Life-Changing Champagnes

Australians have a greater affinity with champagne than local sparkling wine. It’s true. Notwithstanding our love for France’s finest fizz, the quality of our burgeoning sparkling wine production has increased exponentially over the last decade as winemakers seek to emulate the superiority of champagne’s méthode traditionelle. Here, some of Australia’s finest winemakers recount their special moments with champagne, the likes of which have left an enduring impression in more ways than one.

Dan Buckle

Winemaking Director | Domaine Chandon, Australia

There are two champagnes that resonate strongly with me. A disclaimer, however, as I have corporate links to LVMH and therefore Krug, but my love for this great champagne house began much earlier on.

In 1997 I was working at Coldstream Hills while completing my winemaking degree. I had done summer in the vineyard, lifting wires, begged my way into the vintage crew, and managed somehow to hang around afterward working in the cellar. In August that year, I was heading to Bordeaux for harvest, as was Greg Jarratt, so James Halliday decided to host a farewell dinner. I had been privy to James’ extraordinary generosity before, but this night was particularly special. I remember asking him what time we should arrive, and he replied with his characteristic gruffness, “I will be opening a magnum of Krug at 7pm. You can come when you like.” Needless to say, we were on his doorstep at 6:59pm that evening.

I had never tasted anything like it. What strikes me about truly great wines, these magnificent wines, is the paradoxical combination of power and finesse. Krug has tremendous complexity where others only scratch the surface. Like great Vosne-Romanée, their aroma alone is remarkable enough, the palate is a bonus. 

I first visited Krug while working in Champagne for harvest in 1999 and this really cemented an appreciation of the detail, precision and dedication that is required to make great wine. An utterly charming French lady, Catherine Seydoux, took me for a long tour and tasting, answering all my technical and dorky questions with complete transparency. Krug is impossible to copy, and there are apparently no secrets beyond grapes, technique and artful blending. 

Another exceptional champagne tasting occurred during a dinner with friends in the mid-2000s, where we decided to put on a bracket of Grandes Marques champagnes from 1996. As always, Krug was brilliant, as was Dom Pérignon and Taittinger Comtes de Champagne, but the jaw dropper for me was the 1996 Salon Cuvée S. Crystalline purity of chardonnay, a searing line of acidity, length and sharp focus. Quite the counterpoint to Krug’s vinosity, Salon was near perfection with chardonnay. 

There is so much diversity in champagne and sparkling wine, these great wines inform what I do with sparkling at Chandon and continue to inspire me.

Nic Bowen

Chief Winemaker | Howard Park Wines

I’m not too sure if there has been a champagne that has changed my life just yet. But there have been plenty that have changed my perception on quality, style and terroir. Some very good champagnes have certainly given me context and inspiration toward my winemaking ideals. The first wine that comes to mind is a wine that a friend of mine was generous enough to share with me - a 2002 Salon, it was a cracker! Such fruit purity, a sublime line and subtly intertwined complexity. It oozed class and showed me the importance of finding vineyards that naturally yield fruit with balance and power.

The next wine that comes to mind takes me back to my early days tasting champagnes in Perth when working toward the Vin de Champagne Awards. Charles Heidsieck’s mis en cave wines of the early 2000s were a masterclass in non-vintage winemaking with up to 40 percent of the wine coming from their vast reserve program. I remember the wines being so rich and complex with toasty mushroom ragout aromatics, complimented with a creamy palate. It made me realise the fantastic potential of adding a third dimension to the winemaking process (such as multiple vintages) to impart consistency in quality, style as well as complexity. There has been many fantastic bottles of fizz, apart from these, over the years. Arras too, most notably after the birth of my daughter. I think that is the most significant life changing part of these wines - they quite often help punctuate an event, be it a celebration or commiseration.

Peter Gago

Chief Winemaker | Penfolds

The 1943 Krug immediately comes to mind...

Firstly, the acquisition. By chance I found and then bought this champagne in London, a few years back, and I suspect a zero was left off its price. Very nice! Secondly, the symbolism. It was made in occupied France a couple of years before the end of World War II. If my sums are correct it was Krug’s 100th Anniversary vintage. I also held no expectation about the wine.

