Vintage 2025 — Still in the Making
The Champagne vintage 2025: The base wines are just now in barrel. First impressions and 12 champagnes with 2025 base tasted.
Vintages
Champagne vintages since 1980 — weather, style and personal tastings.
Vintage 2024 — Cool and Promising
The Champagne vintage 2024: A cool summer brings fresh, acidity-driven base wines. 11 first champagnes tasted.
Vintage 2023 — Return to the Classic
The 2023 champagne vintage: After extreme years, a welcome return to a balanced profile. 5 champagnes tasted.
Vintage 2022 — Heat and Drought
The 2022 champagne vintage: Extreme summer with drought and heat. 11 champagnes tasted — ripe, concentrated wines.
Vintage 2021 — Return of Cool Elegance
The 2021 champagne vintage: After three warm years, late frost and a cool summer brought Champagne back to a more classic profile. 20 champagnes tasted.
Vintage 2020 — The Third Hot Summer in a Row
The 2020 champagne vintage: Warm and ripe, but with surprising elegance. 21 champagnes tasted — a climate change vintage.
2019 Vintage — Heat, Ripeness and Surprising Balance
The 2019 champagne vintage: One of the hottest on record — yet full of surprises. 35 champagnes tasted.
Vintage 2018 — Sun-blessed and approachable
The 2018 champagne vintage: Warm year with surprising freshness. 24 champagnes tasted.
Vintage 2017 — Charming and Uncomplicated
The 2017 champagne vintage: Early-maturing, fruity and immediately accessible. 6 champagnes tasted — a likeable everyday vintage.
Vintage 2016 — Frost, Hail and an Autumn Miracle
The Champagne vintage 2016: Despite a catastrophic spring, one of the best modern vintages. Taut, mineral, age-worthy. 14 champagnes tasted.
Vintage 2015 — Warm, Ripe and Concentrated
The 2015 Champagne vintage brought warm, concentrated wines with ripe fruit. 16 Champagnes tasted — a vintage for connoisseurs.
Vintage 2014 — Solid Middle Ground
The 2014 champagne vintage delivered balanced, classic champagnes. Not spectacular, but reliably good and versatile.
Vintage 2013 — The new 1996?
The 2013 champagne vintage was one of the latest ever. Cool conditions, high acidity, small harvest — a vintage reminiscent of 1996.
2012 Vintage — Small but Powerful
The 2012 champagne vintage produced a small harvest with concentrated, structured wines. Intensity from scarcity.
Vintage 2011 — Early Ripening and Lightweight
The Champagne vintage 2011 was an early, warm year with light, fruit-driven wines. Little depth, but highly drinkable.
Vintage 2010 — Difficult and Selective
The 2010 champagne vintage was a challenging year with late ripening and heterogeneous quality. Little Millésime material.
Vintage 2009 — Warm, ripe, sun-kissed
The champagne vintage 2009 brought ripe, sunny wines with soft fruit and lower acidity. Accessible and charming.
Vintage 2008 — The Great Modern One
The Champagne vintage 2008 is considered one of the best of the 21st century. Taut, long-lived, with incredible acidity and concentration.
Vintage 2007 — Early and Fleeting
The 2007 Champagne vintage was an early, warm year with accessible but short-lived wines. Little Millésime material.
Vintage 2006 — Sunny Autumn, Mixed Results
The Champagne vintage 2006 started difficultly but was saved by the golden September. Heterogeneous quality, but individual highlights.
Vintage 2005 — Quiet Elegance
The 2005 champagne vintage delivered fine, elegant wines. Not a blockbuster, but a vintage with finesse and good aging potential.
Vintage 2004 — Back to Normalcy
The 2004 champagne vintage brought Champagne back to normalcy after the heat of 2003. Fresh, classic wines with good balance.
Vintage 2003 — Heat and Extremes
The 2003 champagne vintage was shaped by the heat wave of the century. Ripe, powerful wines with little acidity — an exceptional vintage in the literal sense.
