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Slideshow
Top six Champagnes for under £30
Be prepared for some surprises as we pick out the best bruts for under £30 from the drinks business Champagne Masters 2014.
In the first of a series of reports, we bring you the highest-scoring Champagnes in the competition’s cheapest category, highlighting some of the best-value bubbles from the tasting.
Comprising a mix of well-known brands and more obscure producers, as many as six Champagnes were awarded a silver medal for their bruts under £30.
These high-performers can be viewed over the following pages, while a list of all the medallists in the competition, and more about the tasting, can be seen here.
The Champagnes were judged blind by:
Simon Field MW, buyer, Berry Bros. & Rudd
Jamie Hutchinson, owner, The Sampler
Sue Daniels, wine buyer, Marks & Spencer
Rebecca Palmer, associate director & buyer, Corney & Barrow
Michael Edwards, journalist, author, Champagne expert
Anthony Foster MW, director/buyer, Bonhote Foster
Marcel Orford-Williams, buyer, The Wine Society
Patrick Schmitt, editor-in-chief, the drinks business
6. Champagne Ployez-Jacquemart Extra Brut Passion
Medal: Silver
Score: 86 points
Style: Extra Brut
Price: £26
Gaining one of just six silver medals awarded in 2014’s Champagne Masters for non-vintage under £30, Ployez-Jacquemart should be pleased.
The Champagne is an extra-brut, meaning it is an extremely dry Champagne with less than 6g/l sugar.
However, four years ageing on its lees along has brought the wine a toasty complexity, while 25% reserve wine and a dominant proportion of Pinot Noir has ensured this cuvée has both a slightly honeyed note, along with a core of ripe red and white fruits.
Nevertheless, a bone-dry, slightly chalky finish makes this an extremely refreshing aperitif Champagne.
Ployez-Jacquemart was established in 1930 by a husband and wife team and specializes in Pinot Noir production from its vineyard holdings in Mailly and Ludes.
5. Champagne Paul Goerg Tradition
Medal: Silver
Score: 86 points
Style: Brut
Price: £25
One of Champagne’s most respected independent growers, Paul Georg proved itself an extremely good value Brut NV producer in the tasting, beating better-known brands despite its relatively inexpensive price tag.
Using premier cru grapes, the Brut Tradition is a fine, pure Champagne, which has benefitted from three years lees-ageing.
The judges praised its attractive combination of honey and oatmeal, rich and creamy mouth feel, fine and persistent mousse, as well as refreshing finish.
In essence, a Champagne that offers plenty of bang for your buck.
4. Champagne Jacquart Brut Mosaïque
Medal: Silver
Score: 86 points
Style: Brut
Price: £28.50
With a high proportion of Chardonnay in the blend, this Champagne is distinctly lemony and chalky, as well as fine and refreshing.
Although not a rich and fruity style of Champagne, the judges enjoyed this Brut NV’s delicate and refined nature. Nevertheless, a touch of honey and brioche ensures the style is not too austere.
This is certainly another good value Champagne, although from a name under a cooperative’s control, giving the winemaker access to grapes from across the entire Champagne appellation.
Jacquart is also a house with quality ambitions, and it is being driven forward by the talented chef de caves Floriane Eznack, who joined the company from Veuve-Clicquot in 2010.
3. Champagne Piper-Heidsieck Brut
Medal: Silver
Score: 86 points
Style: Brut
Price: £29.99
This Brut NV comes from a brand that is well known for its bright packaging and prominent retail presence, but perhaps less famous for the quality of its cuvées.
However, as the 2014 Champagne Masters proved, Piper-Heidsieck is making silver-quality brut, albeit in a rather rich style.
Rounded, nutty, and slightly toasty, the Champagne shows plenty of appealing characters from extended contact with yeast-lees in Piper-Heidsieck’s cellars. A Pinot Noir dominant blend also brings red fruit to the Champagne, along with a strong apple character.
An appealing, quite evolved and good value brut.
2. Champagne Chassenay D’Arce Cuvée Première Brut
Medal: Silver
Score: 86 points
Style: Brut
Price: £29.99
A consistently strong performer in Champagne Masters’ tastings, this little-known producer is the source of an impressive brut from a Pinot Noir dominant blend with Chardonnay.
Displaying enticing honey and toast aromas, and a palate with yellow fruits and a creamy mousse, this is a generous and aged style of Champagne that won’t disappoint.
The Champagne stems from a cooperative in the Arce Valley in the heart of the Côte des Bar.
1. Pommery Brut Royal
Medal: Silver
Score: 88 points
Style: Brut
Price: £29.99
The highest scoring Brut NV under £30 in 2014’s Masters was awarded to Pommery for its Brut Royal.
Lovely aromas of creamy cappuccino dominate the nose, giving way to a palate with similar coffee-like characters, as well as Champagne’s trademark chalky dry sensation, which, along with a touch of citrus peel, keeps the finish fresh and lively. Combining complex roasted flavours from extended cellaring and citrus flavours from high-quality grapes, the judges felt this Champagne was offering vintage style and quality fizz for a sub-£30 price point.
An excellent brut NV.
I don’t wish to undermine the valuable Champagne tasting for which you are nobly sacrificing your working hours. However, are you not setting the bar too low for silver medal? I know of no credible international competition that gives a silver medal for anything less than 89 – 90 / 100. In any international competition worth its salt, all these wines would have received bronze medals. And if you’re going to go to the trouble of tasting, scoring and recommending, what’s the point of giving a price without a stockist? I’m sure it can’t be anything to do with the advertising, can it?
Dear Anthony,
Thanks for raising the issue of points and their relation to the medals awarded.
As the full report on the tasting in the magazine outlines, the judges are asked to award medals to the Champagnes using the following bands: 81-85 for a bronze, 86-90 for a silver and 91-95 for a gold, with 96 and above for wines deemed outstanding and worthy of the title “Master”.
The judges award the points according to what medal they feel the Champagne deserves. However, with each Champagne judged by at least four tasters, the scores are noted, before they are collected by the panel chair at the end of each flight. Each Champagne is discussed, and the final score is usually averaged to decide on what medal that Champagne should be awarded.
I’m sorry that you feel that our point scores are low, but the judges have chosen their scores according to the bands set for each medal category.
In fact, due to the experienced and exacting nature of our judges, achieving a silver medal in the Champagne Masters is an impressive achievement. The list of judges are noted in the story above, so feel free to discuss the judging process with any one of them for an independent view, including the nature of the glassware, the temperature of the Champagne, the quality of the natural light, or the nature of the judging venue – which was The Dorchester Hotel.
Alternatively, we would welcome your involvement in this year’s judging session so you can check the standards of this competition for yourself.
Thank you for your interest
Patrick