Champagne releases for spring & summer 2025

After a cautious six months, Champagne is back into release season with a string of wines at vintage and prestige cuvée level, many from the 2018 harvest.

This was a year of relief in the region. After a dismal 2017, the vines abounded with enormous natural yields, easy summer conditions and trouble-free ripeness.

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores for the latest Champagnes released this spring and summer

As the vintage’s character becomes more clear with time, the wines continue to display a charming, forward nature, with few of the downsides of some of the extreme vintages of the last decade.

Dilution and low acidity, though, can mean the wines are not often as dynamic or structured as some of the more ageworthy vintages, and it looks to be the most straightforward of the touted trilogy of 2018, 2019 and 2020.

Pol Roger has captured some density and ripeness of Pinot Noir admirably well in an immediately glossy, creamy and forward Cuvée Sir Winston Churchill that will see smiles on the faces of any longtime fans of the cuvée – not least given how expressive it already is upon release.

Likewise Charles Heidsieck offers both white and rosé 2018 cuvées, both tuned beautifully for early drinking but not lacking the potential for mid-term cellaring.

Deutz, too, has found success with the latest two single-vineyard releases from Aÿ under the moniker Hommage à William Deutz, which, rather similarly to Pol Roger, feel like a step up in precision and clarity over the previous 2015 releases.

The release from the Meurtet parcel in particular stands out.

Older vintage releases

Beyond 2018, Bollinger carries on with its successful PN series of Pinot Noir creations by returning to the village of Tauxières for the PN TX 20. It’s a juicier, more hedonistic take than the superb PN VZ 19, yet just as imaginative and complex.

These wines continue to be superb purchases, especially since the PN AYC 18 edition.

There are also vintage releases reviewed from Ayala (La Perle 2015), Perrier-Jouët (Belle Epoque 2016), Lanson (Noble 2008) and perhaps most notably two fine releases from Billecart-Salmon in the prestige cuvée blend Nicolas François 2012 and a particularly sumptuous, sensual edition of Le Clos Saint-Hilaire from 2009.

Meanwhile, in the world of independent Champagne there are wines reviewed from one of the Montagne de Reims’ most prominent names, Eric Rodez in Ambonnay, as well as a pick from up-and-coming négociant project Valetin Leflaive.

The latter has been making some noise in the quiet village of Oger by releasing an ever-growing band of single-parcel Champagnes.

Finally, the latest two Krug Grande Cuvée editions – the white 173ème and the rosé 29ème – arrive relatively forward and open, with the majority of the blends coming from the torrid 2017 vintage.

Krug’s track record of producing fine blends even when faced with difficult harvests is unmatched, though, as a recent vertical including wines built on 2011 and 2010 harvests showed.

While avid Champagne followers may be reticent in approaching wines that show the particularities of this vintage to even a modest degree, these wines will hit the mark for those in search of the spirit of generosity and depth the house is known for.

The newest Champagne releases to look out for:

Wines are listed alphabetically, white then rosé

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