There are literally a couple of days left before the onset of the New Year, so many of our compatriots are actively addressing the issue of purchasing food for the holiday table.
At the same time, not the least place here is given to the choice of a sparkling drink, which will make the holiday truly memorable and fun.
And to make this task as easy as possible, experts have compiled rating of Russian champagne, having familiarized yourself with which you can easily purchase a quality drink at an affordable price.
The relevance of the issue of choice lies in the fact that the modern market is simply replete with offers, greatly increasing the consumer’s chances of purchasing surrogates
Champagne is called synonymous with fun, joy and victories, so it can always be seen as a decoration for a romantic meeting and other festive event. And if this best Russian champagne, rating which occupies high horizons among similar products, then the holiday can definitely be called a success. It is important to understand that the best sparkling wines are produced in regions that grow special varieties of grapes. If we talk about Russian producers, then best Russian champagne rating 2017 indicates that these are products from the enterprise ZAO Abrau-Durso (Krasnodar Territory), the main brands of which are the wines “Victor Dravigny”, “Specific Department” and “Imperial”
Rating of Russian champagne 2017
According to experts, Abrau-Durso CJSC is the largest domestic producer of sparkling wines, which forces its specialists to jealously monitor the quality of drinks supplied to the market. It is for this reason that its products top rating of Russian sparkling wines, especially since the company’s pricing policy allows us to talk about the availability of low-alcohol drinks for the majority of the population. In general rating of Russian champagne 2017 distributed as follows:
In this context, correspondents of our news agency place emphasis on the fact that this rating of Russian champagne producers was compiled not on the quality and taste characteristics of drinks, but on their popularity and demand among the population. Well, since people tend to buy products only from trusted manufacturers and at affordable prices, the rating compiled by experts can be considered as the main criterion for choosing champagne, including for the purpose New Year's table decorations
Some nuances of purchasing drinks
Despite the fact that experts compiled rating of champagne produced in Russia, allowing you to make an accentuated choice, it is important to understand that you need to buy it only in specialized stores or in large supermarkets. As a rule, employees of retail chains of this level very scrupulously check the supplied goods for quality and delivery time, and their pricing policy is based on more flexible schedule And of course, their marketers track positions such as rating of champagne wines from Russian producers, trying to purchase only popular drinks. This means that here you can always buy a bottle of high-quality sparkling wine and celebrate the New Year fully armed
Special attention should be paid to the cost of the drinks offered. So, if we are talking about products that ranking of Russian champagne 2017 occupies the highest positions, then its price cannot start at an amount below 300 rubles. Of course, if we talk about global manufacturers, their drinks can reach a cost of 5,000 per bottle, but not everyone can afford this product. Well, for the average for a Russian a bottle of sparkling wine at a price in the range of 300-500 rubles is quite acceptable. By the way, for comparison you can consider rating of Russian champagne 2016, which is practically no different from the current situation on the market for low-alcohol products. For our part, all that remains is to add that the question of how to choose the right champagne for the New Year is actually not difficult at all. You just need to follow your priorities and take into account the information regarding the manufacturer's rating
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In international competitions, sparkling wines from France are traditionally among the leaders. The unique terroirs of Champagne and centuries of production experience are the reasons why French champagne constantly ranks at the top of the ratings. In recent years, the products of Italian winemakers have been highly valued - Italian enterprises are among the best producers of sparkling wines at the world's leading competitions.
Leaders of world competitions in recent years
Experts compile ratings of sparkling wines in different categories. Champagne is classified by type, class, country of origin. Separate competitions are held between Italian Prosecco and Asti, and Spanish Cava wines. The best representatives are determined in each category, which does not prevent those remaining in the background from receiving honorary gold medals.
One of the most respected sparkling wine competitions, The Champagne Sparkling Wine World Championships, in 2019 gave the palm to Dom Pérignon 2004 Brut. Vintage magnum aged ten years has a rich taste, combining shades of red fruits, spices, almond cake and hazelnuts. In 2017, the brand also took the lead in this competition, when the Dom Perignon 1998 P2 magnum was recognized as the best.
Among the classic bruts, the winner in 2019 was Louis Roederer 2012 Brut Vintage in a 1.5 liter bottle. Elite sparkling wine is created from pinot noir and chardonnay grapes grown in Premier and Grand Cru Champagne and has been aged on lees for at least five years. A year earlier, the Louis Roederer house became the absolute leader of the competition, winning the title of best producer and the title of champion with Louis Roederer NV Brut Premier.
The Decanter 2018 wine competition placed Piper-Heidsieck Rare Brut champagne in one of the first places. Brut from the 2002 vintage won the Best in Show category. Experts highly appreciated the multifaceted bouquet, which combines shades of freshly cut grass, green apple, citrus fruits and freshly baked buns.
Among the main winners of Decanter 2019 was the brut Charles Heidsieck, Blanc de Blancs. The company was founded by a representative of the Heidsieck family, but has been developing as a separate brand since 1851. The sparkling wine is made from Chardonnay grapes and has the characteristic fresh apple flavor of blanc de blanc with hints of toasted bread.
