How To Blind Taste & Recognise Champagnes Like A Master Of Wine: 4 Mystery Champagnes With Tan Ying Hsien MW

Champagne is perhaps one of the most recognisable wines in the world.

Yet if someone were to set up a flight of Champagnes before you, would you be able to identify the producers by taste? In theory this should be possible. Champagne makers have in their repertoire a huge range of levers to create a distinctive sensory fingerprint: grape variety, reserve-wine age, oxidative versus reductive handling, barrel fermentation, malolactic fermentation, dosage and lees ageing.

That’s the question we seek to answer with Master of Wine Tan Ying Hsien at 67 Pall Mall one afternoon over four Champagnes poured blind.

The tricky part about blind tasting Champagnes

That being said, you would realistically still need quite a bit of knowledge on the nuances of Champagne producers to correctly identify a specific producer in a blind taste test.

Two reasons make blind tasting Champagnes quite a challenge.

The first is that many producers pride themselves on “lees ageing” – a process where a wine spends years in contact with yeast, and that contact grows an additional layer of “autolytic flavour” over the primary layer of fruit. This process is called autolysis, where yeast sediments chemically break down slowly and release amino acids, proteins and other compounds into the wine around it. The process produces notes like bread dough, brioche, biscuit, toasted almond and warm pastry, and also thickens the texture of the wine. Due to this winemaking choice, two wines from different villages and different varieties can appear superficially similar.

The second is the common practice of blending wines in Champagne.

Tan Ying Hsien MW, who happens to be the first Singaporean to attain the Master of Wine qualification, explained to us how a bottle of Champagne is often a mosaic of grape varieties, places, soils and several vintages. Many a time, blending decisions are influenced by agricultural realities rather than pure aesthetics.

Champagnes are often blended from the three principal varieties of Pinot Noir and Meunier (black varieties) and Chardonnay (a white variety). Even the single-variety wines are usually blends of a kind, assembled from different parcels and different villages. Single-parcel Champagnes do exist, and Ying Hsien named Clos du Mesnil, Clos d'Ambonnay and Clos des Goisses (a “clos” is an enclosed vineyard) – though these examples can be counted on just one hand.

The same observation runs across vintages, which makes it difficult for one to identify a bottle by its vintage. Champagne producers have a historic practice of holding surplus wine back in personal reserves, to be drawn during tough vintages when frost or rain takes the crop. And so many Champagnes are blended from reserve wines across different vintages.

It’s clear that blind tasting a Champagne isn’t a party trick one could learn overnight. Lees ageing could layer a similar coat over very different wines. The most obvious terroir or grape variety influences could become anonymised due to the blending process.

An afternoon with four mystery Champagnes and a Master of Wine 

Before us in a seminar room of 67 Pall Mall Singapore, we had four unlabelled glasses of Champagne and a Master of Wine to show us how blind tasting Champagne is done.

The tasting was blind for both Ying Hsien as well. Here’s our account of the experience glass-by-glass; the frameworks, clever guesses and thought processes of a Master of Wine as we proceed through the four anonymous Champagnes.

Ying Hsien encouraged us to taste and re-taste the same wine now and then, because the profile of a Champagne could gradually open up as the fizz dissipates and the liquid warms slightly. He cautioned us against hastily assigning quality to an immediately attractive Champagne – a wine like that could just as well have the least complexity and nuance. All the more reason to take our time and revisit them as we make up our minds.

Ying Hsien conducted a quick survey of the room. Wine 1 and Wine 2 were the favourites of the room. Wine 3 came in third. Wine 4 came last.

➤ How do we assess quality in a Champagne?

Ying Hsien started at the bottom. He asked, why did Wine 4 finish last?

Wine 4 came at us flowery and fruity first, then almond and fresh bread, and it finished on citrus and green apple. There was a floral character running through it, and behind the flowers something faintly grainy, a little reminiscent of fruity Junmai Daiginjo sake. The mid-palate was nervy and taut, and the finish had some citrus with a twist of salt.

Ying Hsien admitted that he enjoyed this Champagne on the first pass, but then deducted several points when he came back to it. While it was straightforwardly enjoyable, he found it lacking in autolytic character and depth. Next to the other three, which carried more of that weight, Wine 4 was the simplest in texture as well as in flavour.

➤ Lees aging: Houses can afford to wait but growers usually cannot

The next question was whether Wine 4 was a grower or house Champagne.

