The Best Prestige Champagnes of 2023

Prestige Champagne, that more illustrious tier of otherwise fine Champagne, is synonymous with the most special of special occasions. Christmas comes but once a year and there's no better reason to splurge on your loved ones than at this time. 

From intimate previews at Champagne's finest Maisons to precious moments with friends, these selections are our personal recommendations from our experiences in Champagne and Australia in 2023.

Taittinger Comtes de Champagne 2013

The delicate and bracing beauty of Comtes de Champagne is never more apparent than in an excellent vintage like 2013. Energy, purity, density and tension underpins its reductive slant. The nose is pronounced with sweet floral overtones, menthol, grass and juicy orchard fruits. And the palate, delicate and finely chiselled with chalk. A magnificent champagne of tremendous grace with better things to come.

RRP $450

Louis Roederer Cristal Rosé 2013

Louis Roederer’s ethereal Cristal Brut, in its rosé incarnation, is a rare treat offering a plusher texture and deeper concentration, all within the finely chiselled framework of grand cru chalk terroir. Some may scoff at the price but to experience it explains everything. This is a champagne unlike any other – a paradigm of liveliness and delicacy with tautness and power, heightening the merits of the vintage. The nose declares superior fruit origins with the kind of energy that comes from intensity and freshness. Think quince membrillo, wild strawberries, cherry ripe and raw almonds. On the palate, malic tension sharpens its saline attack, evolving into berry deliciousness with a lemon squash zing. It’s all at once engaging with enthralling energy around a backbone of chalk, finishing with trademark length and enduring freshness.

RRP $995

Rare Millésime 2008

I attended the launch of Rare Millésime 2013 recently in Paris which was extraordinary. In Australia, we won’t see this vintage for a number of months but the 2008 current release heralds from one of the best years in two decades. This champagne always delivers on expectations and consistently delicious on release based on 70 percent chardonnay and 30 percent pinot noir. It has a multi-layered complexity, golden fruit character, mineral backbone, citrus freshness and with a silky mouthfeel. A real wine!

RRP $450

Bollinger R.D. 2008

Bollinger’s latest release R.D. (which represents an older vintage, recently disgorged, and dosed as an extra brut) is always vivacious. The nose leads with cinnamon bun, dried pear and toast. On the palate there’s a stunning liveliness which, when coupled with Bollinger’s intensity, structure and power, makes for a particularly bold wine. It comes from a fresh attack, loads of tension, and an energetic saltiness. The weight shifts to favour pinot noir toward the mid-back palate and leaves a phenolic impression under a long, dry finish. Delicious and with a long way to go.

RRP $550

Charles Heidsieck Blanc des Millénaires 2007

Charles’ acclaimed Blanc des Millénaires has earned cult status amongst those lucky enough to have tried it. It’s very mineral and pure, playing more to the soil than sunshine, but finding its balance here too. Only chardonnay taken from five grand crus in the Côte des Blancs is used in this effortlessly weightless and smoothly textured champagne of euphoric wonder. Twelve years of aging in Charles’ heritage listed crayères has produced a champagne with a velvety texture and creamy richness – without being yeasty – aromatically reminiscent of its chalky origins and astonishingly fresh.

RRP $450