Among Italian wines, competition judges have in recent years noted the products of the Ferrari wine house. The company was recognized as Manufacturer of the Year at the 2019 CSWWC. Champagne of this brand is made using classic French technology with aging in a bottle from grapes harvested in the mountain terroir of Trento. The company has nothing to do with car manufacturers - Ferrari wines appeared half a century before the sports cars of the same name.
The best French brands In the top five:
According to the authoritative publication The Drinks Business, the world leader in sales is the house of champagne Moët & Chandon. The company owns about 1,200 hectares of vineyards in the best areas of Champagne, and production volumes are about 26 million bottles per year.
Champagne rating in Russia
The foundation for the production of sparkling wines in Russia was laid by Lev Golitsyn at the end of the 19th century. The prince sought to create champagne that would be in no way inferior to the best examples of French winemaking. He succeeded to the fullest - in 1900, the Paradisio brand was highly appreciated by Parisian experts and was awarded the Grand Prix.
Champagne “New World” recreated according to Golitsyn’s recipes. Paradisio has repeatedly won prizes at prestigious international competitions and in 2019 once again confirmed its high quality by winning the Grand Prix at the XXIII International Wine Competition, which takes place under the auspices of the OIV.
Millennial sparkling wine is made from Chardonnay grapes only in the best harvest years and is aged in the cellars of the Novy Svet plant for at least three years. The pale straw-colored drink has a floral aroma and a fresh taste with subtle mineral notes. Champagne is considered exclusive and is produced in very limited quantities.
"Abrau-Durso"
The Abrau-Durso brand has been at the peak of popularity among Russian buyers in recent years. Champagne was recognized as the best by independent experts of Roskachestvo in 2019. The plant on the shores of Lake Abrau, founded in 1870, produces several dozen types of sparkling wines, among which elite brands with a long aging period occupy a special place. The classic collection “Russian champagne Abrau-Durso” with a harmonious floral and fruit bouquet remains the top seller.
Chateau Tamagne
A relatively young brand of champagne produced by the Kuban-Vino holding takes second place in the quality rating. The company has been operating since 1956 and makes its products from grapes grown in the unique climatic zone of the Taman Peninsula, washed by the waters of the Black and Azov Seas. Oenologists from France worked on the recipe for champagne, and in terms of organoleptic indicators it is in no way inferior to the best examples of European products.
Inkerman
In recent years, wines from the Crimean plant Inkerman have been rapidly gaining popularity. The company was founded in 1961 and produces champagne from grapes from the Sevastopol terroir. Inkerman’s assortment includes only four types of sparkling wines; the most popular is traditionally “Semi-sweet” with the aroma of white flowers and a delicate peach-honey taste.
Roskachestvo rating for 2018 P.S. Which champagne is better can only be determined by tasting several drinks yourself. In recent years, the task has become more complicated due to the appearance on the market of a huge number of attractively presented carbonated wine drinks that are not, in fact, champagne. Poor quality products greatly undermine the image of real sparkling wines. When choosing, experts recommend carefully studying the composition of the contents of the bottle - the list of ingredients should not contain flavorings, preservatives and carbon dioxide.
According to strict rules set by the European Union to control the name of a product by its place of origin, only drinks produced in a specific French province are entitled to be called “champagne”. They are the ones who bear on their label a sign of their noble pedigree - the letters DOC. All other drinks, even if they accurately copy the blend and production technology, are called “sparkling wines.” In some countries they also have their own names. In Catalonia it is “cava”, in Italy it is “proseco”, in Languedoc it is “blanquette”. And these drinks also bear the elite acronym DOC. But often the law is not written to manufacturers. And in the old fashioned way they are called those made, more or less according to the technology that Abbé Perignon invented. Some drinks are an outright mess of waste materials, artificially carbonated. But among the domestic sparkling wines there are also ones worthy of being served at the festive table. In this article we will look at the TOP 10 drinks in the “Elite Champagne” nomination.
Veuve Clicquot ("Veuve Clicquot")
As the British say, ladies first. But it is not the politeness of gentlemen that makes us let the lady go first. This drink really deserves to take first place in the “Elite Champagne” rating. Monsieur Clicquot, an unremarkable winemaker, rendered two great services to humanity: he married the young lady Barb Nicole Ponsardin and died in time to allow the widow to show her abilities.
The lady raised her husband's modest household to unprecedented heights. She invented a method for perfectly cleaning champagne and a bridle on the cork, because the pressure in the bottle is three times higher than in a car tire. In addition, the lady skillfully used natural phenomena for self-promotion. So, in 1811, the inhabitants of the Earth observed a comet. Veuve Clicquot immediately sent a ship to Russia (whose troops had recently defeated Napoleon) with a huge shipment of champagne, the label of which featured a tailed star. A gigantic sales market was secured. The entire aristocracy tasted the “wine of the comet”, and even Pushkin mentioned champagne in his poems. Now the cheapest products from the Veuve Clicquot house cost from two and a half thousand rubles. And the price of some elite bottles amounts to several tens of thousands of dollars.
