Method Champenoise Tasting Pack

Established in 1926, the Picamelot family continues to work tirelessly to produce the region's best method traditional wines. The wines have incredible depth of fruit for an appellation with a reputation for being less so. While there is a serious edge here punching well above their weight, they remain incredibly drinkable. These really are a joy and offer brilliant value.
Based in Rully and presided over by third-generation winemaker-proprietor Philippe Chautard, Maison Louis Picamelot produces some of the best sparkling wines in Burgundy. Forever in Champagne's shadow, few take Crémant de Bourgogne seriously. But what this Maison is doing is already impressive and well worth open-minded consumers' attention.
WILLIAM KELLEY, Wine Advocate

The Brut Les Terroirs hits it out of the park, delivering quality and value. The fruit is present and accounted for, with a nice lick of minerality and some back end punch, but what is really striking is the yeasty, brioche, burnt toast mealy characters that immediately greet you as you take your first sniff. It has all the bells and whistles. As a Champagne nerd I love to see that in the wine, as distinctly different to my fetish for Grower Bubbles, give me some of that expressively yeasty goodness. Substantial length here too. This will be one hell of a crowd pleaser.

Founded in 1986, Bellenda produce Proseccos which are pure and fine, speaking of their slopes in the Veneto. They're fantacial in their approach to quality, the grapes are organically farmed, yields are kept low and unlike the huge Charmat tanks you'll find in towering production facilities across the region, Bellenda bottle ferment their Proseccos.

Everything they do here is done so with a push towards making high quality wines that express their sites and the results speak for themselves. The Prosecco Superiore Conegliano Valdobbiadene Brut Sei Uno takes some time to blow off its intense display of stone dust and smoky minerals.

Beneath, I 'm finding notes of crushed yellow apple, ginger and dried flowers. It gains considerable richness in the glass, showing soft, pliant textures under a wash of delicate bubbles with a balanced inner sweetness, while coming across as decidedly floral in character. This turns salty and savory toward the close with a hint of lemon confit. The Sei Uno hails from the Rive di Carpesica cru and is produced through using a secondary fermentation in bottle. It 's a beautifully pure and satisfying expression.

Bouzy and Ambonnay are the epicentre of pinot noir in Champagne, and the Clouet family is the priviledged custodian of eight hectares of estate vines in the best middle slopes of both villages. These are rich and concentrated expressions of pinot noir, wines of deep complexity, multi faceted interest and engaging character, yet with remarkable restraint and sense of control. Recent tastings confirm that this small and relatively unknown grower ranks high among Champagne's finest practitioners of pinot noir - and expresses one of the best value of all.

100% Bouzy and Ambonnay pinot noir. 6g/L dosage
Release after release, year after year, I have always marvelled at the lemon blossom freshness that Clouet manages to capture in pinot noir from two of Champagne's most powerful terroirs. Here it is again, in a captivating interplay of fleshy mirabelle plums, white peaches, crunchy golden delicious apples, and even a hint of pepper. Wild honey and mixed spice join the maelstrom along the way, gliding obediently into a well defined finish of soft minerality and integrated dosage. TYSON STELZER, The Champagne Guide 2014-2015

(100% Pinot Noir)The NV Brut Grande Reserve offers up layers of mineral-infused red fruits on a silky, mid-weight frame, with gorgeous length and a refined, subtle mousse. This impeccable, elegant wine shows terrific overall balance as well as complexity. I loved it. Andre Clouet is based in Bouzy, a village where Pinot Noir speaks with great eloquence, as is evident in these superb, pedigreed Champagnes. ANTONIO GALLONI, Robert Parker

Stefano Lubiana's house style of sparkling wine is a multi-vintage blend of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir that incorporates aged reserves of wines specially prepared to maintain its elegance, complexity and consistency.

The palate is rich with a fine creamy mousse and thick beading. Lemon, nectarines, apples and cashews feature on the palate with a touch of saline. The reserve wine and lees aging becoming prominent on the finish with additional flavours of brioche and parmesan sable.

"This is a benchmark style for southern Tasmania, and like House of Arras it achieves wonderful finesse in spite of low yields in this dry part of Tasmania." Campbell Mattinson, The Wine Front

Third generation vignerons, the Pinons have 25 hectares in Vernou-sur-Brenne. 50% of their production is sparkling and 50% still wine with nothing sold off to the négoce.

We have long loved the wines of Damien Pinon and when we first tried this little number we were pretty stoked. Great sparkling Loire is such a treat. It captures all that zingy, racy, pure goodness of chenin blanc while bringing the added dimension of bubbles into the equation. They seem like a perfect partnership and we absolutely love this wine.

Quince and granny smith, talcum powder, quartyz spice and a gently honeysuckle, floral element that floats deliciously around in the background. Its pure and precise but fills out across the palate with each sip. Sometimes, Loire Sparkling is a little too lean but this deliver plenty of fruit at the same time to balance of the fine, minerally acidity.

The NV Brut Special Cuvée is fabulous. Hints of pears, pastry crust and hazelnut lead to an expansive core of fruit. There is plenty of the signature Bollinger oxidative style in this rich, enveloping Champagne. Once again the Special Cuvée is one of the best Champagnes in its price range. ANTONIO GALLONI

… The complexity and richness of Special Cuvée is unparalleled among the entry non-vintage blends of every Champagne house, short of ascending to the mesosphere of Krug. Its grand recipe explains why, built on incredible depth of 50%-60% reserves. Triumphant complexity is a given at Bollinger, but it's the dynamic freshness and vitality that really set it apart as one of the most affordable Champagne benchmarks. (96) TYSON STELZER

Like its rosé counterpart, the latest release of Bollinger's NV Brut Special Cuvée is showing especially well, bursting from the glass with aromas of honeyed apples, crisp stone fruit, buttery pastry, ripe lemons and fresh walnuts. Medium to full-bodied, fleshy and vinous, with a deep core of beautifully ripe fruit, racy acids and a pillowy mousse, it's a charming, characterful wine that proves that Special Cuvée is firmly back where it belongs. WILLIAM KELLEY