Bubbles & Brunch: The 16 NV Champagne Extravaganza
“One holds a bottle of red wine by the neck, a woman by the waist, and a bottle of Champagne by the derriere.”
- Mark Twain
16 of the Best & Most Prestigious - NV Champagnes
Billlecart-Salmon | Bollinger | Charles Heidsieck | Krug | Louis Roederer | Pierre Peters |
Pol Roger | Pommery } Taittinger | Lamandier-Bernier | Egly-Ouriet | Penfolds X Thienot Rose
Brunch
Time: 10am-12.30pm
16 NV Champagnes & 5 Courses
$295
Sunday November 24th
The Wine List & Menu
1st Bracket
Charles Heidsieck Blanc de Blancs NV | Our Price $148
95 Points, Roger Voss, Wine Enthusiast (January 2024)
Chardonnay from the Côte des Blancs gives a Champagne that has a white fruit aroma and citrus freshness. At the same time, this bottling is mineral, beautifully textured and lightly yeasty. Drink now
Pierre Peters Cuvée de Réserve Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru NV | Our Price $TBC
93 Points, Tom Hewson, Decanter (March 2024)
Rodolphe Péters' extraordinary perpetual reserve of grand cru Chardonnay makes up 50% of this blend, coming into its own with the crispy, energetic, if rather uneven, 2021 base vintage as the other half. A beautiful toasted almond, fresh lemon syrup and floral honey nose flows into a palate where fruit and aging characters meet in perfect harmony. There's all the follow-through and narrow, brisk energy of the Côte des Blancs here, chalky and tense, yet it melts into deeper notions of nut oil and sourdough bread with a silky, flowing mousse. Perfectly pitched.
Billecart-Salmon Blanc de Blancs NV | Our Price $199
95 Points, Tyson Stelzer, The Champagne Guide (2022)
I have long adored this wine and now there’s even more to love, sporting smart blue foil on the front label and the disgorgement date on the back. A bright, pale straw hue, this is a release that embodies its 2015 base in its contrast of structural tension with considerable concentration. Pear and apple fruit of depth and presence is cut with grapefruit and wild lemon. Reserves declare considerable dimension in layers of wild honey, toasted brioche, candied almonds, even suggestions of fruit mince spice. Such magnitude is contained impeccably, equally by energetic acidity and the omnipresent, mouth-embracing, frothing, salty chalk mineral declaration of four of the sparkling world’s most commanding chardonnay crus.
A grand statement indeed.
Roasted peaches, mascarpone, toasted brioche crumb
2nd Bracket
Krug Grand Cuvée 172ème | Our Price $476
97 Points, James Suckling (March 2024)
Beautiful notes of dried citrus fruit, lemon curd and dried apples with hints of spices, dried flowers and subtle brioche. I like the polished and caressing texture and steady, refreshing acidity. It’s fresh and even austere, with notes of ground spices. So vertical and firm. Structured and long. Drink or hold.
Egly-Ouriet Grand Cru NV | Our Price $TBC
93 Points, Essi Avellan MW, essiavellan.com (February 2024)
The name change from Brut Tradition to Brut Grand Cru has certainly given the wine the prestige it deserves. Truly the essence of Egly, here Ambonnay, Bouzy and Verzenay fruit mix in harmony with a third of Chardonnay bringing freshness and lift to the intense whole. Here we experience another level of power with a fragrant juniper wood tone marrying perfectly with complex pencil shaving, fruit salad, apple compote and spicy aromatics. The rich and textured palate is enlivened by the wine’s brisk acidic backbone and salivating minerality. This 2018 based blend is almost chewy in its impressive concentration, overt and enjoyable already but it comes with all the building blocks of ageing.
Bollinger Special Cuvée NV | Our Price $97
White asparagus, soft egg, petit greens
3rd Bracket
Taittinger Brut Réserve NV | Our Price $123
92 Points, James Suckling (July 2024)
Lemon, biscuit, fresh peach and pie crust on the nose. It's creamy and silky with excellent freshness and very soft bubbles. 40% chardonnay, 35% pinot noir and 25% pinot meunier. Base wine from 2020 (70%) with 30% reserve wines. 9g/L dosage.
Pol Roger Brut Réserve NV | Our Price $138
93 Points, Sylvia Wu, Decanter (October 2021)
Richly biscuity on the nose, with steamed rice, fresh pear and citrus blossom complexity. Creamy mousse dissolves into red apple peel, lemon and stone fruits, with a depth of honeyed biscuits. The Reserve NV from Pol Roger is a blend of base wines from at least three vintages. With 6 months of post-disgorgement ageing, the wine is ready to enjoy now.
Louis Roederer Collection 244 NV | Our Price $97
95 Points, Tyson Stelzer, The Champagne Guide (2023)
Based on the 2019 vintage, Roederer's NV Brut Collection 244 is the finest release of the house's reimagined non-vintage Brut to date.”