Moët & Chandon (“Moët and Chandon”)
This company is as old as Veuve Clicquot. Who doesn't know this elite champagne? A photo of a black bow with a gold border, sealed with a round red seal under the neck of a bottle, serves as an example of the French art of living. Moet and Chandon supplied their champagne to the court of the French king. Louis XV liked it, and Napoleon Bonaparte did not hesitate to stop by the wine house for it himself when he was passing through Champagne. Since the reign of Edward VII, Moët & Chandon have mastered the British market. And now the company is the official supplier of champagne to the court of Elizabeth II. Moët et Chandon is not limited to royalty. It is their champagne that pours into glasses when the prestigious Golden Globe cinema award is presented. Thanks to large circulations, the company's products are sold at more affordable prices. In Russia, a bottle of Moet and Chandon can be bought for two thousand rubles.
Dom Pérignon ("Dom Perignon")
It's time to talk about the inventor of champagne as such. “House” is not a name, much less a building. Perignon's name was Pierre. Because he was a Benedictine monk, he was respectfully addressed as a Dom clergyman. Perignon lived in the seventeenth century, and in his spare time from prayer, he experimented with young, foamy wine at his Abbey of Hautvillers. He was the first to think of fermenting still drinks a second time. He aged them in bottles made of very thick glass, sealed with an oak stopper. The elite champagne brand of the Abbey of Auvilliers was very quickly appreciated by the French aristocracy. Soon they began to supply it to the Sun King Louis XIV at Versailles. The firm "Moët and Chandon" bought the abbey's vineyards. The manufacturer continues to create drinks using ancient technology. This brand is called “Dom Perignon”. Since the vineyard area is small, this drink automatically increases in price. A bottle of regular Dom Perignon costs from eight thousand rubles. Dom Perignon Oenotheque - an elite brand of a wine house is valued on the market at twenty-two thousand.
Louis Roederer
In Russia this is the most expensive elite champagne. Its name has become known in our country since the reign of Alexander II. And it’s not surprising: “Louis Roederer Crystal” was made in 1876 specifically for the royal court. The word “Cristal” meant not only the maximum purification of the drink. By order of Emperor Alexander II, champagne was supplied in crystal bottles. About sixty percent of all products from Louis Roederer's wine house went to Russia. And even now our compatriots have remained faithful to tradition. Champagne "Louis Roederer Brut Premier" is the most popular of the French brands. Its average price is four thousand three hundred rubles per bottle. The exclusive drink “Louis Roederer Crystal” is valued much higher. Its cost varies from ten to thirty-five thousand rubles (depending on the year of harvest).
Piper-Heidsieck ("Piper Heidsieck")
The owners of this wine house promote their products through Hollywood stars. Piper Heidsieck champagne was Marilyn Monroe's favorite. And at all Oscar awards ceremonies, the products of this house are invariably present. The company's PR managers seem to have discovered a gold mine. Now the names “Piper Heidsieck” and Hollywood are inseparable. In 1965, the company released a bottle 1.82 meters high, the height of Oscar-winning actor Rex Harrison (for his role in the film My Fair Lady, played opposite Audrey Hepburn). And last year, Christian Louboutin became the designer of the Piper Heidsieck house. This is how elite brut champagne appeared, released in a gift set with a crystal-heeled shoe. This PR stunt takes us back to the fairy tale of Cinderella. But at the same time, it also makes us remember the old wedding tradition when the groom drinks champagne from the bride’s shoe. It is not possible to find a gift set in wine boutiques in Russia. But regular Piper Heidsieck Brut champagne can be found for one and a half thousand rubles.
G.H. Mumm (“Mumm”)
The first owner of the company in the eighteenth century decorated the label of his products with the red ribbon of the Legion of Honor. Now the company advertises itself through sports. The wine house’s slogan is “Striving for achievement and courage.” The company sponsors many sports competitions and scientific achievements. In 1904, this elite champagne was uncorked by the crew of the Le France ship in Antarctica. It is poured on the winners of Formula 1 competitions. "Mumm" is the third manufacturer in the world in terms of sales volume. A bottle of champagne from this company costs an average of two and a half thousand rubles.
Krug ("Circle")
Can sparkling wines be aged? Yes, if they are produced in the Krug cellars. This house initially focused on the quality of the drink, and not on sales volume. The company has only twenty hectares of its own vineyards! The best blend of wort is fermented in small wooden barrels and then aged in bottles for at least six years. Thanks to this method, champagne not only acquires a complex, recognizable taste, but also the ability to “age gracefully.” Such elite champagne can be kept in the cellar for at least forty years and then sold at a profit. Why not an investment? For example, at a wine auction in Hong Kong in April 2015, a bottle of Krug from the 1928 vintage went for twenty-one thousand two hundred dollars. But ordinary champagne from this company costs about twenty thousand rubles.
