Quite quaffable fizz

I cannot remember where but I’d heard Bernard Remy made excellent fizz. When I saw Ten Acre Wines were selling some for a reasonable price I thought I’d give it a whirl; I was not disappointed. This is a pure Chardonnay wine made from the Grand Cru vines of Mensil-sur-Oger – pretty august heritage.

Most Champagne is simply undrinkable. Of the drinkable examples some are very vinous; they seem more like a powerful wine with bubble rather than a light refresher. This wine remains complex and concentrated enough to keep your interest but it is an absolute joy to drink. At the price this goes for you could not ask for a more enjoyable bottle of fizz to simply drink.

Champagne Brut 'Grand Cru' from Bernard Remy

Champagne Brut ‘Grand Cru’, Bernard Remy

A delightfully fresh and fruity nose positively bursting with fun Chardonnay fruit. It smells highly accessible but there is enough complexity to the fruit to keep the more demanding drinker interested. My chum Lance Foyster MW doesn’t like Champagne that asks too much of you and just wants to enjoy drinking it; when I sniff this I think this is just the kind of fizz he’d like. It really does smell like it is going to be a fun, fresh and invigorating drink. The palate delivers on that promise. There is a good depth of concentration to the flavours and the acid/fruit balance is spot on, but its primary characteristic is raw enjoyment value. The fruit is copious and lively, it has a delightfully fine mousse and it is incredibly refreshing. If you wanted a bottle of fizz to drink of a summer’s afternoon this would provide remarkable pleasure. It’s really fun and accessible, but I think it has enough depth of character and complexity to make it a decent wine as well. Yes, Lance would love this. Champagne is a foxy beast to predict ageing potential unless you know the wines well, so I find it hard to tell about ageing this beyond a few years which it will easily manage. Those primary characters are delicious now but it seems to have the balance, depth and complexity to promise that it might improve. Lance wouldn’t age it, though, and as he is almost always right I’d go right ahead and drink your bottles.

Most £26 Champagne is simply undrinkable; this is a delight and well worth scoring from Ten Acre Wines.