What to drink this week

Vintage Champagne

In my first job as a junior wine expert in Christie’s wine department, I sometimes had to catalogue lots of seriously old Champagne. When these came up, my boss, Michael Broadbent, got on the phone to three aficionados well known to us: one was a Labour politician, another was a property developer. It was, in other words, a niche market.

Like many things in life, vintage Champagne will only improve with age, concludes Harry Eyres

Why you should be drinking it

The relationship between Champagne and age is much misunderstood. As Antoine Roland-billecart, of the excellent family house of Billecart-salmon, said at a presentation recently, it stems from a further misunderstanding—not many consumers realise that Champagne is a wine. M. Roland-billecart regards Champagne as part of a continuum with Burgundy: ‘I think of 10 years as a minimum age for a good Burgundy and it’s the same with Champagne.’

What to drink

All this means that a lot of Champagne—especially vintage—is drunk too young. You can already find some 2012s on the market. Much better, in my view, to drink vintages that have reached their glorious prime and none is better than 2002. Bruno Paillard, sometime enfant terrible of Champagne, recently released his zero-dosage 2002 Nec Plus Ultra (available soon from Hedonism). It’s wonderfully refined, crisp and energetic. Bruno Paillard’s 2002 Blanc de Blancs (right, £119; www. hedonism.co.uk) is floral and rich, beautifully balanced and complete. The Billecartsalmon 2007 vintage (£64.95; www.thewhiskyexchange.com) is big and crunchy, crisp, satisfyingly meaty and dry— it’s already showing well, but I suspect it will be even better in two or three years.