It is generally believed that Prestige Cuvée drinks should be dry: ultra, extra, nature and sauvage brut. But lately dessert wines have become increasingly fashionable. This trend is reflected in champagne. They began to produce dessert Prosecco and Cava, and German sparkling wine Seeckt. Then the sweet Cremant appeared. This too, but it was produced outside the elite province. The "Crémant" from Jura and Alsace are very famous. Perhaps the most delicious sweet “champagne” can be called “spumati” (sparkling wine) from the Italian province of Asti. It is made from one variety of berries - Moscato.
Domestic brands of champagne
The production of sparkling wines in the Russian Empire began in 1799, when Academician Pallas produced the first bottles of the drink made using the champagne method on his estate near Sudak. In 1804, a school was even opened in Crimea. There they began to conduct experiments on creating champagne wines. Prince Lev Golitsyn made a great contribution to winemaking. In 1900, his New World champagne received the Grand Prix at the World Exhibition in Paris. Golitsyn worked not only in Crimea. In 1870, on the royal estate on the banks of the Durso River and Lake Abrau in the Kuban, he, together with French specialists, grew vineyards and set up a champagne production plant. The first batch was released in 1897. But Abrau-Durso and Novy Svet were not the only brands of sparkling wines in Russia. Among the domestic names during the years of the USSR, “Moscow Elite Champagne” arose and now firmly holds its position.
Is it possible to produce such wine in northern latitudes?
There would be production capacities corresponding to the technological process. In the Moscow region there are mushrooms, berries and flowers, but not grapes. But berries of the Pinot, Riesling, Aligote and Chardonnay varieties are delivered to the Russian capital from the southern regions. At the MKSHV plant, grapes are turned into a drink called “Moscow Elite Champagne”: brut, semi-dry and semi-sweet. The amount of sugar in wine is regulated not by adding crystals, but solely by assemblage. The wort is aged for about six months. The result is a drink of rich light straw color, with a harmonious taste and an interesting bouquet.
10 brands – 10 champagne houses, the most famous of all. Eight of them are listed in his book about the great wines and great estates of the world by Robert Parker, and we added two brands to this list at our own discretion, one is “the most Hollywood brand”, and the other is “the most sports-adrenaline brand”.
1. Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin
Women - go ahead. The most famous “female” champagne brand in the world is Veuve Clicquot. At the beginning of the 19th century, the heroic 27-year-old widow Clicquot, whose maiden name was Barb Nicole Ponsardin, inherited a mediocre winery from her husband - and raised it to unprecedented heights. She filled 18 km of dungeons with her wonderful product, buying them from the city and turning them into wine cellars. She is the author of the method of purifying champagne until crystal clear, which is still used by all winemakers in the world.
She also invented a wire bridle that is put on a cork - the liquid in the bottle is under pressure 3 times higher than the pressure in a car tire.
She even took... space as her allies. The “Comet of 1811” that visited the solar system gave the widow an excellent idea - to send a ship with a batch of 10,000 bottles of “comet wine” - champagne from the 1811 harvest, with a tailed star on the label - to Napoleon’s victorious Russia. And this was the beginning of a long successful commercial relationship between the widow and the distant northern empire.
This woman lived for 88 years and deprived relatives who were indifferent to winemaking of their inheritance, transferring her thriving business to the one who worked with her until the very end - her manager and friend, Eduard Verde, whose descendants strengthened the fame of the brand after her death - today this brand is one of the most famous, it is drunk in 150 countries around the world.
PRICES
In Moscow the bottle is 0.75 l. Veuve Clicquot Brut costs from 2500 rubles.
Veuve Clicquot Grande Dame - with an orange branded label on a black bottle - already costs around 10,000 rubles. According to legend, the loud color of the label was personally invented by the widow herself.
And today this champagne house attracts the best designers, such as Kerim Rashid, to design the brand, so the cost of the best wines in exclusive packaging can amount to tens of thousands of dollars.
2. Moët & Chandon
Everyone knows this black bow with a gold border, sealed with a red round seal under the neck of the bottle. It was invented in 1886, and since then it has remained a constant, recognizable design detail of Moet & Chandon branded products.
For 250 years, this company has been producing one of the most famous and prestigious brands of champagne. From the very beginning, the house of Moet & Chandon has been one of the main official suppliers to the royal courts. At one time, his wine was supplied to Louis XV, and Napoleon Bonoparte himself visited the estate when he found himself in Champagne.
Among the clients to whom Moët and Chandon supplied their wines was Thomas Jefferson, and King Edward VII of England loved this champagne so much that he went everywhere accompanied by a servant who carried a basket with a couple of bottles behind him. And today the house of Moet and Chandon has Royal permission as a supplier of champagne to Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain.
In the modern era of pop culture stars, Moet and Chandon champagne is actively exploring the world of cinema. For almost two decades, Moët has been the official champagne of the Golden Globe Awards.
and in the spring of this year, the company held a sensational campaign in the press with the choice of “the face of the champagne house of Moet and Chandon” - it was the rising Hollywood star Scarlett Johansson.
