Entirely family-owned since it was founded in 1920, Champagne house AR Lenoble is currently in the hands of sister and brother owners Anne and Antoine Malassagne. With only twelve people working there all year round, it is a properly small operation. Their largest holdings are in the fabulous Chardonnay grand cru of Chouilly, known for a richer style of fruit, more Meursault than Chablis. They also have Pinot Noir in Bisseuil and Pinot Meunier in Damery.

It is one of our favourite Champagnes, and almost the only line we’ve had in stock continuously since Uncorked opened back in 1994. Nico Billecart even did an internship with us. 200 years and seven generations after it was founded, Billecart-Salmon is one of the few major Champagne houses to remain family-owned, and their commitment to quality has been a constant over the years.

The house of Bollinger was founded in the Marne village of Ay in 1829, and the identity of its Champagnes is driven more than anything by Marne Valley Pinot Noir. It was awarded the Royal Warrant by the British Royal family in 1884, but its real rise to greatness came later. Madame Lily Bollinger took control of the house in 1942, on the death of her husband Jacques.

An old Champagne house with a nonconformist character, where biodynamics was being adopted as early as the 1950s. Leclerc Briant came under new ownership in 2012, and what had become an excellent (if relatively sleepy) house was suddenly electrified with new energy. Cellarmaster Frederic Zeimett has a questioning, experimental attitude to everything he does – and that is leading to an exciting new set of Champagnes. He has tried out gold-lined fermentation vessels and aging under the sea, with fascinating results. But more importantly, he has an intense focus on quality.

Ambonnay-based grower house Dethune have been releasing Champagnes under their own name since the 1930s, but they come from a long line of growers dating all the way back to 1610. Their 7 hectares of organically-cultivated vineyards are planted to 70% Pinot Noir and 30% Chardonnay. The Champagne are vinified in a mix of stainless steel, foudres and barrels, and the imprint of the oak is perceptible in the textured mouthfeel. (NT 13/12/23)

The house of Charles Heidsieck is based in Reims. It is the smallest of the Grand Marque houses, but has a fabulous reputation for the quality of its Champagnes; Charles Heidsieck winemakers have scooped the ‘Sparkling Winemaker of the Year’ award at the International Wine Challenge sixteen times over the last thirty years. No other house has managed that more than twice.

Gallimard has been Uncorked’s house Champagne for a quarter of a century, and in that time it has garnered a strong and loyal following as much among staff as customers. Didier and Arnaud Gallimard represent the sixth and seventh generation respectively of this excellent grower house. They are based in Les Riceys, in the Aube, and they cultivate 10 hectares of mostly Pinot Noir on the Kimmeridgian limestone typical of the area. The Cuvee de Reserve is pure Pinot Noir, and enjoys the warmth and fruit-forward style characteristic of a good Blanc de Noirs.

There`s a right-of-way called Saxon Shoreway which cuts a swathe through the Kent vineyards of Gusbourne Estate, and once upon a time this path did indeed walk the English shore. So it`s no surprise that the clay and sand soils on which these vineyards sit are full of maritime deposits, which in turn may go some way to explaining the saline character that often comes across in the estate`s sparkling wines. A millenium later, and mainly thanks to land reclamation, the sea is now six miles away as the crow flies (over Romney Marsh), but there is still a powerful coastal wind blowing over.

His family have been Champagne growers since the 17th century, tending vines across a variety of top Ay sites. Why, asked Claude Giraud, were they not making their own Champagne? Which is just what he went on to do. Soon Robert Parker was calling Giraud `the best Champagne you`ve never heard of`. The signature style that makes Giraud distinct comes as much from their great sites (and in particular, great Pinot Noir) as from Claude re-thinking Champagne top-to-bottom.

The so-called grower Champagne trend makes most people think of newish enterprises but Jacquesson, one of the most renowned, was founded in 1789. This coincided with the rise of the rude Corsican peasant Napoleon and true to form he is said to have visited Jacquesson regularly on his travels. What with his cologne buying in Bologna and all his other shopping it makes you wonder how he found time to amass an empire.

It’s the most prestigious name in Champagne. The house of Krug was founded in Reims in 1843, and from the beginning made itself distinctive by fermenting base wines in small oak barrels, and using very extended lees contact. Krug has always stood out for a character that is oak-driven and autolytic. Recent years, though, have seen some very elegant reinterpretations of that style. The NV Grande Cuvee always includes a wide spread of up to ten years’ worth of declarable vintages, and is released in numbered editions with a determined history. Vintage Krug is only made in the best years.

Louis Roederer is a Champagne house that truly embodies its motto of continually striving for perfection. Since 1845 Roederer have been buying up some of the best parcels in Champagne, which was quite unique at the time (most houses relied heavily on buying in fruit), this has allowed themto really understand their terroir. This understanding is also due to their meticulous practices of harvesting and vinifying all their 400 parcels separately. It is this painstaking attention to detail that means Roederer are consistently ranked as one of the finest producers in Champagne.

Bouzy grower Paul Bara is, in the words of Antonio Galloni, ‘one of Champagne’s undisputed leaders in quality’. They make 100% Grand Cru Champagnes, with fruit from 33 house-owned parcels across the Montagne de Reims. They have been on the scene releasing Champagnes under the family name since the 1950s, though they have a family history as vine owners and coopers in the area for much further back.

It is fascinating to hear Emmanuel Fourny talk about everything he has to bear in mind as he blends his Champagnes. ‘Reserve wines or wines from the year, from cask or from vat, with or without malolactic fermentation, from lower or higher plots, plots exposed east or plots exposed south, older or younger vines, Chardonnay or Pinot…’ With his brother Charles-Henry, Emmanuel is one-half of Champagne house Veuve Fourny. His awareness of the complexities of blending is symptomatic of an attention to detail that informs everything they do here.