Coming Soon

France's prime minister declared that his country was at war with an "invisible, elusive" enemy at the start of an unprecedented lock down this month but a century ago, the enemy was clearly visible. The 1914 harvest was approaching for the growers of Champagne, but the German army also loomed large on the horizon.  In a series of articles ...

In a series of articles Rebecca Gibb MW looks at how historic events in the last century affected the world of fine wine.

A Year in Wine: 1914

While medical researchers work furiously in search of a vaccine for COVID-19 in 2020,
the response to the phylloxera pandemic in the mid 19th century was remarkably lackadaisical. Following the release of Bollinger’s latest vintage of Vieilles Vignes Françaises, a wine grown from vines planted on its own roots and thus vulnerable to attack by phylloxera, FINE+RARE talks to Denis Bunner, ...

FINE+RARE talks to Bollinger’s Denis Bunner on the history of Vieilles Vignes Françaises

Phylloxera: A Vine Pandemic

On the morning of May 23rd, FINE+RARE staff were to be found sat at their desks with a glass each of the newly released Dom Pérignon 2004. All were in agreement – this was classic DP, the grande marque champagne which is renowned for expertly toeing the fine line between richness and elegance like no other. When a vintage worthy ...

An Invitation to Dom Pérignon

With September marking FINE+RARE’s 21st birthday, we’ve been in a celebratory mood here at Centennium House – to kick things off we brought you a roundup of 21 startling facts about wine. Now, as our birthday month draws to a close, we felt that we couldn’t possibly let it go without taking the opportunity to mention some of the most ...

21 years of Wine: 5 Most Memorable Bottles

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