PRICES
Champagne house Moet & Chandon is the largest champagne producer in the world. It produces up to 30 million bottles a year, which is twice the volume of its closest competitor, Veuve Clicquot. Due to the large circulation, it is quite affordable in price.
Main wines of the house:
Moet & Chandon Imperial, first released back in 1860, in honor of Napoleon - 2000-6000 rubles depending on the year of harvest (in Moscow),
Moet & Chandon Dom Perignon– exclusive vintage champagne, produced since 1936 in honor of the “inventor” of sparkling wines, Dom Perignon – from 7,000 rubles.
3. Dom Pérignon
This “shield” label is known all over the world. Moet & Chandon has been producing this exclusive vintage champagne since 1936.
The brand is named after a famous figure in winemaking - the Benedictine monk Pierre Perignon, who lived in the 17th century. House is an address to a clergyman in France. He is credited (by the French, the British think differently) with the glory of inventing a sparkling, foamy drink - before him, no one had figured out how to turn ordinary fermented wine into a new wonderful drink.
He was probably not absolutely the first, but, of course, he was at the origins of champagne production technology, which in general terms was inherited by our contemporaries. He came up with the ideas for secondary fermentation of still wine, selecting a mixture of white wines and aging it in thick-walled bottles, as well as sealing bottles with cork stoppers. When he was thirty years old, Pierre Perignon took charge of the wine cellars of the Benedictine Abbey of Auvilliers, declaring that he would create the best wine in the world. And he succeeded - rumors about the excellent quality of the fizzy monastery drink reached Versailles. Wines from Dom Pérignon began to be supplied to the royal court of Louis XIV, the “Sun King”.
Modern Dom Perignon, from Moet and Chandon, is produced in accordance with the tradition established by the legendary monk - to create the best wine in the world. Its quality is such that the wine probably does not need additional advertising.
However, the manufacturing company recently hired Karl Lagerfeld to work on the brand image. The campaign was an extraordinary success and brought the brand to a new level of popularity. It also became an exemplary example of wine branding, and - a kind of cult event in the world of fashion and lifestyle - Lagerfeld attracted catwalk stars Eva Herzigova and Claudia Schiffer to photo shoots with Dom Perignon. The overall idea of the campaign: Dom Pérignon is a magical drink that liberates sexual fantasies.
PRICES
There are three wines:
Dom Perignon – Dom Pérignon, Dom Pérignon Rose and Dom Perignon Oenotheque
Dom Pérignon is somewhat cheaper, it can be found for 7,000-9,000 rubles. per bottle.
Dom Pérignon Rose and Dom Pérignon Oenotheque are highly prized and are considered among the finest and most expensive wines in the world. Prices in Moscow – from 17,000 to 22,000 rubles
4. Louis Roederer
The whole world knows this brand for its most famous wine - Louis Roederer Christa l. “Luxurious wine”, “stunning quality” - these are the epithets Robert Parker uses about him. And of course, this is the most prestigious and most expensive champagne wine in Russia in general. “Royal drink” - it was first produced in 1876, especially for Alexandra II.
Until the revolution, the house of Louis Roderer was the official supplier of wine to the court of the Russian Emperor. More than 60% of its products were sent to the Russian Empire. Crystal got its name because it was supplied in crystal bottles specially made for Alexander II.
In today's “golden” design of the appearance of the bottle, with elegant font and monograms on the label, the association with the royal crown, aristocracy, sophistication and wealth is maintained. All over the world it is considered a luxury drink, intended for winners and leaders. The policy of the champagne house of Louis Roderer is also distinguished by aristocracy and independence - not a single international corporation has yet succeeded in trying to take it over - it is almost the only house in Champagne that remains in family ownership.
The value of the champagne house's products was once again confirmed in July of this year - at an auction in the United States, a bottle of Louis Roederer Cristal Rose 2002 champagne was sold for $12,000. Proceeds from the auction were used to support contemporary art. What is symbolic is that a wine with such a history, level of prestige and such a price is no longer so much a wine as such, but an object of high art.
PRICES
The champagne house produces quite a bit of wine for the family enterprise - up to 3 million bottles per year, which, however, is 10 times less than Moët and Chandon. Moreover, Louis Roederer Cristal - only 500 thousand bottles for the whole world.
The limited production volume, as well as the extraordinary quality and prestige of the brand, determine quite high prices for wine, including in Moscow:
Louis Roederer Brut Premier – from 4300 rub.
Louis Roederer Cristal - from 10,000 to 35,000 rubles, depending on the year of harvest.
This wine is known as the wine of Hollywood. Almost from the very beginning of the Oscar award ceremonies, it accompanies these festive events.
It was Marilyn Monroe's favorite drink, and she was photographed more than once with a glass of champagne in her hand. And this champagne most often was Piper-Heidsieck.