One of the easiest ways to pigeonhole a Champagne producer is to sort them into “houses” and “growers”. A Champagne house (or maison) is often a large and well-funded négociant business which buys most of its fruit from growers across many villages and then blends it under its own name. A grower Champagne producer, on the other hand, makes wine only from vines the family directly owns and farms, usually in one village or from a small handful. Up until the last 50 years or so, most growers actually did not make Champagne, but sold their grapes to the houses.

An obvious tell whether a Champagne is grower or house, Ying Hsien pointed out, is simply how much autolytic character there is in its profile – the time spent on the lees.

Ageing wine on the lees takes time, capital and cellar space. The Champagne houses have been trading for a century or two, often with access to a larger cellar space, and can leave wine lying on its lees for years without needing immediate cashflow. Louis Roederer, for instance, recently reached 250 years, and its prestige cuvée, Cristal, has recently turned 150.

Aging Champagne on their lees takes time and a lot of space.

The effect of ageing shouldn’t be underestimated. Ying Hsien recalls visiting Champagne Veuve Clicquot about a decade ago and getting to taste a vat sample of Veuve Clicquot’s 1988 Cramant Chardonnay – one of the oldest wines in the house’s reserve collection. He remembers marvelling at its quality and how it reminded him of Chevalier-Montrachet, one of the great white Burgundies.

Most growers do not have the same wherewithal. They have neither the room nor free cash flow, so they have to move the wine more quickly. What mainly separates the better growers from the rest, opined Ying Hsien, is that they’re still able to make top-quality and layered Champagne despite having less time on the lees.

The Champagne growers’ answer is the perpetual reserve, where one vessel is topped up with wine from each new harvest and drawn from for blending, so a fraction of every year that has ever gone in stays in the perpetual reserve. This is a basic form of fractional blending, which helps a grower to obtain some depth without having to maintain a warehouse with a huge number of vessels.

Back at Wine 4, Ying Hsien guessed that with its thinner autolytic character, this is probably a grower Champagne at the entry level. It had probably spent a shorter time on the lees and carries little to no perpetual reserve.

➤ The two favourite glasses: one loud and one subtle

Wines 1 and 2 were tied based on a vote across the room, so that is where Ying Hsien went next. Interestingly, he had also scored them identically. He was open about having gone back and forth over which he marginally preferred, settling on one, then changing his mind again.

Wine 1 was pale straw with a gold cast; the bubbles were very fine and still going long after the pour. We got lemon oil first, then something nuttier underneath it, almond or hazelnut, with fresh bread and white flowers sitting over the top. In the mouth it was taut and linear and somewhat dry. It finished long with a faintly smoky, flinty edge.

Wine 2 led with lemon zest, crisp pear and white peach, and then a very obvious note of freshly baked bread sitting on top of all of it, toasted almonds behind. On the palate, it was bright and well structured, ripe citrus and orchard fruit with a subtle creaminess, and it finished clean and salty.

For Ying Hsien, the difference between the two glasses came down to yeast. Wine 2 announced itself loudly, likely due to the use of a special strain of yeast. Wine 1 felt more "anonymous" to Ying Hsien by comparison.

Ying Hsien pointed out that anonymity in Champagne is more of a house habit, and some of the most anonymous bottles are in the non-vintage wines. By contrast, distinctiveness might tend to come from growers who are looking to make a point about a place or a method. When a house does let its style speak directly, it is generally seen in the vintage bottlings, and above all the prestige cuvées.

➤ Ying Hsien MW’s favourite wine

Wine 3 came in deeper gold. We got powdered chalk first, then candied lemon, jasmine and a lightly toasted almond note. As it opened it turned richer, closer to pastry and dried fruit. On the palate, it was round and fruity, dense, precise and salty all at once.

Ying Hsien systematically took apart Wine 3. He described it as a “textbook Chardonnay” that shows precision and definition with apples and a white flower character, a palate with weight and density while still remaining precise, and crucially some subtle and integrated autolysis with biscuity notes that gradually crept up on the mid-palate and finish. This could be contrasted with Wine 2 where autolytic notes announce themselves right at the front of the palate.

Ying Hsien further clarified the warm notes. The aroma may initially read as faintly oxidative or oaky, but it’s more accurately a biscuity character. And to Ying Hsien, this was the hallmark of classic high-class Champagnes where we see polish, finesse, subtle autolysis and harmony. We’re looking at a traditional grande marque aesthetic before grower Champagnes became fashionable.

For these reasons, Wine 3 was Ying Hsien’s favourite.

➤ Avize vs Mesnil

We’re then given a hint as to the place. The four wines were Chardonnay or Chardonnay-dominant, and can be organised around two famous villages for Chardonnay: either from Avize or from Le Mesnil-sur-Oger (or simply Mesnil).

