Regions
Vineyards
Champagne
The Lenique family have been cellarmasters to many of the region’s Grandes Maisons over the centuries, and they have used all their experience to produce for us an exclusive cuvée that is a blend of all three Champagne grape varieties - Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier. Our Grand Cru is a Blanc de blancs which means it is made exclusively from Chardonnay grapes giving it a lightness and freshness not found in blended wines.
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Our Champagne House, Comte de Lantage, is owned by the charming and very hospitable couple Stéphane and Virginie Philizot. The Cuvée de Réserve has attained much critical acclaim and regularly outperforms more expensive champagnes in tastings. It has an elegant, biscuity aroma layered with soft, peachy fruit, and is one of the few wines that can be served successfully throughout a meal.
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About The Region
Champagne's sparkle cuts across the creamy, eggy, pasty or pulpy consistency of a large and varied range of foods. It cleanses the palate after a mouthful of anything fatty, and yet is also the perfect foil for bland flavours. It is one of the few wines that can be served successfully throughout a meal. And, of course, it is the most seductive of after-dinner wines!
The northernmost wine region in France, Champagne is a specific appellation reserved for the production of one or more of three grape varieties - Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier - grown within a legally-defined area 90 miles northeast of Paris, with Epernay at its centre and Reims to the north. Being so far north, it is the closest wine region to the UK - Epernay is only two and a half hours by car from Calais. Our two champagne vineyards, Maison Lenique and Comte de Lantage, are both family-run domaines not far from Epernay.
Maison Lenique was founded in 1768 during the reign of Louis XV, and although now into its fourth century, it is still owned and run by the Lenique family. In contrast the Champagne House Comte de Lantage was only founded in 1987, although its owners, Alain and Michèle Mandois, are the latest in a long line of champagne makers going back to the middle of the 19th century. As well as owning their own land throughout the region from the Vallée de la Marne through the Côte des Blancs and into the Côtes de Sézanne, both vineyards are also allowed to buy in grapes from some of the region's 4700 growers, which they use in the all-important blending process. Our non-vintage (NV) champagne from Comte de Lantage is the 'house blend' whereas that from Maison Lenique is our own unique cuvée.
Each year in March we are invited to Maison Lenique to help select the base wines for our unique champagne that will, three years later, be available to Partners. Why three years? Well, once the base wines have been selected and blended, possibly with the inclusion of some vin de réserve - older wine from previous vintages - the champagne is made by initiating a second fermentation inside the bottle in which you buy it. This is unique to the méthode champenoise system of making sparkling wine. The blended wine is then bottled with a mixture of sugar and yeast and sealed with a crown cap.
After spending a minimum of 15 months maturing on its lees in the bottle, the champagne is disgorged (the dead yeast cells are removed), the dosage is added (a wine and sugar syrup mix to top up the bottle and to give it the required 'sweetness'), the cork inserted and the wire muzzle put on to hold the cork in place. It will then be allowed to settle in the cellars until the beginning of the following year, when it will be labelled, ready for collection by Partners. The length of time champagne spends on its lees is considered to be one of the major factors in determining the complexity of flavour of the finished wine and both our champagne vineyards leave their non-vintage wines on the lees for more than the minimum period.