The Wine

Champagne Cuvée 3D

Champagne should be fun; its delicacy and flavour add distinction to any occasion. Our exclusive champagne is made from an assemblage of all three champagne grape varieties - Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier. It has a soft, mellow, fruity bouquet and a delicious yeast and biscuity note on the palate which, added to that unique sparkle, combine to make a most wonderful wine.

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 at Maison Lenique, even their non-vintage wines are left on the lees for more than the minimum period.