The Emperor Edition

You will not hear a wine maker in Champagne talk about the quality of a vintage until the grapes have been delicately hand cut from the vines in the early hours of the morning of harvest in mid-September.  From the first flowering of the vines to the harvest of the grapes is approximately 100 nail-biting days. In Champagne, one of the most challenging regions in the world for growing a grape, it is not over until the fat lady sings and those grapes are being swiftly removed from the vine and rapidly pressed and transformed to precious wine. The 2006...

Kyle Ridingtons taste in attire is just as exquisite as his discrimination in fine wine. This month we feature the fantastic Mr Ridington as our Emperor Muse

Why we champion oak in champagne. We are living in a time where there is more choice than ever before. The same is true with winemaking with so many - new and old - methods and techniques available for them to trial. The chef de caves (the winemaker in champagne) has numerous choices that they must make from picking dates, using stainless steel, barrel or concrete eggs, to filter or not, to block or allow malo-lactic fermentation, dosage amount, blending, lees ageing time, disgorgement date and many more. Collectively, these affect techniques define what we taste and experience as a...

A ‘grand marque’ quite literally translates to a ‘big brand’ but in French the title for this group of Champagne houses has such an impressive and imposing sound and rightly so. Grand Marques are the biggest houses in champagne in terms of sales and the corresponding size of their brands.