Vintage 2002 — Elegance and Precision
The 2002 champagne vintage is a classic: elegant, precise, with outstanding Chardonnay. One of the finest vintages of the early 21st century.
Vintage 2001 — Challenging and Heterogeneous
The 2001 champagne vintage was a difficult year. Rain, rot, and low ripeness challenged the winemakers of Champagne.
Vintage 2000 — The Gentle Transition
The 2000 Champagne vintage produced light, charming wines. Not a great year, but a pleasant start to the new millennium.
Vintage 1999 — Rich and Generous
The 1999 champagne vintage produced rich, fruit-forward wines. Generous in style, ready to drink early, a vintage for pure enjoyment.
Vintage 1998 — Power with Edges
The 1998 champagne vintage produced powerful, structured wines. An underestimated vintage with surprising aging potential.
Vintage 1997 — Ripe and Uncomplicated
The 1997 champagne vintage produced ripe, accessible wines with soft fruit. A commercial success, not a collector's item.
Vintage 1996 — Precision and Longevity
The 1996 champagne vintage is considered one of the best of the 20th century. High acidity, mineral depth and exceptional aging potential.
Vintage 1995 — The End of the Dry Spell
1995 brought Champagne back on track. An elegant, balanced vintage after years of disappointment — harbinger of the great 1996.
Vintage 1994 — Slight Upturn
The 1994 champagne vintage marks a slight improvement after the difficult years of 1992 and 1993. Solid, but unspectacular.
Vintage 1993 — The Forgotten Year
1993 was a difficult vintage in Champagne. Rain, cool temperatures, and rot pressure — only a few houses declared a Millésime.
Vintage 1992 — The Quiet Outsider
The 1992 champagne vintage stands in the shadow of 1990 and 1996. But those who look closer will find mature, accessible wines with charm.
1991 Vintage — Late Frost and Small Harvest
Severe late frost in spring decimated the harvest dramatically. Summer could not compensate for the damage — it was cool and changeable. The small
Vintage 1990 — Great, Powerful and Complex
Nearly perfect conditions: A warm, dry summer with sufficient rain in September. The grapes achieved full physiological ripeness while maintaining good acid
Vintage 1989 — Warm and immediately charming
A hot summer brought early ripeness and high sugar levels. The harvest began early — already in early September. The grapes were ripe, aromatic and with mo
1988 Vintage — Classic and Taut
A long, steady summer without heat extremes delivered healthy grapes with exceptionally high natural acidity levels. The harvest began relatively late
Vintage 1987 — Difficult and Austere
A cool, wet summer led to delayed ripening and high rot pressure. Growers had to rigorously select, and even then the grapes only reached marginal ripeness
Vintage 1986 — Solid Without Soaring Heights
The summer of 1986 was mixed — changeable with rainy periods, but a dry, warm September saved the harvest. The grapes arrived healthy and with decent
Vintage 1985 — Elegant and Underrated
The winter of 1984/85 was bitterly cold — one of the coldest in decades. Many feared frost damage to the vines. But the cold cleansed the vineya
Vintage 1984 — One of the Weakest Years
The summer of 1984 was cool, wet and lacking sunshine. The grapes barely reached ripeness, rot pressure was high. Harvest quantities were low and the qual
Vintage 1983 — Powerful and Inconsistent
A hot, dry summer promised much — but rain at harvest time threw many winemakers' plans into disarray. Those who harvested early had excellent material
Vintage 1982 — Lush and Generous
After two difficult years, 1982 brought relief. A warm, sunny summer with ideal conditions allowed the grapes to ripen perfectly. The harvest
Vintage 1981 — Frost-Damaged and Weak
A catastrophic spring with severe late frost in April decimated the harvest before it had begun. Summer brought no recovery — changeable,
Vintage 1980 — Cool and Light
The 1980 vintage was characterized by a cool, wet summer with few hours of sunshine. Flowering was uneven, and the growing season was consistently cool