Like any wine, Champagne has different regions giving wines of very distinct styles. All the big names blend across these regions (which is fine) but these producers tend to produce wines that have a style that reflects where the wine comes from. For the Champagne geeks out there, we've split up the producers in their regions and if you just want some nice fizz, scroll down and see the full list!
Montagne de Reims
The Mountain of Reims… well the hill of Reims has many vineyards that slope south or southeast with a Pinot Noir focus. The wines tend to be a bit bigger and richer, with ten of the seventeen Grand Cru vineyards here including Ambonnay, Bouzy, Verzy, Verzenay and Mailly-Champagne.
Champagne Demiere | | Champagne Paul Dethune | Hugues Godme | Hure Freres | Louis Brochet | Louis Roederer | Maurice Vesselle | Paul Clouet | Rousseaux Batteaux | Trousset Guillemart |
Velle de la Marne
The only Grand Cru vineyard here is Aÿ which is right outside of the city of Epernay. There is a focus here on the Pinot Meunier grape and produces a rich style of Champagne.
Billecart Salmon | Edouard Brun | Gaston Chiquet | Gourtorbe Bouillot | Laurent Benard | Thierry Fournier |
Cote des Blancs
Mainly Chardonnay with the remaining 6 Grand Cru vineyards of Champagne. This is the region where there are some spectacular single varietal wines made.
Bonnaire| Bruno Michel | Veuve Fourny| Jacques Selosses | Jeaunaux Robin | Pernet et Pernet | Pierre Callot | Pierre Legras | Domaine Vincey |Vincent Charlot |
Cote de Sezanne
South of the Cote des Blancs is another Chardonnay dominant region, but most of the wines are blended into larger brand Champagnes.
Cote des Bar
On the border between Champagne and Burgundy, this is mainly Pinot Noir and is similar to Montagne de Reims. Because the region is Grand and Premier Cru-less, you get real value wines here.
Bernard Robert | Brocard Pierre | Champagne Gallimard | Champagne Gremillet | Julien Prelat | Remi Leroy |
So now that I’ve educated you on the regions, I now need you to forget all of that!
Some small producers will only have vineyards in one of these regions, however others will have blends from different areas, maybe taking some Pinot from Ambonnay and then some Chardonnay from Vertus.
Therefore we are putting the producers in their regions regarding to where they are based, not necessarily where all the grapes come from. Having said that, if the producer is based in the Cotes des Blancs, they are likely to have a style that is bias towards that region, so the regionality still holds true.