Basset recommends: top Champagnes
For restaurateur and Best Sommelier in the World Gerard Basset OBE MW MS, nothing beats Champagne when it comes to celebrating a special occasion. He tells Tina Gellie why it holds such an important place in his heart, and recommends wines from 16 of his
Tina Gellie asks Best Sommelier in the World Gerard Basset OBE MW MS to restrict his choice to just 16...
GIVEN ALL THE wines he’s tasted in his long and illustrious career, you’d think it would take Master of Wine and Master Sommelier Gerard Basset a while to come up with an answer to: ‘Which Champagne do you most identify with?’
But the 2013 Decanter Man of the Year, who was awarded an OBE in 2011 for services to the hospitality industry, is quick to reply. ‘Pol Roger’s Sir Winston Churchill. Perhaps there is a bit of me in that? Born in France but almost more English than the English!’
The wine is one of 16 he has specially chosen for Decanter as his favourites under various Champagne styles. For blanc de blancs, he chose the Les Chétillons from Pierre Péters, as well as non-vintage wines from Ruinart, Agrapart & Fils, Gosset and Veuve Fourny. In blanc de noirs it was Ulysse Collin’s Les Maillons, as well as the unsulphured brut nature from Drappier. For rosé, he picked AR Lenoble’s Terroirs and Fleury’s Rosé de Saignée plus the demi-sec Nectar Impérial from Möet & Chandon. The ultimate non-vintage was Krug’s Grande Cuvée and for a good-value vintage he chose Laurent-Perrier. Finally, in the vintage prestige cuvées it was Bollinger’s RD, Taittinger’s Comtes de Champagne, Louis Roederer’s Cristal and of course Pol Roger’s Sir Winston Churchill. ‘It was hard to choose so few,’ he said. ‘I could have easily named more producers that I like, such as Perrier-Jouët, Larmandier-Bernier…’
While several of these he lists in the restaurant at Hotel TerraVina that he owns and runs with wife Nina in England’s New Forest, many are cuvées he rarely gets a chance to taste, but from houses he has long admired.
Childhood memories
Champagne is the ‘king of fizz’, insists Basset. ‘Yes, I love English sparkling wine and others from the New World plus Cava and Italian sparkling, but for something really unique I would always go for Champagne.
‘Even from an early age I knew the occasion was special when the Champagne bottle came out’
‘In France it is normal to get your first taste of Champagne from a very young age. As early as I can remember, I recall the sound of a cork popping. Maybe I was six years old, being given a little taste to celebrate along with the adults. My father would always make sure the cork would pop in the garden and give a bit of theatre to the occasion: the excitement of the noise, the cork flying, the sparkle of the liquid – you remember that as a child.
‘I don’t recall a specific occasion when I first tasted Champagne, I just remember it was quite often. And when I say “often”, you mustn’t think we were rich; we couldn’t afford expensive Champagne in my house. But in France Champagne is enjoyed often, on many occasions, and not just reserved for the big events like Christmas. I remember we opened a bottle on each of our birthdays, if special friends came over, when we passed our exams, when my brother passed his driving test…
‘So of course we drank a modestly priced marque. Champagne Mercier – a famous house – was one we would have a lot. Mercier, Beaumont de Crayères, Mumm and Nicolas Feuillatte are reliable Champagne brands that are reasonably priced but still perfect for a celebration. So even from an early age I knew the difference between wine and Champagne. You knew the occasion was special when the Champagne bottle came out!’
And over more than three decades as a sommelier, has there been one Champagne that has stood out? ‘I remember visiting the house of Dom Pérignon in 1989 with a group of sommeliers, and the house opened a 1969,’ he recalls. ‘About two days before we arrived they disgorged the wine, so it had spent
20 years on its lees. Back then not many houses were doing that so it was quite special.
‘It was unique – I’d never had anything like it before. It was a golden lemon yellow – quite intense but not old in colour. That I remember perfectly. The nose was very complex, very rich, developing tertiary aromas but again without being old in any way. The palate was incredible – I can still taste it! Like fresh pastry. It was a perplexing combination of looking mature but tasting youthful. There was no hint of oxidation but still it was very well developed, with ripe fruit and this fresh pastry and crème patissière flavour that is still firm in my mind today. It was unbelievable – an experience I will always remember.
‘Now chef de caves Richard Geoffroy would probably call that kind of late-disgorged wine Plénitude P3, but back then that concept didn’t exist. The house hadn’t even created the Oenothéque range. It was something they did just for our group of international sommeliers – and it was spectacular.’
‘The world of Champagne has changed so much since I’ve been involved in wine,’ reflects Basset. ‘It is richer in diversity; all the houses and growers and styles each play a role so you can never get bored!’ Tina Gellie is associate editor of Decanter