In 1965, Piper-Heidsieck created the largest bottle of champagne in the world - 1 m 82 cm, which corresponds to the height of American film actor Rex Harrison. The bottle was intended to celebrate Harrison's Oscar win for his role in My Fair Lady, opposite Audrey Hepburn. The giant bottle contained the volume of 64 regular bottles of magnificent vintage Piper-Heidsieck Brut champagne from the 1959 vintage.
Piper-Heidsieck distinguished himself with a new design and PR move - together with Christian Louboutin, he released a limited edition gift set - a bottle of his wine accompanied by an elegant lady's slipper with a crystal heel, which simultaneously refers us to both Cinderella and the romantic custom of drinking champagne from a slipper ladies of the heart.
The Piper-Heidsieck company has made festive red and gold colors the recognizable and memorable colors of its brand, and very successfully uses them in the design of its corporate identity - both the label of the wine itself, and all related advertising products, and the official website of the company.
PRICES
Naturally, you won’t find a gift set with a shoe in Moscow; the entire limited edition is made to order.
But the usual Piper-Heidsieck branded champagne is sold annually in the amount of 5 million bottles, and is quite available here, at low prices for such a level of promotion of the brand:
Piper-Heidsieck Brut –
from 1500 rub. per bottle
6. Mumm (G.H. Mumm)
The style of the MUMM label is easily remembered by the diagonal red ribbon - this is a symbol of the legion of honor - with which one of the first owners of the champagne house decorated his wine back in the 18th century. This trademark of the brand is immediately recognizable on the shelves of wine boutiques and on commercials. And on balloons, which the company loves to launch for advertising purposes.
In general, MUMM is the wine of adrenaline, extreme sports, travel and discovery. Throughout the history of its existence, the G.H.MUMM company has been a sponsor of various events related to technical breakthroughs and sporting achievements of mankind. The company's slogan is “Courage and the desire for extraordinary discoveries.”
At the beginning of the last century, the company carried out its first sponsorship project: the famous traveler Captain Charcot “baptized” his ship “Le France” by breaking a bottle of MUMM Cordon Rouge champagne on its side. On July 14, 1904, on an ice floe in Antarctica, Captain Charcot and his crew celebrated Bastille Day with a glass of MUMM champagne.
When you watch a Formula 1 broadcast, pay attention to the champagne the winners pour on each other. This year the company announced the release of the GH Mumm F1 box “Limited Edition”, which became part of the Formula 1 champagne collection from Mumm, the official sponsor of the race.
And recently, this champagne received a kind of artistic advertising support - extraordinary glass Mumm-balloons were produced - something average in size between champagne bubbles and airship balloons.
PRICES
MUMM is the third largest brand in the world in terms of product sales, after Moët and Chandon and Veuve Clicquot.
About 8 million bottles are sold annually in more than 100 countries.
Prices are at the price level of leading competitors.
In Moscow - from 2500 rubles for a standard 0.75 liter bottle. MUMM Cordon Rouge
7. Circle
Quality and endurance - this is how one could formulate the credo of the Krug champagne house. “Their strict and very conservative policy of aging wine for many years before releasing it for sale seems almost incompatible with the pace of the modern world,” Robert Parker marvels, “but fortunately it ensures their highest quality, ripeness and complexity.”
These people are not chasing numbers. The house produces only about 100 thousand bottles per year, which is 300 (!) times less than the production volume of the mastodon of the champagne market - Moët and Chandon.
The company's own vineyard area is extremely limited - only 20 hectares, and it purchases the best grapes from another 56 hectares of the best vineyards in Champagne. The mixture is fermented in small wooden barrels and then aged in bottles for at least 6-8 years. This provides the wine with a unique, recognizable, complex taste and the ability to undergo further noble aging in the bottle.
The wines of this champagne house are among the most “long-lasting”, their quality remains unchanged or even improves over time. These are so-called “late release” wines, as they can be aged for 30 or 40 years. This is an excellent long-term investment in wine. Robert Parker, having tasted the 1947 vintage of Krug, declared that this was the most outstanding champagne. that he has ever tried.
At a wine auction in Hong Kong, a 750 ml bottle of an even older wine - 1928 champagne from the Krug Collection - was paid $21,200 - making it the most expensive champagne ever sold. According to Sotheby's auction house expert Serena Sutcliffe, this wine is one of the best champagnes in the history of winemaking.
PRICES
Despite the small production volumes, Krug can also be found in Russia. Not in every wine boutique, but it is there, and it is not a cheap drink, in Moscow - from 12,000 to 25,000 rubles for a 0.75 liter bottle.
8. Paul Roger
Founded in 1849 by Paul Roger, the Pol Roger champagne house remains family-owned, resisting the general process of mergers and acquisitions of small family businesses by large holdings such as LVMH. And today the house is managed by two great-grandsons of its founder, who even managed to change their surname in honor of their great-grandfather - now it is spelled with a hyphen - Paul Roger.
This is one of the best companies in Champagne and one of the best champagne wines in the world. Robert Parker, the world's leading wine critic, is extremely enthusiastic about it: "If there is one vintage Brut champagne that can clearly lay claim to being one of the world's greatest wines, it is Pol Roger."
