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Champagne Henri Giraud: serious about oak

Amy Wislocki introduces a tasting of six wines from the current range, and explains why the house style is influenced by locally sourced oak barrels.

In 2005, wine critic Robert Parker famously described Ay-based Henri Giraud as possibly ‘the finest Champagne house virtually no one has ever heard of’. The family has been making wine in the region since 1625, but only started bottling wine under the family name under the current, 12th-generation owner Claude Giraud.

Production volumes are very small, especially for the flagship Argönne vintage cuvée, which saw only around 7,000 bottles produced in the latest 2013 release.

The house is known for carrying out fermentation and ageing of its base wines in oak barrels (apart from the Dame-Jane rosé, which is vinified in 525-litre sandstone amphorae, to accentuate the fruit).


Scroll down to see tasting notes & scores for Henri Giraud current releases


See tasting notes and scores for Champagne Henri Giraud current releases:


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