Thirdly, the company. I opened it with two great friends – Jon and Lisa Stevens (Jon is a former UK Penfolds Marketing Manager and Lisa is his wife). Fourthly, the wine. Worryingly, it opened-up without much bubble. Yet, with each minute in the glass it complexed and transformed. An initial ‘waxiness’ transitioned to a fine, fruit-laden character more reminiscent of an old Hunter River semillon than a pinot noir/meunier/chardonnay blend. Unique, memorable, special.

I’ve been spoilt over a number of years and have shared some very old champagnes from a number of great and rare vintages. But this single experience stands out. What a delight to be ambushed by such a vintage find and one that I still know almost nothing about!

Frieda Henskens

Sparkling Winemaker | Henskens Rankin of Tasmania

The original plan was to work vintage in Champagne, but in 2011, harvest started three weeks early. With three small children and my husband’s work commitments, we literally couldn’t get there in time. So, enter Plan B…spend six weeks interviewing small, family-owned, sustainability-minded grower-producers for a project I was working on called ‘Sustainable viticulture for sparkling wine: Australia and Champagne’ intended for my Masters degree.

We visited 24 growers by appointment, interviewed and tasted a tremendous diversity of great champagne. Two made the biggest impression on me. Champagne Serge Mathieu’s Brut Tradition made me fall in love with blanc de noirs, a sparkling style I’d never really liked and certainly never wanted to make. I’d often found it to be unbalanced and too heavy.

While there are many, much more expensive champagnes it was this wine from the Aube that most surprised and first seduced me. Fine boned and crisp, but with a generous ripe and fresh red berry mid-palate, it was perfectly balanced and a celebration of all that is autumnal. 

Another moment was with Eric Rodez in Ambonnay over a bottle of Empreinte de Terroir 1998, a 100 percent pinot noir champagne. For me, it exemplifies what a great vintage can be, like so much with the grower-producers in Champagne, it turns what you thought you knew about champagne upside down and gives it a little shake. It’s vinified in small oak, no malolactic fermentation, no cold stabilisation or filtration. It’s everything at the heart of our own brand. 

Eric told me to do crazy things…carefully, and I think you can see that in this wine. It’s supple, tensile, complex, savoury - almost smoky - and elegant, ripe with red berry fruits and a long dry mineral finish. Eric speaks very little English and my French is nowhere near translatable, but it didn’t matter. We talked for over two and a half hours.

Peter Baverstock

Owner and Sparkling Winemaker | Cuvée-Co. Wines

Taittinger’s prestige Comtes de Champagne is perhaps my most memorable champagne experience. Visiting their cellars in Reims left an immediate impression on me with their soft, flowery house style and skilful use of chardonnay from the Côte des Blancs. Every time I’ve tasted this particular wine I’ve fallen in love with its beauty all over again.

Taittinger only use the premier juice in their prestige offering – known as the ‘cuvée’ or ‘free-run’ which is important for making a delicate style that is elegant and luxurious. But more than this, around five percent of the blend has been fermented in small oak casks adding to its complexity and charm. I adore its floral aromatics and superior finesse. I was very fortunate and humbled to be gifted a bottle of the 1995 Comtes de Champagne from the house when I was hosted there for a tasting. On my wedding day, I opened it. Of course, it was exquisite!

Kate Laurie

Owner and Winemaker | Deviation Road

Charles Heidsieck’s 1995 Blanc des Millénaires never disappoints. It’s always fresh, delicious and complete – an incredibly well-structured champagne that has become my benchmark wine. I’m intrigued by its many layers, yet it’s all seamless. There’s a fascinating interplay between power and complexity as well as restraint and tension. Sublime.

When I was living in Champagne back in 1996 I visited a small grower in the Vallée de la Marne. The owner, a lovely lady, took me down into their cellars to find a bottle from my birth year, a 1976 meunier champagne to disgorge. It was still so fresh, complex and powerful. The experience of having it disgorged in front of me and drinking it right there, underground, was phenomenal. It also highlighted the power and potential of meunier - in good years - to age beautifully.