The exceptional quality of this vintage wine is its ability to age for 30 years or more, something that even many of the great red wines of Bordeaux cannot achieve. This circumstance makes Pol Roger very attractive to wine collectors and for reliable and profitable wine investments.
Paul Roger is known as Sir Winston Churchill's favorite champagne. He once said: “I can’t live without champagne. After a win I deserve it, and after a loss I need it.” And this was not a general remark about all champagnes - Churchill was a loyal fan of this particular brand. The Pol Roger company even supplied him with its wine in a unique container - specially made bottles with a volume of 1 imperial pint (0.57 l). This champagne was served to Churchill by his butler at 11 o'clock in the morning when he woke up.
Later, in honor of Churchill, the company included a special brand in its line of wines, Cuvee Sir Winston Churchill, which is made from grapes from the best vineyards of the best years, and which Robert Parker rates extremely highly.
PRICES
One of the best champagne houses, being a local family enterprise, nevertheless operates at the level of mastodons in the champagne market - it produces about 1.5 million bottles of wine per year. And keeps world-class prices.
Pol Roger champagne can be found in Moscow, although not in every boutique.
Pol Roger Brut
starting from 3000 rub.
Pol Roger Cuvee Sir Winston Churchill – about 10,000 rubles.
9. Bollinger
Bollinger is another wine from Olympus from the best wines of Champagne. Experts - Robert Parker, Hugh Johnson, Jancis Robinson and many other world-famous wine critics - include him in five leaders in quality, along with Dom Perignon, Louis Roederer, Pol Roger and Krug.
And critics especially highlight the brand Bollinger Grande Année (Bollinger of the Great Harvest Year), ranking it among the most elite brands with impeccable quality.
All other champagne fans, paying tribute to the taste of Bollinger, know and remember this wine also as the favorite drink of James Bond, which he sipped with a very aristocratic air in almost half of the twenty-odd Bond films.
On the eve of the premiere of the new film with Daniel Craig, the Bollinger company decided to support this association - “Bollinger - James Bond” - by releasing a limited edition of champagne, only 207 bottles. A bullet-shaped steel case engraved with “Bollinger 007″ houses a bottle of Bollinger Grande from 1999.
And one more fact from the history of the brand, which brings it closer to the Veuve Clicquot brand. Surprisingly, in the history of winemaking there is such a phenomenon - the “famous Widows of Champagne.” Veuve Clicquot-Ponsardin, widow Laurent-Perrier, widow Pommery, widow Henriot... Their names became trademarks. This list includes the legendary Lily Bollinger.
Widowed at the age of 42, Madame Lily Bollinger devoted all her extraordinary energy to improving the technology of champagne production, maintaining the tradition of the highest quality of the brand, which was admired by Thomas Jefferson.
The modern heirs of the House of Bollinger maintain these traditions of quality - the house is known for its famous “Charter of Ethics and Quality”, which it promulgated in 1992, and which it follows at the expense of production volumes. However, this is bearing fruit - the demand for elite Bollinger champagne exceeds supply so much that it is distributed across countries in accordance with quotas established by the company.
PRICES
The company produces 1 million bottles a year, which is quite a lot for a family business. Some of these products are also available in Moscow:
Bollinger Special Cuvee Brut – from RUB 3,000.
Bollinger Grande Annee – from 6,000 rubles.
Bollinger Grande 1999 in bullet-shaped packaging for Agent 007, in a wooden box weighing 22 kg - $5765.00 - you are unlikely to find it in Moscow.
10. Salon
Salon is one of the smallest of the great champagne houses, which began with a 1 hectare vineyard purchased in 1911 by a charismatic figure named Eugene Aimé Salon. Having previously worked as a teacher, a fur trader and many others, having amassed a million-dollar capital, Salon decided to become a winemaker, producing wine like nothing had ever been before.
It is not difficult to reconstruct his motivation - being a regular at restaurants and a connoisseur of the best French wines, Salon felt that there was a niche for him in winemaking - he could create something completely unique, a wine of unsurpassed quality and extraordinary properties. The idea was to create wine, firstly, based on Chardonnay alone and, secondly, only in the years of the best harvests. In not very brilliant years, he did not want to make wine.
And thus, for almost a century, the house he founded in 1921 produced only 37 vintage wines until 2006. Which, of course, from the very beginning gave them the reputation of a luxury drink - extremely rare, prestigious and expensive. Already his first vintages made his name; in the 20s, his Salon was the “wine of the house” in the legendary Maxim restaurant, a meeting place for the Parisian elite.
After Salon's death, his ownership was resold twice, and today it belongs to the Laurent-Perrier group. The new owners are trying to maintain the Salon brand; wine is still made only from grapes from the best years; over the past 30 years, only one out of three harvests has been turned into wine. Robert Parker, characterizing the quality of all Salon wines as “indisputable,” especially highlights his favorite vintage – the 1990 harvest.
