Global Blanc de Blancs: Panel tasting results

Entry criteria: Producers and UK agents were asked to submit dry sparkling wines made in the traditional method from only white grapes.

Scroll down to see the tasting notes & scores

The verdict

It was a very positive set of results, though it’s fair to point out that the majority of the wines tasted were from Europe, with only five in total from US and Australia combined and none from that stalwart of traditionally made fizz, Tasmania. A shame, as where there was healthy New World representation, ie South Africa, more than half the submissions (four of seven) scored 90pts or more.

Quick link: See all 89 wines from this panel tasting

And did Champagne dominate as some may have expected? Well, yes and no. Yes, in the sense that all but two of the nine wines which scored an average of above 91 points in our tasting were indeed Champagnes, implying extra nuance and complexity seldom found in other examples.But no for two reasons: firstly, a Champagne did not come top of the tasting; and secondly, despite there being 20 Champagnes tasted, fewer than half scored 90 or more. The corresponding statistic was higher for both England and South Africa, despite fewer entries. What’s more, an English wine, Wiston Estate’s 2011, came top overall, scoring 96 points.Susie Barrie MW correctly highlighted that some of the very top Champagnes did not enter – no Selosse or Pierre Peters or De Sousa, for example; but on the other hand those that did score highly are very well-regarded, often boutique houses such as R&L Legras and AR Lenoble.And what of the style – was the inferred finesse and elegance of blanc de blancs evidenced, and was the dominance of Chardonnay significant? Of the 89 wines tasted, as many as 53 were made entirely from Chardonnay. There is no denying the chameleon-like quality of Chardonnay and its undisputed suitability to bottle-aged sparkling, both of which resulted in a pleasingly broad stylistic palette, but it would have been nice to see a little more variety.It was encouraging therefore that some of the non-Chardonnay wines scored well; a superb Furmint from Slovenia, a poised Chenin Blanc from Stellenbosch and a revelatory Pinot Gris from England among them.Honourable mention must go to the Cavas. Recaredo’s Corpinnat 2007 reminded me, in a moment of pure indulgence, of a Bollinger RD – praise indeed!

Even if it was not classic Cava, its blend contained 30% Chardonnay. Andy Howard MW was excited to see some fine aged Cava performing strongly, showing individual style and often representing great value.

Finally, let us not forget that there is so much more to Italy than Prosecco, the Franciacortas all scoring very well; all distinct and finely rendered. The fact that Chardonnay dominated the tasting numerically should not therefore undermine that the church of blanc de blancs is broad.

A fascinating tasting, for all its ambition. The character of the wines ran the gamut from citric austerity to tropical indulgence, Chardonnay and its peers demonstrating a well-rehearsed diversity. Worthy of note, too, is that the four oldest wines (2009, 2008, 2007 and 2005, only two of which were Champagne) all scored well, at 91 and above, underlining an impressive ageing potential for this style.

Overall these wines are less savoury than their blanc de noirs siblings, and they’re probably better as an aperitif than a gastronomic pairing. The best examples, however, do not lack for length and depth, whether that be in the form of steely determination or a creamy seduction, all the while never forsaking the key virtues of poise and elegance which mark out the very best wines from this increasingly popular category.

The scores

89 wines tasted

Exceptional 0

Outstanding 5

Highly Recommended 28

Recommended 50

Commended 4

Fair 2

Poor 0

Faulty 0

The judges

Susie Barrie MW

A widely published wine writer, author and broadcaster, Barrie’s credits include more than a decade on BBC1. She has authored several books, including The Essential Guide to English Wine, co-written with her husband Peter Richards MW. Together the pair also co-host the annual Wine Festival Winchester.

Simon Field MW

Field was a buyer for Berry Bros & Rudd for more than two decades and now works as a consultant on areas which particularly interested him during that time. Champagne, the Rhône and Languedoc top the list in France, with Spain and the fortified category also featuring prominently.

Andy Howard MW

Howard is a Decanter contributing editor and Decanter World Wine Awards judge. Having become a Master of Wine in 2011, he now runs his own consultancy business Vinetrades Ltd, which focuses on education, investment and wine sourcing. He was formerly a wine buyer in retail for 30 years.

