Going it alone

Vigneron Phil Lehmann of Max & Me shares his winemaking story.

GOODBYE 2020 and, frankly, good riddance.

Let’s wave off the past 12 months and greet the next 12 in the best possible way – with a big fat bottle of Champagne.

Not only does this farewell deserve the greatest of fanfares, but it could – and should – involve Champagne in all its brilliant glory.

Rather than crack open a bottle when friends come over or save something for those big occasions, we should open them more freely at the end of this year as the goodbye will be like no other. Just as Champagne is a region like none other; those within its boundaries creating one of the most versatile wine styles on the planet.

So, let’s max out on Champagne’s famous malleability. We’ve all heard about it, and for those of us lucky enough to have visited Champagne, we’ve lived it momentarily too; those halcyon days where lunch lasts four hours and a six-course meal is served alongside six different cuvees, just to prove the point the Champenois incessantly preach – there is a Champagne for everything and everyone in this world.

A half-bottle with excellent pedigree; famously made with grapes from 60 specific sites and with an impressive 40% of reserve wine, this vibrant golden-coloured Champagne has a pastry-rich aroma with a creamy backbone to the palate. It’s lifted by lively and well-defined bubbles as well as a richness to the palate of baked apples and lightly toasted nuts.

This is an elegant and flavourful Brut NV from one of the oldest Champagne houses. What sets this house apart is its high proportion of Grand Cru chardonnay, which, in good years, is shared with the eponymous house Salon. With luscious yellow fruits, long lees ageing and low dosage, the overall effect is complex, layered and refined, making this the most fantastic large-format buy.

Ayala is one of the true pioneers in crafting a top-notch extra-dry Champagne. This Extra Brut is unusual in that its base wine is the same as that of Ayala’s flagship Brut NV, except this cuvee is aged for an extra year and, of course, has no dosage. Scintillating and zingy with white grapefruit purity, it is followed by a richer, fleshier apricot mid-palate.

One of the best expressions of bold, satisfying and elegant flagship cuvees around, thanks in part to its famously high proportion of pinot noir – 60%. While extremely refreshing throughout, its trademark richness manifests itself as a combination of hazelnuts, orange rind and buttery brioche.

Most of us accept this local wisdom with ease (six-course meals in Louis Quinze chateaux help with the convincing, of course) and earnestly pass on the message. But how many of us actually drink Champagne throughout a full meal or evening? To do so involves embracing the full gamut of cuvees, so let’s look at some of the overlooked styles.

The driest of the bunch, Extra Brut, is still shaking off its supermodel-supping image to some degree, but there’s far more to Extra Brut than fewer calories. Up to six grams per litre dosage is permissible, but seldom do houses go this high, especially with the fashion for drier Brut NVs nudging into the Extra Brut dryness threshold these days, so Extra Brut usually keeps within the dosage boundaries of three grams per litre or less.

Its creation involves painstaking work for the cellar master, who has to sensitively balance the rawness of no extra sugar with something else that can deliver richness. Options to achieve this include barrel fermentation, malolactic fermentation, longer lees ageing or a larger proportion of reserve wine. Despite all the options available, Extra Brut can be the biggest hit-and-miss of all Champagne’s cuvees, so those who do it well deserve the extra credit. With freshness being Extra Brut’s calling card, it’s most popular as a premeal appetite-whetting cuvee, but it can also be useful to serve with raw fish dishes and at earlier times of the day – say, brunch o’clock. Blinded by the glow of prestige cuvees, vintage Champagne often seems to be a bridesmaid and is consequently very good value on the whole. There have been some stunning vintage releases these past 20 years too, most notably 2002, which was an all-out winner being warm but not too hot, producing creamy, luscious chardonnays as well as plush, ripe pinot noirs. 2008 is another excellent vintage still in decent circulation: a cooler year, which made wines that bristle with energy so they make great drinking now, but can also keep a little longer.

Although we haven’t seen any yet, for speculative buyers, the mostly warm and dry 2015 season has been touted as the best Champagne vintage since 1947. What’s so great about vintage Champagne – aside from its price – is its extra weight and concentration, which immediately expands its food-pairing options to include richer, heavier foods, whether that involves meat, smoking or richer sauces.

When it comes to richer pairings, even though most of us are not as sweet on Demi-Sec as other Champagne styles, the level of mastery required for good balance is up there with Extra Brut. Demi-Sec – Champagne with 32 to 50 grams per litre dosage – are great for blue cheese and pretty good with all kinds of desserts, too. The natural high acidity of Champagne is always there to guarantee refreshment.

In my mind, naysayers who condemn Demi-Sec as a style that masks the character of the wine have actually got it the wrong way around. The extra sugar of Demi-Sec can boost and enhance the Champagne; lifting aromatics, broadening out the middle palate and, rather than suffocating any of the character, it actually brings a different dimension to the wine. And that’s not just what we’re looking for in our glasses this festive season, but also in life as we head into a healthier and happier 2021. Let’s all drink to that!