PRICES
The production volume of the Salon champagne house is extremely small - about 50,000 bottles per year of production, and this, as was said, does not happen every year.
Naturally, such a rare wine is not a frequent guest in Moscow boutiques and online stores, and it can be difficult to find.
Prices, however, are relatively low for such an exclusive product - starting from 13,000 rubles for a bottle of standard volume 0.75 liters.
On the eve of the holidays, a reasonable question arises - which good champagne to buy? And is it true that only white wine can rightfully be called champagne, and other foamy semi-sweet drinks of pink and red colors are just sparkling wine?
Let's figure out which champagne is better, dry, semi-sweet, elite or Soviet.
Which champagne is real and which is fake?
The bulk of sparkling wine, which we call champagne, is produced using a simplified method. Without reading the label and being tempted by the affordable price, the buyer risks buying, at best, wine artificially saturated with carbon dioxide instead of real champagne. And at worst - a fizzy, flavored drink that was made from sugar, alcohol and water.
So, how does real champagne differ from beautifully foamy wines bottled in graceful “curvy” bottles?
Real champagne is made from three grape varieties: Pinot Noir, Pinot and white Chardonnay in the Champagne region of France. Only such sparkling wine can be called champagne. The rest of the alcoholic drinks labeled “champagne”, produced in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and other countries of the world, are nothing more than a good analogue of the famous French product.
The estimated cost of real champagne wines in Russia from the world famous brands Louis Roederer, Pierre Gimonnet & Fils, Chanoine ranges from 3,000 rubles to 500,000 per bottle. At the same time, numerous reviews indicate that the majority of our compatriots prefer Russian semi-sweet champagne to foreign ones. It is also produced using old French technology, but domestic products are several times cheaper.
The prices of champagne wine depend on the production technology, grape varieties, aging and range from 200 rubles for semi-sweet white wine to 2,300 rubles for extra brut white sparkling wine.
Champagne is usually classified not only by sugar content (brut, ultra-brut, semi-dry and dry), but also by year of production - vintage. Thus, more affordable and light drinks do not age for several years and are ready for consumption within a couple of months after production. (“Sparkling quality” is achieved by producers of such wines by mechanically adding carbon dioxide). And vintage champagne wines, produced from a single grape harvest and having passed the strictest controls, are aged for 5 years or more. In this case, the entire process of “champagneization” occurs naturally.
Which champagne is better, brut or semi-sweet?
The purest taste is in dry champagne with a minimum content of added sugar. Those who once chose brut nature for themselves are unlikely to ever be able to drink anything else. Dry sparkling wine is an ideal accompaniment to seafood and white meat. Brut goes well with peach and pear.
But in our country there are many who contemptuously call brut “sour” and happily drink semi-sweet brands of champagne wines during the holidays. This unfair treatment of dry champagne is partly due to the wrong choice of product. Authentic Brut with a rich palette of flavors and an amazing aftertaste a priori cannot be cheap.
Cuvee Royale AOC Joseph Perrier, Brut Rose Deutz, Ayala Blanc de Blancs and many other bruts must be drunk correctly, without simultaneously eating herring, chocolate and chops. For, knocking down its amazing taste with rough food, it is easy to spoil all the gastronomic pleasure.
But in the countries of the post-Soviet space, consumers give the main preference to brands of champagne wines from the economy segment. Bottles costing 200 rubles sell much faster than expensive and elite wines, and occupy about 80% of the entire market.
Champagne for the New Year
On New Year's Day, a bottle of semi-sweet on the table is a tradition. And most often the glasses are filled not with elite Moët & Chandon, Dom Pérignon and Piper-Heidsieck, but at best with affordable Lambrusco dell’Emilia and Martini Asti, at worst with “Soviet” white semi-sweet for 170 rubles. Although, if it’s original, not everyone will pay attention to its contents.
Rating of the most popular inexpensive champagne in Russia:
- ABRAU-DURSO champagne made in Russia.
- Bosco champagne, white and sweet. The range of the Italian manufacturer Bosca includes both inexpensive sparkling wines and innovative drinks.
- Champagne wines “New World” are rightfully called one of the best examples of Crimean champagne producers. Everyone especially loves Novosvetsky Pinot Noir.
- Asti champagne. Asti Martini is a light sparkling wine with natural fruity sweetness and a whole range of flavors.
- Soviet champagne. When buying it for your next holiday, you need to keep in mind that Soviet champagne produced in the classical way tastes much better than a sparkling drink made using the quick bottle method. You should focus on price.
What good quality champagne doesn't give you a headache in the morning?
Why do you get a headache after drinking champagne? Manufacturers often disguise bad sparkling wine with insufficient taste by excessive sweetening. One bottle of sugar can contain three times more than lemonade! And sugar is known to increase fermentation in the gastrointestinal tract and inhibit the processing of alcohol. That is why the toxic effect from semi-sweet and sweet champagne is higher (and therefore the headache is stronger) than from dry brut. In addition, surrogate production of sweet pop in Russia in 2015 broke all records. Draw conclusions.
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