Blanc de blancs sparkling wine

Producers around the world are drawn to it, and consumers are enjoying it in ever greater quantities, but what makes a ‘blanc de blancs’? Simon Field MW sets the scene.

The term blanc de blancs does not suffer translation; there is an assumption that everyone knows what it is. Méthode traditionelle, on the other hand, is most famously associated with Champagne but usually translated as appropriate; there is, presumably, also an assumption that everyone knows what it actually means. What is for sure is that the latter describes what is generally deemed to be the most time consuming and expensive way to make sparkling wine, and the former a style which, it is inferred, majors in elegance and finesse.

How it’s done: Sparkling wine methods

The term ‘blanc de blancs’ refers to a sparkling wine that has been made exclusively from white grapes; blanc de noirs therefore only from black/red grapes. Chardonnay is the most prevalent example of the former, Pinot Noir of the latter – the two are usually blended in Champagne, often with Pinot Meunier, another black grape.

Traditional-method sparkling wine has undergone the second fermentation process and subsequent ageing in bottle, the yeasts in the bottle contributing to the complexity of flavours over time and subsequently removed by a process known as disgorgement. Other sparkling wines undergo a similar process in a larger vessel, usually a stainless-steel tank – or, in the least expensive versions, carbonated by injection. The most commonly used methods are Charmat, continuous and transfer – all variants

It’s helpful to remember that 4% of the world’s wine is sparkling and 0.4% is Champagne (about 320 million bottles). A significant but still relatively minor player in the grand scheme of things. There is no available statistic to relay precisely how much of the 4% total is made traditionally and how much by the tank method or similar, but it is safe to assume that the latter makes up the majority.

Sekt from Germany, for example, is virtually never made traditionally; in Italy only a small percentage of Prosecco is aged in the bottle. These two examples bring to the fore the fact that some sparkling wines are made to be soft, refreshing and immediately appealing. The complexity engendered by bottle ageing is not always appropriate or sought.

Ageing in bottle is more time-consuming and logistically more onerous, and the product will invariably be more expensive. The play-off for the connoisseur is the added weight and complexity bestowed by the ageing on lees, with the yeast undergoing a process known as autolysis, which translates to the famous biscuity, bready notes, perceived as hallmarks of Champagne. The fact that Cavas and crémants are also made in the traditional method underlines stylistic potential, all the more so as it brings different grapes into play.

Chardonnay and beyond

Despite the fact that the ‘blancs’ bit of the equation can obviously refer to any white grape or grapes, it seems that winemakers, if they land upon the idea of producing a blanc de blancs, will, as can be seen in our tasting, invariably use Chardonnay – the reflected glory of Champagne perhaps too tempting in a commercial sense. But there is more to it than that…

Cava’s trinity of varieties, Macabeo, Parellada and Xarel.lo, for example, lend weight and almost tropical notes to their sparkling wines, the warmer Spanish climate combining forces with the specific personalities of the grapes. Cava is undergoing a fascinating transformation at the moment, the category’s new sense of self-belief evidenced by breakaway geographical enclaves such as Corpinnat.

Conversely, at higher latitudes, blanc de blancs works well with crémants made from Pinot Gris in Alsace and Chenin Blanc from the Loire Valley. Betwixt the two, Chardonnay holds sway again in Burgundy as one might expect; further south, the fashionable Limoux also tends to use Chardonnay for its crémants, whereas the indigenous and fascinating Mauzac makes up 90% or more of the blend in its Blanquettes, thereby offering two diverse styles.

In England the tendency to follow the Champagne template again favours Chardonnay, but this is not always the case. With a record harvest under its belt in 2018, English wine has definitely arrived, a lot of it distinctively taut and crisp, but far more complex and interesting than a decade ago. The progress of English sparkling wines demonstrates once again the equation between the traditional technique and the inferred quality; the fact that more and more are made from white grapes underlines the slowly blossoming popularity of the blanc de blancs category. Spoken, the phrase has a nice ring to it; its wines, more importantly, are by turns fascinating, accessible and extremely well crafted.

Top Blanc de blancs from the panel tasting:

See all 89 wines from this panel tasting

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