The freshness and energy of Collection 244 are on grand display and has not diminished one iota since its first release. The magnificent 2019 base was in a more confident place when it first landed than 242 and 243 before it, which both blossomed after an additional year on cork. Do not underestimate 244, and don’t miss a moment of the spectacle set to unravel over the coming months, years and even decades. This is a masterful interplay of primary fruit, with the spicy, honeyed, roast nut layers of substantial reserves and oak fermentation and maturation, energised equally by malic tension and saline chalk minerality, nudged with just the right level of phenolic tension that lends neither graininess nor bitterness. This is not only an exceptional Collection, it is also a grand declaration of the fine-tuned detail of the evolution of Collection and the triumphant achievement of upholding the holy grail of freshness and tension even in such a warm season.
White chicken, Puy lentils, comte
4th Bracket
Pommery Brut Royal NV | Our Price $73
92 Points, James Suckling, (June 2022)
Peach, lemon, grapefruit, biscuit and some honey on the nose. Creamy and round with a juicy, peachy and lightly off-dry palate. Sleek bubbles. One third each of chardonnay, pinot noir and pinot meunier. Base vintage 2018. 9-10g/L dosage.
Charles Heidsieck Brut Réserve NV | Our Price $120
95 points, Tasting Notes, IWC 2022
Crisp green apple flavours with nuances of brioche. Complex and intense with a fine toastiness and great balance.
Billecart-Salmon Brut Réserve NV | Our Price $142
95 Points, Tyson Stelzer, The Champagne Guide (2023)
The brilliant crystalline radiance that defines Billecart shines bright and strong in the 2016 base, epitomising the purity and precision that we adore of this beloved house. Meunier and pinot noir unite in a core of delightfully fresh, crunchy red apples, spicy wild strawberries and ripe raspberries, streaming out long and true with a line of lemon acidity. The subtlety of long lees age is intricately played, lending only the most gentle brioche, almond meal, honey and toast. Dosage is perfectly played to lift its fruit and its structure. It coasts long and refined on a sea of fine chalk minerality. The consummate apéritif!
Chevre gallette, basil
5th Bracket
Billecart-Salmon Rosé NV | Our Price $204
95 Points, Tyson Stelzer, The Champagne Guide (2022)
Billecart is a shining beacon for rosé of elegance and character, and its lofty reputation is secure when it unleashes wines like this 2018 base. A pretty pale salmon hue heralds a rosé that captures the mood of Mareuil-sur-Aÿ pinot noir and meunier, perfectly elegant, while delivering no shortage of character, presence and undeviating persistence. Red fruits are the unabashed theme here, celebrating the expression of the ripe and pure 2018 season in fresh cherries, raspberries, wild strawberries, you name it! There’s a compelling touch of cracked pink pepper, and a lift of rose petal, too. Succulent and caressing yet tangy and lively, a wonderful beam of pink grapefruit acidity is underlined by confident, prominent, salty chalk minerality of magnificent form. Line and length to boot confirm another benchmark Billecart Rosé... and I am completely besotted!
Charles Heidsieck Rosé NV | Our Price $182
93 Points, Alison Napjus, Wine Spectator (2024)
An elegant version, with the fine, airy mousse tempering the impact of the chiseled acidity and together creating a fine frame for notes of roasted pistachio, baked yellow peach and candied pink grapefruit peel. Everything is underscored by a streak of salinity that pushes through on the finish, joining accents of white blossoms, ground ginger and anise. Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Pinot Meunier.
Bollinger Rosé NV | Our Price $170
96 Points, Tyson Stelzer, The Champagne Guide
….This is breathtaking rosé, full-bodied in every way, with magnificent stature, spellbinding purity and impeccable poise. Greater elegance is the aspiration, and it meets the brief with effortless grace and a gorgeous medium-salmon hue. Pinot noir communicates its characterful poise in very pretty red cherry, and wild strawberry fruit, transposed on a background of classic Bollinger complexity of mixed spice, even subtle suggestions of coffee bean and dark chocolate. It’s all intricately laced together with fine-tuned acidity, a creamy bead and subtle tannin texture, illuminated brilliantly by glittering chalk minerality, carrying the finish with delightful persistence and effortless poise. A rosé that delivers that great paradox of vibrant liveliness and profound depth.
Penfolds X Thienot Rosé NV | Our Price $93
95 Points, Dave Brookes, Halliday Wine Companion (July 2024)
50/30/20% pinot meunier/chardonnay/pinot noir, dosage 7 g/L. Four years on lees, 90% 2016 base wine, 10% 2015 reserve. Bright, pale salmon in the glass with a fine, vibrant bead. Fruit tones of redcurrant, raspberry, red apple and grapefruit with underlying hints of wildflowers, mandarin rind, grilled nuts, oyster shell and stone. Fine, mineral-laden acidity provides ample clarity and cadence as the wine cuts a red-fruited path across the palate. Lovely drinking and excellent length of flavour.