Jeroboam staying power

I have a jeroboam of non-vintage Delbeck Champagne that I was given in 1998. Since receiving it, it has remained lying horizontally in its presentation box in our Lincoln garage. From reading your piece on Champagne bottle sizes (July 2016 issue), I assume that it probably has some life left in it as it is a large format – but how much, given I don’t know when this non-vintage wine was bottled? Ken Tunstall, Welton Michael Edwards replies: Of all practicable Champagne bottle formats, the three-litre jeroboam (equivalent to four bottles), tends to age slower and taste freshest at 20 years or more than either a 750ml bottle or a 1.5-litre magnum. So, your jeroboam of Delbeck has lots of pluses for staying power and cellarage.

This little Reims house had a fine reputation in the late 1990s for durable ageing, quite simply because of its Pinot Noir dominance – even the NV, like this one, had lots of grand cru Pinot in it. If gifted in 1998, an educated guess suggests the base wine might be the excellent 1995, bottled in 1996. The one drawback is that it has lain in your garage for 18 years – not ideal because of fluctuating day-night temperatures all year. But such a sturdy wine could delight; drink soon and see.