Vintage sweet champagne

Sweet vintage champagnes are not easy to find and a good example is the one from Veuve Clicquot. Having the confidence to put out a vintage wine also meant that their standard NV offering was quite a reliable choice. It was in a Veuve Clicquot wine dinner at the club many moons ago that I tasted the above wine. The representative from the champagne house got us to think about the differences between the Rich and the standard Brut vintage, which as he reminded us, was actually the same wine until disgorgement. Made from a base of 58% Pinot Noir, 33% Chardonnay and 9% Meunier sourced from Premier and Grand Cru vineyards, the only difference between the two was in the dosage, leading to a sugar level of around 10g/L in the Brut and 28-30g/L in the Rich Reserve.

Apart from sweetness, there are other differences on tasting the two wines. The Rich Reserve had a more pronounced nose with grapy notes whereas the fruit on the Brut was more towards apple, which persisted through to the palate. Obviously acidity is more pronounced with a lower dosage. There were also differences in the bubbles too, but one wonders if that has more to do with disgorgement than dosage.