Mesnil village in Champagne district.

Ying Hsien described Le Mesnil wines as having a higher and much sharper acid backbone. The village owes much of its fame and association with luxury Champagne to impressive expressions from Salon and Krug Clos du Mesnil. On the other hand, Avize tends to be richer, rounder and more floral.

Avize village in Champagne district.

He was also candid about his preference for Avize generally – “on a vins clairs basis, I have to say I generally prefer Avize.” (Vins clairs are still wines used to assemble sparkling Champagne wines.) Ying Hsien found that Avize wines tend to offer more complexity and intrinsic harmony.

Ying Hsien made a couple more educated guesses. He thought Wine 2 was Mesnil-influenced. Wine 3 he read as Avize.

➤ The Four Champagnes Revealed

Here’s the reveal: Wine 1 was Franck Bonville Blanc de Blancs NV. Wine 2 was Delamotte Brut NV. Wine 3 was Louis Roederer Blanc de Blancs 2019. Wine 4 was Pierre Péters Cuvée de Réserve.

All four wines were Chardonnay-led – the Delamotte is the only wine that is not pure Chardonnay, being a blend of roughly 55% Chardonnay, 35% Pinot Noir and 10% Meunier.

Ying Hsien correctly identified the Louis Roederer Blanc de Blancs 2019. He also correctly identified the villages of Wines 2 and 3. Champagne Delamotte sits right in Le Mesnil, and the Delamotte Brut is predominantly Chardonnay sourced from the village. The Louis Roederer is a 100% Avize wine.

He joked about his relief. “I suppose I can tell Jean-Baptiste I recognise his wine.” Almost every year, Ying Hsien is invited by the Chef de Cave of Louis Roederer, Jean-Baptiste Lécaillon, to taste and opine on forty to fifty vins clairs in the cellar.

A cheat sheet to blind tasting Champagnes

Let’s revise everything we’ve learnt over the course of the afternoon.

1. Taste and re-taste

• Champagne is poured cold and under pressure. A bit of time and a few degrees of warmth might help a wine open up more.
• An immediately attractive Champagne does not equate to a quality one. Entry-level non-vintage wines are often more expressive and immediately likeable. On the other hand, a vintage wine or a prestige cuvée could appear more austere and withheld, requiring more time for its depth and complexity to emerge in the glass.

2. Balance vs harmony as a marker of quality and potential

• On a similar line of reasoning, a “balanced” wine is not necessarily a “harmonious” one. Balance simply means that the individual components are shown in appropriate proportion: fruit against acidity, structure against weight. Harmony is the next stage – when these individual components have melded into a seamless and integrated whole.
• In assessing the quality of a young wine, Ying Hsien recommends looking for balance while keeping an eye on whether there is potential for harmony as it ages. Even a high-quality wine could show balance while still feeling slightly disjointed when young. With more time in the cellar, the wine could begin to show more and more harmony as the disparate elements begin to integrate.

3. House vs grower 

• A big hint as to whether a Champagne is made by a grower or a house is often the autolytic character of the wine. Deep autolytic character often suggests house Champagne, while thin autolytic character points towards a grower – simply because Champagne houses could provide for longer lees ageing.
• Certain growers who are particularly proud of their signature profile might be more stylistically assertive. Champagne houses, on the other hand, may value more nuance, subtlety, or simply appear more anonymous in NV cuvées.
  

4. Blanc de Blancs vs Blanc de Noirs

• A textbook Chardonnay Champagne (which would be a Blanc de Blancs) tends to show precision, white apples and white florals.
• On the other hand, Champagnes that show more dark fruit character, roundness and lower acidity are more likely to contain some black grapes (Pinot Noir or Meunier), or even be a Blanc de Noirs.

5. Mesnil vs Avize (Between Champagnes sourced from Avize or Le Mesnil-sur-Oger)

• Champagnes from Le Mesnil-sur-Oger tend to have a much sharper acid backbone. Avize tends to show a more rounded florality, and anecdotally from Ying Hsien more complexity and intrinsic harmony.

Keep an eye on 67 Pall Mall’s events calendar

67 Pall Mall runs a members’ programme built entirely around wine, and properly insightful masterclasses as this. Each session has a theme, perhaps a producer, a region, a grape or a winemaking style, and the club brings in experts and specialist educators to lead it. There are also winemaker dinners on the calendar too.

You can find the list of upcoming events on Singapore Club’s official webpage. 

@CharsiuCharlie